your opinion on immigration

[clayr1 3]

I have read many posts on this site of people's problems with immigration. I want to take a poll and give people a thought of what to do. On a daily basis we see the topic of immigration on tv. Politicians have their opinion and where they stand and the general public have differing views as well. We need to pay attention to where our senators and congressmen stand on this issue. Here's why, I have yet to hear any politician mention that there is already people waiting in line for a visa, why should any illegal immigrant get in line ahead of us? I have filed a K1 visa 660 days ago, my fiance got the blue sheet and I have refiled now I have another year plus to wait for another interview. I have written my congressman and senators and to my delight I at least got a written response. This however is not enough. We need to put pressure on our politicians to include our plight on any immigration reform that they may vote for, if not we cannot support them. On this board there are plenty of people who are having excruciating wait times for a visa for our loved ones and we are not about to give our place in line to someone else. I urge everyone to write their congressman and senators and tell them your story if you are unhappy with your wait time. Fill their mailboxes with letters and let them know WE are the victims of government delays with immigration. Unfortunately we are all individuals on this site and have no unity, this is why it is so easy for our problems to go unnoticed by the very ones who can do something about it. Is there any reason you should pay all these fees in duplicate (petitions, medical checkups,etc) and sit quitely while your file sits and collects dust until someone finally moves it to the next step? Irregardless of your political views or party, I urge you to respond to this post and let me know how you feel. I especially want you to make your story and problems heard by the politicians who make and shape the rules. Think about it, if we were to dump 3000 letters a week to our congressmen and senators asking for followup or take action and do this every week then maybe our wait time problems would be addressed. Rather than writing woe is me posts, if you are having a problem, write letters to the very people who may be voting on future immigration legislation and tell them you need their help. There is no reason to be in AP for 6 months, refiling and starting over at square one, and undergoing unreasonable delays for answers. How many out there have waited 2 plus years for a visa? I live in Myrtle Beach SC and every summer there are hundreds if not thousands of foreign exchange students who come here and work the summer. Some of whom either overstay their visa or get married in a hurry and presto they got a green card. Look at all the hurdles we have to overcome. I welcome everyone's response.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

The overwhelming majority of Americans are worried about the economy, the housing market, health care, educational expenses, a safe retirement, the two wars that suck up our taxpayers' money, and now on top of that the environmental impact of the oil catastrophe. The majority of this overwhelming majority also wants the US Government to secure our borders and put illegal immigration to a stop. A majority of this majority somewhat feels that immigrants take away jobs from Americans of whom about 10% are currently unemployed.

These people vote, and they vote on the issues they are interested in. If you now approach the American people with the suggestion to allow more immigrants in or make it easier for people to immigrate, you wont' find much support for that.

Politicians have to focus on issues the people -- the voters -- are interested in. Hence, what you would like to see is highly unpopular. Nobody will touch this, nobody is interested in it, except the few people who are personally involved in this issue, like you. This is a fight that is not worth fighting, no matter how frustrating the system and waiting time is. It's also nothing that voting for "that other" party could change. The general consensus for the American people is that immigration is nothing but trouble, and they are not interested in making it easier or faster for foreigners to come to the US.

Writing letters to our politicians will accomplish nothing. Nobody cares about your problem, nobody will respond

[JakeinVietnam 0]

I have read many posts on this site of people's problems with immigration. I want to take a poll and give people a thought of what to do. On a daily basis we see the topic of immigration on tv. Politicians have their opinion and where they stand and the general public have differing views as well. We need to pay attention to where our senators and congressmen stand on this issue. Here's why, I have yet to hear any politician mention that there is already people waiting in line for a visa, why should any illegal immigrant get in line ahead of us? I have filed a K1 visa 660 days ago, my fiance got the blue sheet and I have refiled now I have another year plus to wait for another interview. I have written my congressman and senators and to my delight I at least got a written response. This however is not enough. We need to put pressure on our politicians to include our plight on any immigration reform that they may vote for, if not we cannot support them. On this board there are plenty of people who are having excruciating wait times for a visa for our loved ones and we are not about to give our place in line to someone else. I urge everyone to write their congressman and senators and tell them your story if you are unhappy with your wait time. Fill their mailboxes with letters and let them know WE are the victims of government delays with immigration. Unfortunately we are all individuals on this site and have no unity, this is why it is so easy for our problems to go unnoticed by the very ones who can do something about it. Is there any reason you should pay all these fees in duplicate (petitions, medical checkups,etc) and sit quitely while your file sits and collects dust until someone finally moves it to the next step? Irregardless of your political views or party, I urge you to respond to this post and let me know how you feel. I especially want you to make your story and problems heard by the politicians who make and shape the rules. Think about it, if we were to dump 3000 letters a week to our congressmen and senators asking for followup or take action and do this every week then maybe our wait time problems would be addressed. Rather than writing woe is me posts, if you are having a problem, write letters to the very people who may be voting on future immigration legislation and tell them you need their help. There is no reason to be in AP for 6 months, refiling and starting over at square one, and undergoing unreasonable delays for answers. How many out there have waited 2 plus years for a visa? I live in Myrtle Beach SC and every summer there are hundreds if not thousands of foreign exchange students who come here and work the summer. Some of whom either overstay their visa or get married in a hurry and presto they got a green card. Look at all the hurdles we have to overcome. I welcome everyone's response.

Clay here is the problem I see with what you mention.

1) Even if there are 100,000 visa petitions each year (meaning 100,000 Americans wanting immigration allowed) and possibly 200,000 family members in America still wanting their family to come over here. This is only 300,000 Americans pulling for immigration

2) There are hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work right now, and to most of these Americans they do not want ANY more people coming to America to compete for jobs

3)There are millions of people working in America right now, and they do not want added competition or to risk their job going to a foreign worker for lower wages

4) If we dump 3000 letters a week on a single senators office would just make the response time that much slower in general, I do not think it would change anything other than more tax dollars being spent on another aid, and then all those sending letters getting the same type of canned response that USCIS currently gives out.

What it boils down to Clay is that for the senators to truly want to do something you have to give them bribes (the promise of many MANY votes) that would assure them that what they are about to do would get them re elected, and quite frankly there are probably not enough of us in the immigration system in a single state where we could influence the vote. These are the big hurdles that I see any Senator facing in America, I do strongly agree that there should NEVER be a illegal cutting inline of anyone else in America or abroad, but the logistics of such a policy are impossible. There are far more illegal Mexicans than there are Vietnam hopefuls, as well as other countries, USCIS could not shuttle that many workers around from country to country to country to keep everyone in order. Also Mexico borders the US, so they will focus on them and on Canada before they would ever focus on other countries such as Vietnam. This is sad and true. In a perfect world no one would be able to jump to the head of the line, in your case of waiting over 600 days, I would also be mad that someone who has been here less time could get in front of me. I also wish for those people that are waiting in each consulate that their wait would be shorter, but for the lucky ones that get through ahead of them I am sure that their opinion would also be that they would not want to wait, just as yours is.

These are just my opinions on the matter, I wish it was different, and I will be doing what many of you are currently doing. I do wish it was different, but trying to be honest I just don't think we can get it done. I think we all just need to send our congressmen and USCIS some Vaseline, with a note saying go easy on me, bend over grab our ankles and pray that we get through it with as little pain as possible.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

The overwhelming majority of Americans are worried about the economy, the housing market, health care, educational expenses, a safe retirement, the two wars that suck up our taxpayers' money, and now on top of that the environmental impact of the oil catastrophe. The majority of this overwhelming majority also wants the US Government to secure our borders and put illegal immigration to a stop. A majority of this majority somewhat feels that immigrants take away jobs from Americans of whom about 10% are currently unemployed.

These people vote, and they vote on the issues they are interested in. If you now approach the American people with the suggestion to allow more immigrants in or make it easier for people to immigrate, you wont' find much support for that.

Politicians have to focus on issues the people -- the voters -- are interested in. Hence, what you would like to see is highly unpopular. Nobody will touch this, nobody is interested in it, except the few people who are personally involved in this issue, like you. This is a fight that is not worth fighting, no matter how frustrating the system and waiting time is. It's also nothing that voting for "that other" party could change. The general consensus for the American people is that immigration is nothing but trouble, and they are not interested in making it easier or faster for foreigners to come to the US.

Writing letters to our politicians will accomplish nothing. Nobody cares about your problem, nobody will respond

Agree 100%, with a caveat - there is a substantial vocal minority that would like to see immigration eased substantially for people from Mexico, and to a lesser degree from all of South America. This is only because Mexicans are far and away the largest group of immigrants in the US, both legal and illegal. The represent a substantial voting bloc for whichever party is willing to suck up to them (usually the Democrats).

Practically all other Americans, including most non-Mexican immigrants, want to see immigration further restricted.

Personally, I don't want to see immigration either eased or restricted. I think the current limits for visa quotas are reasonable, and I think the lack of quotas for certain immediate relatives and fiancee's of US citizens is fair. What I WOULD like to see changed is the methods used to screen applicants who apply for these visas. Too much of the decision is arbitrary, and up to the whims of a consular officer.

I also think some changes in the law would dramatically cut down on immigration fraud, and reduce the number of arbitrary denials at the consulates. For instance, increase the length of conditional status to 10 years, with no possibility of a waiver for a divorce obtained less than 5 years after the conditional green card is issued. Very few scammers will be able to sit out a sham marriage for 5 years, and the USC petitioner will be able to figure out if he/she has been scammed in that amount of time and pull the plug on the marriage.

Remove the clause that allows an immigrant to adjust status or remove conditions based on abuse. Leave the hardship waiver, but add a clause that allows the fact that someone has abandoned their life in their home country, and established a productive life in the US to be considered in granting the hardship waiver. In other words, being forced to leave a productive life in the US should be considered an additional hardship for the purpose of the waiver. No more US citizens would ever be falsely accused of spousal abuse in a scam to get a green card or remove conditions.

Ok, I know some people are going to argue that it's not fair for an immigrant to be deported just because they got beat up by their US citizen spouse and had to get a divorce. The hardship waiver would be available for them. But getting beat up should not automatically qualify someone for an immigration benefit. The federal government doesn't offer rewards to US citizens who get beat up by their spouse, so they shouldn't be offering one to immigrants either. If the immigrant will continue to be a productive member of US society, then they should be able to get a hardship waiver (with the changes I described above). If they've been a couch potato since they arrived here, why should they be given a green card and allowed to stay if they got beat up?

[BurningFinger 5]

I agree somewhat with Just Bob. Right now, millions of Americans are unemployed and they are not enthusiastic about making it easier for foreigners to come into the US and take away even more jobs. The issue with illegal immigrants in Arizona is a real mess right now and because of that most Americans feel it is more trouble then it is worth. However, some people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests:

Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, 'No! I like it here. It's better than my house. I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house). According to the protesters:

You are Required to let me stay in your house

You are Required to feed me

You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan

You are Required to Educate my kids

You are Required to Provide other benefits to me &to my family

I will do all of your yard work because I also hard-working and honest. (except for that breaking in part).

If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there.

It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest, person, except for well, you know, I did break into your house. And what a deal it is for me!!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior.

Oh yeah, and I DEMAND that you learn MY LANGUAGE!!! so that you can communicate with me.

There may be some policies that will be implemented to deter illegal immigration. The events in Arizona are proof of such policies. Finding support for making immigration "easier", I am sorry to say, just will not be there. Other countries around the world enforce their laws against illegal immigration. It's about time to US grows a pair and does the same

[CoolHand2x2y2z 0]

Here's my take for what it's worth:

First of all, people like us who are on here are savvy enough to find this forum, communicate with one another and are able to file our applications. This pretty much puts us in the 10%-20% of all people who go through this. And then there are the people who can afford to hire an immigration lawyer/service to do all of this because they don't know how to go about it. They also belong to the 10%-20% group. And even in this group, it's still a very difficult process. In my estimation, it's 30% - 40% success rate with all your ducks lineup properly. Of course, this is talking about my experiences with the US consulate at HCMC. I have no idea about other consulates and whatnot.

So, where does this put all the people who cannot afford a lawyer or are not knowledgeable enough to file properly? Their failure rate is probably 90%.

To me, that's total BS. Yup, if you take this process and compare it to any other process in the American legal system, there's no comparison in terms of clarity and fairness and whatever else. Immigration needs overhauling; we are still in the 60s with the current process.

We all hear their complaint about caseload. Solution: hire more people!

They want to weed out fraud: Design a better process! It's not a judgment call for some-twenty-year-old G-man wannabe to make a decision on somebody's life for the next year or more in the period of ten minutes based on assumptions that get applied to all cases, such as all spouse/fiance cases with relative introduction are fraud cases or quick marriages or no engagement ceremony or whatever else. Everybody is different and every case is different. (If I throw water on you and you get wet, you are a witch.)

I think our democracy fails when it comes to immigration. Period.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

So, where does this put all the people who cannot afford a lawyer or are not knowledgeable enough to file properly? Their failure rate is probably 90%.

That would mean 10% of applications by people who don't or can't study the process and can't afford an attorney are getting approved. Frankly, I'd be surprised if it was even that high. If you were to follow the instructions published by USCIS and the consulate without deviation, you are virtually assured of being denied. The consulate's instructions on "evidence of relationship" is so terse that you'd think you clinched it with a few photos and emails. I think the people who get approved in HCMC, in spite of not doing any research or hiring an attorney, got by on sheer dumb luck.

They want to weed out fraud: Design a better process! It's not a judgment call for some-twenty-year-old G-man wannabe to make a decision on somebody's life for the next year or more in the period of ten minutes based on assumptions that get applied to all cases, such as all spouse/fiance cases with relative introduction are fraud cases or quick marriages or no engagement ceremony or whatever else. Everybody is different and every case is different. (If I throw water on you and you get wet, you are a witch.)

I think our democracy fails when it comes to immigration. Period.

Therein lies the problem. They erect all of these artificial barriers because of the level of fraud.

I recall reading a blog by a former CO. He said that the consular officers at his post had an unofficial policy that was summed up by the statement "If the petitioner believes it's real, then it's real." He obviously never served in HCMC.

I have no particular fondness for consular officers, but I'm not going to heap the blame entirely on them. Some of the things they have to decide are pretty straightforward. The super tough call is the "relationship for the purpose of evading immigration law". There is absolutely no way to make this determination with 100% reliability unless you can read minds. The only option they have is to dig for evidence that might be an indication that the relationship is a sham. How deep they have to dig depends on the relative likelihood of fraud being the motive. Let's face it - in VN, as in most 3rd world countries, the likelihood is pretty high.

For the scammer, the prize is living in the US with legal status. By far, the biggest obstacle between them and the prize is the visa interview. Once they get to the US, it's relatively easy to find a way to stay permanently, even if their USC spouse discovers they've been played. The consular officer knows that he is probably the last chance of stopping the scammer. When a scammer manages to get discovered after arriving in the US, that information makes it's way back to the consulate. DoS puts pressure on the consulate to be more diligent in weeding out the scammers, and each layer of management increases the amount of weight on the consular officer. After years of this sort of pressure, we end up with a consulate like HCMC. I could easily see how a CO would become jaded after catching flack for some of the scammers they let through, and be ready to deny everyone they interviewed thereafter.

I think the changes I suggested would dramatically ease the pressure on the CO. The interview would not be the last major hurdle a scammer would have to overcome. They'd still have at least five years of acting like a devoted spouse before they'd have any assurance of keeping that green card. For the immigrant who actually IS a devoted spouse, this would not be a challenge at all - just living like they normally would.

The other option would be to make the US a much less attractive place for 3rd world people to immigrate to by dramatically lowering the standard of living and increasing the unemployment rate by 15% or 20%. If the federal government doesn't do something about our southern border, that will eventually happen.

[Dau Que 6]

OP (Original Poster), I have a question for you.

If you're making an honest living and living poorly (middle class), and your neighbor/friend,whoever you know, living lavishly (you know, but not for sure, he's breaking the law) what would you do when you're invited to join him/her?

Agree or decline and/or might report to the authority? and what's your response when the authority turns a blind eye on you?

That's right! Life is NOT and NEVER fair.

[clayr1 3]

Thanks for the replies, I see others have varying degrees of opinion. For those of you who say the nation has bigger problems, I respect your opinion. As far as the public would not support this I disagree because I feel most people support immigration to US when it is done the legal way. The part that makes no sense is that if you fail the interview you have to wait a year or more and pay again. If you want to do a rebuttal it takes just as long and you have to pay also. CO decision is based soley on an interview with the benficiary whom they have met once and no contact with the petitioner. This makes no sense. This is designed to make you give up. There are other ways to weed out the scammers like the ideas given on previous posts. I just want to bring it to the politicians attention the problems with immigration done the legal way and then they can see why there is so much illegal immgration to US. But this is all committed by those who can simply come across a porous border not done by those who need to board a plane. I still say the best way to bring attention to this matter is to bombard their mail with letters containing the problems of our cases and let them know how broke the system is. How many of you have emailed different agencies only to get some generic response saying nothing? How many tried calling state dept and gotten nowhere? Ever email or try to call the consulate in any country? I have asked for 10 minutes of someone's time to disprove CO findings and found their only answer is to refile and wait. I know there are those on this board who disagree but for those of you who are unsatisfied with how your case is going, I urge you to write a respectful letter to your senators and congressman tell them your experience and maybe something can be done. At least make them aware of what goes on, I still am told by some that "Oh it only takes 6-9 months to get your wife to USA" Like one of the responses said that 10% of the denials are legit relationships then there's the thousands I am addressing to make your voice heard. As many times that we are told by USCIS to wait I can't see anything better to do with that time but to get our problems in front of the very people who make the rules. I know at least 5 people who now live in Vietnam because they couldn't get their spouse/fiance a visa, Who is the communist country now?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Thanks for the replies, I see others have varying degrees of opinion. For those of you who say the nation has bigger problems, I respect your opinion. As far as the public would not support this I disagree because I feel most people support immigration to US when it is done the legal way. The part that makes no sense is that if you fail the interview you have to wait a year or more and pay again. If you want to do a rebuttal it takes just as long and you have to pay also. CO decision is based soley on an interview with the benficiary whom they have met once and no contact with the petitioner. This makes no sense. This is designed to make you give up. There are other ways to weed out the scammers like the ideas given on previous posts. I just want to bring it to the politicians attention the problems with immigration done the legal way and then they can see why there is so much illegal immgration to US. But this is all committed by those who can simply come across a porous border not done by those who need to board a plane. I still say the best way to bring attention to this matter is to bombard their mail with letters containing the problems of our cases and let them know how broke the system is. How many of you have emailed different agencies only to get some generic response saying nothing? How many tried calling state dept and gotten nowhere? Ever email or try to call the consulate in any country? I have asked for 10 minutes of someone's time to disprove CO findings and found their only answer is to refile and wait. I know there are those on this board who disagree but for those of you who are unsatisfied with how your case is going, I urge you to write a respectful letter to your senators and congressman tell them your experience and maybe something can be done. At least make them aware of what goes on, I still am told by some that "Oh it only takes 6-9 months to get your wife to USA" Like one of the responses said that 10% of the denials are legit relationships then there's the thousands I am addressing to make your voice heard. As many times that we are told by USCIS to wait I can't see anything better to do with that time but to get our problems in front of the very people who make the rules. I know at least 5 people who now live in Vietnam because they couldn't get their spouse/fiance a visa, Who is the communist country now?

My wife is in the other room right now watching videos on youtube about VN boat people with her daughter. My wife is old enough to remember the war and the aftermath, and to see what has become of her country. She doesn't have any doubt which is the communist country.

FWIW, there are plenty of illegal Vietnamese people in the US. It's true that they don't just walk across the border. Most entered legally and just stayed. Some were smuggled across the border from Canada. There's a street in Oakland, about a 20 minute drive from where I live, that has about two dozen hair and nail salons in a six block stretch. Almost every girl who works in those salons is Vietnamese. Probably half are not legal. It's common knowledge in the VN community here. ICE occasionally conducts raids there, but people in the city government always tip off the shop owners so that the illegal workers stay home.

There was a major fraud ring that was broken up not long ago on the east coast that involved a VN woman who was arranging sham marriages to bring girls to work in her shops. These people are just as much a part of the problem as the girls from remote impoverished villages who scam an American into bringing them to the US. Every one of them makes it harder for us to bring over a wife or fiancee from VN.

There are two major schools of thought regarding immigration in the US right now. Those who favor "immigration reform" are mostly in favor of granting legal status to the illegals who are already here, and streamlining the process for the ones who want to come here, and they are concerned almost exclusively with Mexicans and South Americans. Those who favor "immigration enforcement" want to see the illegals who are here thrown out, and a huge wall built along the southern border to stop any more from coming in. They also want to see a clamp down on legal immigrants so that no American loses his or her job to an immigrant. The rest of us are either a combination of these two viewpoints, or somewhere on the fringe.

Unfortunately, the people who would be sympathetic to making it easier to bring a wife or fiancee to the US are also the people who favor amnesty for illegals and opening the southern border. That's a popular position with many politicians these days, but polls indicate it's not a popular position with most Americans. On the other hand, the sort of policy reforms I was suggesting would probably be popular with most Americans. They would see those changes as a crack down on immigration because they seem to make it more difficult to get permanent legal status in the US. In reality, they would make it easier on us because they would reduce fraud, and reducing fraud will make it easier to get a visa.

[BurningFinger 5]

Great points Jim. I personally think that scammers that cheat our immigration system are more of a problem then then immigration system itself. Poverty in 3rd world countries has a tendency to create scammers. The HCMC Consulate didn't just wake up one day and decide to make everybody's life a living hell. The fact that they put everybody under a gigantic microscope is a direct result of the scamming they they see on a daily basis. None of us here know what they are seeing deep inside the Consulate. None of us know how much pressure their management puts them under to deny visas that they know for a FACT are scams. Vietnam is a 3rd world country and visa fraud tends to be high in those countries. I think this is a big reason why some of us disapprove of the immigration process that we go through to bring our foreign fiance/spouse into the US. Most of the K1 or CR1 discussions I have read in the Canada or UK Regional Discussions have a different tune. The biggest complaints I have heard from those regional discussions is the wait times. Rarely do you have cases from those regions that have ended up like some of those at the Vietnam region discussion. I haven't heard any cases from there were blue slips and AP placement are being thrown around like candy. Canada and the UK are considered to be low fraud countries which could explain why their experiences are generally better then the HCMC Consulate experience.

Is the current system perfect? No. Is there room for improvement? Yes. First, I would like the southern border secured. What is happening now is just pathetic. We cannot be held accountable for the Mexican government's failure to raise it's people out of poverty.....which is why they are coming here in the first place. Second, I would like the fiance/spousal visa requirements to be tightened up a bit. For the K1 visa, they should require more then 1 visit to meet the fiance. I think that at some point during the process, the petitioner needs to be interviewed as well and not just the beneficiary. I also agree with Jim that the length of Conditional Permanent Resident status needs to be increased significantly beyond 2 years. Until we can stop poverty around the world (which we can't), then we HAVE to accept the fact that scammers are always going to be there and the only way to fight the scammers is to make it more difficult to attain a visa.

Edited May 29, 2010 by BurningFinger

[cedwards001 18]

Scammers dont really care if they enter and stay in the US legally or illegally. Their primary objective is to get into the US. The fact that we have over 20 million illegal Mexican's in the US is proof of that. So even if you raise the lenght of conditional permanent residence to 7 or 8 years, they will still come to the US on their K1 or CR1 visas and then leave the next day. But I do see how it can help reduce the number of fraudsters though. Finger is right. As long as there is poverty around the world, there will always be fraudsters. Unless world hunger comes to an end tomorrow, I can understand the need to make it more difficult to get a visa which is what the HCMC Consulate is doing.

[Darnell 8,478]

I am fan of employing lobbyists, instead of launching letter writing campaign.

Seriously.

[Boiler 43,430]

And make sure they are very well funded.

[Indy90 21]

I think that the estimates of how many people are successful are rather low. In 2007, about 690,000 people entered the United States with a green card through family immigration, including about 495,000 who entered by being the immediate relative of an American citizen or permanent resident. 65 percent of green cards issued in 2007 were due to family immigration and 25 percent of the population increase in the last 10 years has been because of family based immigration (this does not include children born to family based immigrants in the United States). 12,430 people from Vietnam obtained green cards through family sponsored preference and 13,974 people through being the immediate relative of a US citizen.

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/yearbook/2007/ois_2007_yearbook.pdf

I am not sure exactly what I am trying to say, but there is no doubt that a lot of people are successful, even in Vietnam. I totally agree that it is way too long, difficult etc. for many people with a legitimate relationship, but how exactly do you prevent fraud? How do you even define fraud? Should fraud even be a concern?

Personally, I think that if you meet certain requirements, like having spent a certain amount of time together, be within a certain number of years of each other, speak the same language, etc, you should get fast tracked because what is the CO really even looking for? The fact of the matter is that there are certain characteristics that produce a high rate of fraud and the State Department needs to be upfront about this from the beginning. Many people that meet these characteristics are not trying to defraud the system, but there is a high rate. It seems to me that often the same people complaining about how long and difficult everything is are the same people who later complain about being scammed.

Please don't think that I am insulting anyone personally, they are just observations that I have made over the last several months on this website. The majority of people from Vietnam (or Ecuador, which is also a very difficult consulate) are in a legitimate relationship and should not have to endure everything that they go through. I just don't know how you fix this problem and make everybody happy.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Indy90