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Saturday, November 10, 2007

A recent post in an immigration forum I read highlighted what J and I have long thought - that the biggest cause for illegal immigration is that it’s a simpler and faster way for families.

Take Jake’s case. She entered the US in 2004 on the Visa Waiver Program, married her American boyfriend and didn’t bother returning to the UK after her 3 month visa was up. In July of this year, Jake finally applied for legal status and she had her Green Card in hand by the end of October. She overstayed by 3 years, and was granted permanent resident status within 4 months of finally applying for it, with no penalty. There was no forced separation, no fine, no nothing.

Unfortunately, her story is not that unusual. Even if she had been caught, there are so many waivers and appeals that can be filed, it would take years to wade through it without the US government being able to deport her. She would’ve stayed in the US with her husband until eventually, she would have the same end result, legal permanent residency.*

Now look at my case. Going the legal route, J and I have been living in different countries for 11 months. Odds are good that we’ll remain separated when our 9 year wedding anniversary rolls around on November 30th, and it’s highly likely we’ll be spending Christmas apart. There is no end in sight for us, no telling when we’ll finally be together. We are completely at the mercy of the NVC (National Visa Center), and it’s taking a huge toll on our marriage.

I ask you - if you were looking at ways to get your ‘alien’ spouse in to the USA quickly and without much fuss, which story would be more appealing to you?

* This assumes that the ‘alien’ has entered the country legally and has become illegal by overstaying. The same options are not available to those who entered without inspection and are undocumented.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

FireFTP - a full-featured FTP program right inside Firefox!

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Apparently, Kiwi news site Stuff had no photos of the Australian Wallabies on the losing end, so the photo they included in this article makes it look as though the boys were pretty damn happy to be out of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Yeah, right!

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Veritas et Aequitas is a World of Warcraft guild on the Thrall (US) server. The site was completed a month or so ago and has been warmly embraced by guild members.

Just A Little Gnome ...

Welcome to LVGnome, the personal weblog of a Kiwi girl living the American dream (or something close to it!) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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