Interesting facts on legal immigration

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I came across this on www.reason.com A must read for everyone planning to immigrate to US legally. :chuckle

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:chuckle the diagram is interesting..

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
http://www.reason.com/images/07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad.jpg

I came across this on www.reason.com A must read for everyone planning to immigrate to US legally. :chuckle

Very interesting indeed and not further from the truth I must admit based on personal experience. Since I have been in the US, I have always wanted my aging widowed mother to come and visit me here in the US...just to see what it's like over here.

My sister who is in her late 40's is the oldest and the only sibling who is still living in the Philippines with her. I have 2 brothers here in the US and another brother who is working overseas, just not in the US. We think it's a great arrangement - my sister is single, works as a College Chemistry Professor at a public university in the Philippines, and can attend to my mother's needs.

My mother is deathly scared of travelling alone for the 16-20 hour-flight it takes to come to the US from Manila. So, my sister and my mom applied for tourist visas so that my mom would not have to travel alone. Guess what? my sister didn't get approved for a freaking tourist visa although my mom was told she was OK to come. Unfortunately, that's not gonna work for us so we said forget it, I'll just go visit them regularly in the Philippines instead.

When I finally got my US citzenship, I applied my mother for a Green Card which she got in 1 year...awesome!!! But then, she still couldn't stand travelling alone so whe tried another time for my sister to get a tourist visa so she can accompany my mom for the flight to the US. My sister will leave the US to go back to the Philippines later as she does work there and is really happy living there. She has no intention, much less dreams of staying in the US for good. She has travelled in Africa and Europe in the past for a variety of assignments from her job and is used to overseas travel and yet she still loves living in the Philippines. She is really just intersted in seeing where her brothers live.

Again, my sister got denied a freaking tourist visa. This time, my mom sucked it up, put on her travelling pants and flew alone among strangers in a huge 747 for the first time in her 70 years of life headed for good ol' USA. While here, she alternated living with me in Michigan, a brother in Illinois, and another brother in California. She spent a total of 6 months in the US beacuse it didn't take her long until she started begging for her sons to send her back to the Philippines because she is bored here with no friends, no one to keep her company when her sons and in-laws are working during the day. Even her sister (my aunt) and my cousins who live in California are gone during the day so she is alone with no one else to talk to most days of the week.

Bottomline is, I wish my sister would have been allowed to come with her to the US so that my mother would have had a better "vacation" while she was here with her sons. I just think our immigration proces in America is screwed up...it's not really about uniting families sometimes.

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What? That's ridiculous! I can't believe that's happening to your sister. I have friends from Australia coming to visit few months ago, and the immigration gave them hard time coming in as well. They were held up for more than 4 hours at the airport for no apparent reason. Silly really!

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Very interesting indeed and not further from the truth I must admit based on personal experience. Since I have been in the US, I have always wanted my aging widowed mother to come and visit me here in the US...just to see what it's like over here.

My sister who is in her late 40's is the oldest and the only sibling who is still living in the Philippines with her. I have 2 brothers here in the US and another brother who is working overseas, just not in the US. We think it's a great arrangement - my sister is single, works as a College Chemistry Professor at a public university in the Philippines, and can attend to my mother's needs.

My mother is deathly scared of travelling alone for the 16-20 hour-flight it takes to come to the US from Manila. So, my sister and my mom applied for tourist visas so that my mom would not have to travel alone. Guess what? my sister didn't get approved for a freaking tourist visa although my mom was told she was OK to come. Unfortunately, that's not gonna work for us so we said forget it, I'll just go visit them regularly in the Philippines instead.

When I finally got my US citzenship, I applied my mother for a Green Card which she got in 1 year...awesome!!! But then, she still couldn't stand travelling alone so whe tried another time for my sister to get a tourist visa so she can accompany my mom for the flight to the US. My sister will leave the US to go back to the Philippines later as she does work there and is really happy living there. She has no intention, much less dreams of staying in the US for good. She has travelled in Africa and Europe in the past for a variety of assignments from her job and is used to overseas travel and yet she still loves living in the Philippines. She is really just intersted in seeing where her brothers live.

Again, my sister got denied a freaking tourist visa. This time, my mom sucked it up, put on her travelling pants and flew alone among strangers in a huge 747 for the first time in her 70 years of life headed for good ol' USA. While here, she alternated living with me in Michigan, a brother in Illinois, and another brother in California. She spent a total of 6 months in the US beacuse it didn't take her long until she started begging for her sons to send her back to the Philippines because she is bored here with no friends, no one to keep her company when her sons and in-laws are working during the day. Even her sister (my aunt) and my cousins who live in California are gone during the day so she is alone with no one else to talk to most days of the week.

Bottomline is, I wish my sister would have been allowed to come with her to the US so that my mother would have had a better "vacation" while she was here with her sons. I just think our immigration proces in America is screwed up...it's not really about uniting families sometimes.

I am glad your mother got to visit. Very strange about your sister. The powers that be work in weird ways, I hope your sister will be able to come some day.

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Specializes in Nephro, ICU, LTC and counting.
Very interesting indeed and not further from the truth I must admit based on personal experience. Since I have been in the US, I have always wanted my aging widowed mother to come and visit me here in the US...just to see what it's like over here.

My sister who is in her late 40's is the oldest and the only sibling who is still living in the Philippines with her. I have 2 brothers here in the US and another brother who is working overseas, just not in the US. We think it's a great arrangement - my sister is single, works as a College Chemistry Professor at a public university in the Philippines, and can attend to my mother's needs.

My mother is deathly scared of travelling alone for the 16-20 hour-flight it takes to come to the US from Manila. So, my sister and my mom applied for tourist visas so that my mom would not have to travel alone. Guess what? my sister didn't get approved for a freaking tourist visa although my mom was told she was OK to come. Unfortunately, that's not gonna work for us so we said forget it, I'll just go visit them regularly in the Philippines instead.

When I finally got my US citzenship, I applied my mother for a Green Card which she got in 1 year...awesome!!! But then, she still couldn't stand travelling alone so whe tried another time for my sister to get a tourist visa so she can accompany my mom for the flight to the US. My sister will leave the US to go back to the Philippines later as she does work there and is really happy living there. She has no intention, much less dreams of staying in the US for good. She has travelled in Africa and Europe in the past for a variety of assignments from her job and is used to overseas travel and yet she still loves living in the Philippines. She is really just intersted in seeing where her brothers live.

Again, my sister got denied a freaking tourist visa. This time, my mom sucked it up, put on her travelling pants and flew alone among strangers in a huge 747 for the first time in her 70 years of life headed for good ol' USA. While here, she alternated living with me in Michigan, a brother in Illinois, and another brother in California. She spent a total of 6 months in the US beacuse it didn't take her long until she started begging for her sons to send her back to the Philippines because she is bored here with no friends, no one to keep her company when her sons and in-laws are working during the day. Even her sister (my aunt) and my cousins who live in California are gone during the day so she is alone with no one else to talk to most days of the week.

Bottomline is, I wish my sister would have been allowed to come with her to the US so that my mother would have had a better "vacation" while she was here with her sons. I just think our immigration proces in America is screwed up...it's not really about uniting families sometimes.

It is unfortunate that your sister didn't get visa. The officials need to be convinced that you will come back to your country after visiting the US. Probably she wasn't able to convince them strongly enough for them to believe that she was really going to come back. She had hard time because the fact that all of her siblings and her only parent were in the US makes them question her reasons for seeking visa ( which shouldn't because she should be able to visit them). She may not stay illegally in the USA, but they have reasons to think that she will (because most of her family is living in the US). If she could have shown strong tie to her country which will make her return before the expiration of visa, they would definitely give visa. Even if she didn't have any intention stay, the situation was not on her favor..........

I hope your sister can convince the officers next time.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
It is unfortunate that your sister didn't get visa. The officials need to be convinced that you will come back to your country after visiting the US. Probably she wasn't able to convince them strongly enough for them to believe that she was really going to come back. She had hard time because the fact that all of her siblings and her only parent were in the US makes them question her reasons for seeking visa ( which shouldn't because she should be able to visit them). She may not stay illegally in the USA, but they have reasons to think that she will (because most of her family is living in the US). If she could have shown strong tie to her country which will make her return before the expiration of visa, they would definitely give visa. Even if she didn't have any intention stay, the situation was not on her favor..........

I hope your sister can convince the officers next time.

That's exactly what she was told by the immigration officer. My sister does not make a lot of money as a Professor and although she owns a house, she doesn't have a lot of money saved in the bank to prove that she would return to the Philippines. She could lie and come up with fake bank account and that was actually suggested to us by other people but my sister chose not to do that. My sister may apply again in the future and we will still be supportive if she decides to do that. My point in writing this post is not about "sour-graping" on my family's experiences with immigration but just to give an example of how immigration rules can get really unfair.

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It's very easy to come up with a fake bank account here in the US and people would use it a lot to purchase property back in the day when the housing market was booming...I knew several people who worked for banks who would do that...But for your sister choosing not to do that means that she has a conscious about doing the right thing...It's a shame that people who have abused the tourist visa ruined it for people who want to use it for what it's been designed for...

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Thats a very interesting diagram, very true. instead of going to the embassy website. I'll just direct some of the people I know to this website. It was really hard to get a tourist visa. I'm still trying for my mom to visit to see her grandkid for the first time but I guess thats not reason enough for the consul.

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Very strange about your sister. The powers that be work in weird ways, I hope your sister will be able to come some day.

Not at all very strange regarding his sister.

Very Common to get denied a Tourist Visa from PI to USA

They are very very difficult to obtain, and age seems to play a factor in that also....

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I heard that if you are retired its somehow easier to get a tourist visa. as long as you have enough assest to convince them you are coming back

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

I think the general key for getting a tourist visa is proof on ties in home country and plans on returning. When something gets abused a lot then they will stamp down on issuing visas

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