Posts tagged “immigration”

Today I became an American citizen. I came partly for safety -- Trump's Muslim Ban terrified green card holders like me -- but also because after 11 years, America has seeped into me. Despite its very real flaws, I'm fundamentally optimistic about this country's future. And wanting to help fix it? That's pretty American.

I just got my green card after a six-year wait, so I've been thinking hard about why Americans should support immigration reform. The short answer: immigration is basic economics. It creates wealth for everyone, keeps goods affordable, and immigrants only come when jobs exist. Love your country? Make immigration easier.

I got my US visa renewed today, but no thanks to the petty bureaucrat at window 5 who objected to my American address, American phone numbers, and honest answers on my forms. He was rude, unhelpful, and left me without clear instructions. I got the visa anyway. He's still a dick.

Immigration is an economic force that moves labor from high supply to low demand areas, creating global prosperity. The fear that immigrants will cut your salary by 5% ignores the far greater gains from immigration-fueled growth. America's restrictive policies are self-defeating, economically and morally.

I hurt my back in February and navigated six months of billing hell despite full insurance. The saga ended with a questionnaire assuming I'd be suing someone -- with no option to say the accident was my own fault. American healthcare is exhausting in ways that go beyond quality.

I spend a whirlwind Saturday mattress shopping and furnishing an entire San Francisco apartment from scratch, encountering a cast of memorable characters along the way. The experience crystallizes a real cultural difference: in America, money is an enabler and service is genuinely enthusiastic. By midnight, I'm home.

I've just moved to San Francisco, and American capitalism is already blowing my mind. Within hours of getting my keys to a totally empty flat, Craigslist connected me with Luke, a charming cabinet-maker moonlighting as a furniture courier, who whisked me to IKEA and back for half the delivery price.

Applying for a US work visa is a sleepless, form-filled, fingerprint-imperiling ordeal involving hours in the freezing cold, bulletproof glass, and a $500 "fraud prevention fee." But it worked. I got approved on the spot. I'm moving to San Francisco.

Got the visa! Too exhausted to elaborate. Details tomorrow.

Spending tomorrow at the US Embassy hoping to score my L-1 visa. Fingers crossed.

The EU's anti-liberalisation argument contradicts itself: if jobs are fleeing east, why would workers flee west? They're going where the jobs are. Liberalise, jobs follow people home, problem solved. Unless welfare tourism is the real issue, which is fixable separately.

I think speaking English is useful in England, but shouldn't be a citizenship requirement. Citizenship is about state protection and loyalty, not language. Culture and language shift over time; you can't legislate that. Encourage English learning, even fund it, but don't make it mandatory.