This is frustrating!

[DELETEME1234 208]

36 minutes ago, NikLR said:

The USA has the most powerful passport in the world.

Nope.

[NikLR 13,220]

56 minutes ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Nope.

Well one of.... sorry.   Also not all the countries who have a more powerful visa have jus soli.  That's really important.  If you can't get a passport because of the birth of the child being in that country, birth tourism isn't a thing. 

Edited February 22, 2020 by NikLR

[DELETEME1234 208]

On 2/22/2020 at 12:17 PM, NikLR said:

Also not all the countries who have a more powerful visa have jus soli.  That's really important.  If you can't get a passport because of the birth of the child being in that country, birth tourism isn't a thing.

Hence me restricting my comment to specifically the power of the passports. Although I feel that birth tourism/anchor babies are severely exaggerated. 
Not saying it doesn’t exist at all, obviously there will always be cases, I just think the amount of parents that immigrate 21 years later to the US is negligible when compared with the other type immigrants. 

 

On a more interesting note: it’s rather pathetic —imho— the level of envy and jealousy, combined with misplaced feelings of superiority amongst the people here. It’s not a concern for the immigration process or even their own process, because if it were that then most would focus on how the process they’re in should be better, instead the focus lies in the lack of suffering of NIV’s that adjust status. 
 

Personally I’d be in favour of offering everyone the option to adjust status from inside the US. Most EU countries handle US spouses immigrating in such a way and that works fine. If it’s good for the goose then it’s good for the gander. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by Poseidon1212

[Dashinka 23,199]

On 2/22/2020 at 12:24 PM, Poseidon1212 said:

Nope.

You are correct, that would be Japan currently.

[Dashinka 23,199]

On 2/22/2020 at 1:17 PM, NikLR said:

Well one of.... sorry.   Also not all the countries who have a more powerful visa have jus soli.  That's really important.  If you can't get a passport because of the birth of the child being in that country, birth tourism isn't a thing. 

You are correct, of the most powerful passports in the world, I believe the US  and Canada are the only ones that follow unrestricted jus soli.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-that-recognize-birthright-citizenship-jus-soli-2018-10

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/henley-index-world-best-passport-2020/index.html

Edited February 25, 2020 by Bill & Katya

[NikLR 13,220]

11 hours ago, Poseidon1212 said:

Hence me restricting my comment to specifically the power of the passports. Although I feel that birth tourism/anchor babies are severely exaggerated. 
Not saying it doesn’t exist at all, obviously there will always be cases, I just think the amount of parents that immigrate 21 years later to the US is negligible when compared with the other type immigrants. 

I think AOS for spouses should be a thing.  

Why do you think anchor babies is the only reason for birth tourism? If jus soli is the purpose to get a better passport than the child would otherwise have, I don't think immigration is necessarily the parent's end goal. 

 

And yes it's a bigger deal, but only if the parents aren't actually paying for the birth. 

 

As for the rest of your topic... You're doing the same thing.  Saying that someone's feelings are pathetic is also giving the impression you feel superior to them.  Just sayin.

 

Their feelings are their feelings. You can agree or disagree with their opinion. 

 

As I've previously noted, either AOS should be a thing or not a thing. Just pick one.  I don't care either way. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by NikLR

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,078]

On 2/21/2020 at 10:15 AM, Bill & Katya said:

This is key.  How many stories do we see every day of folks being denied a B2.

And that's not even counting people who just don't bother applying for one because the odds of denial are so high it doesn't seem worth the money to try.

 

I would have loved for Anastasia to have visited me in the US before coming to stay on a K-1, but it seemed to us that there was basically no chance she'd be able to get a tourist visa as a young single woman with an American fiance and whose job would probably be considered worth abandoning to marry me (though we might have tried anyway and considered the fees a sunk cost if tourist visa processing times in Russia at the time hadn't been so long).

Edited February 25, 2020 by DaveAndAnastasia

[DELETEME1234 208]

3 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

You are correct, that would be Japan currently.

 

2 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/henley-index-world-best-passport-2020/index.html

From your source, at the end of the article:

 

Quote

Other indexes

Henley & Partner's list is one of several indexes created by financial firms to rank global passports according to the access they provide to their citizens.

The Henley Passport Index is based on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and covers 199 passports and 227 travel destinations. It is updated in real time throughout the year, as and when visa policy changes come into effect.

Arton Capital's Passport Index takes into consideration the passports of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories -- ROC Taiwan, Macau (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory and the Vatican. Territories annexed to other countries are excluded.

Its 2020 index puts the UAE on top with a "visa-free score" of 179, followed by Germany, Finland, Luxembourg and Spain with 172.

Which in turn corresponds with the link I posted that placed the UAE at the top. 

 

 

Honestly the pissing contest with passports is rather irrelevant for about 99% of the world population since few people will try to collect stamps at every country's POE. More than likely someone travel to a few countries in their life (if at all, e.g. about half of the Americans don't have a passport) and one will deal with any visa requirements then (if at all). Besides, if you truly want to insist to continue the pissing contests with passports, EU passports win hands down each and every time since they not only give physical access to all the other EU countries, they also give access to the labour market in said countries and pretty much 1 on 1 grant the same rights and privileges their respective nationals receive which gives a great deal of flexibility to EU passport holders. Not many non-EU passports will grant you practical unconditional access to another country for you to then live, work, study for as long as you please. 

 

30 minutes ago, NikLR said:

Why do you think anchor babies is the only reason for birth tourism?

I don't, I just lumped them together. The suspicion on my end remains the same, namely that it doesn't occur in significant enough amounts to make a big stink out of it. 

 

36 minutes ago, NikLR said:

If jus soli is the purpose to get a better passport than the child would otherwise have, I don't think immigration is necessarily the parent's end goal. 

 

And yes it's a bigger deal, but only if the parents aren't actually paying for the birth. 

True, however 9/10 when I hear people complaining about people coming here to give birth it's because they have something against the parents immigrating to the US after they come of age. Personally I don't have an issue with parents that are not actually paying for the birth themselves, but even if that's the concern it is pretty well known that CBP is very vigilant in checking that the parents have the funds with them and evidence that they have made arrangements to use those funds towards the cost of delivering the baby, so again that can't be the actual objection. Leaving what? Xenophobia? Crab mentality? as the only real reason to be opposed?

 

47 minutes ago, NikLR said:

As for the rest of your topic... You're doing the same thing.  Saying that someone's feelings are pathetic is also giving the impression you feel superior to them.  Just sayin.

Most definitely I am. The difference is that I'm not coy about it. I do feel superior to people who wish ill towards people that are in a more fortuitous position. Note that I was talking about misplaced superiority and not just randomly induced feelings of superiority, rather I was giving off on a combination of feelings of superiority, envy and jealousy:

 

12 hours ago, Poseidon1212 said:

envy and jealousy, combined with misplaced feelings of superiority

 

1 hour ago, NikLR said:

As I've previously noted, either AOS should be a thing or not a thing. Just pick one.  I don't care either way. 

It is a thing and frankly it will always be a thing because immigration laws need a provision like AOS to keep things functional. 

[Cilllah 470]

I can understand why people would be frustrated that people come WITH the intent to AOS and stay instead of doing it through the proper channels. Of course it is annoying when you are away from your partner for a long time when you could have just cheesed it.

 

I might as well add my example. My fiance and I have been together for a long time and we started the K1 process last year as it worked better for us. Anywho, someone I know met a man and within months of meeting flew to him, got engaged, filed for K1 and came home. After a few weeks she flew back on the ESTA to visit and decided she couldn't be apart and they canceled the K1 and AOS'ed and it was approved. I can not believe how that was approved and how they proved the intent wasn't there when they had already done the K1 and she was there. Baffling.

 

But at the end of the day life is too short to be angry and stressed about other peoples situation. Time goes fast and before I know it it will be July and I will be with my fiance again!

[Boiler 43,392]

Intent is nor an issue.