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Legal Immigration blog
How to Bring a Family Member to America the Legal Way, Step by Step A plain walk through the family-sponsorship path, from eligibility and Form I-130 to the visa bulletin, the affidavit of support and the interview. How Refugee Resettlement Works and Who Decides Where Families Go Resettlement is decided in Washington, run by private agencies and felt in your town, and the process leaves local voters almost no formal say. Self-Sufficiency Was the First Immigration Rule, the Public Charge Story From colonial poor laws to the 1882 Act to Form I-864, the rule that newcomers must support themselves is the oldest idea in American immigration law. The Case for Nuclear-Family Immigration Over Extended Family Chains Family unity is a conservative value, but sponsorship of adult siblings and married adult children builds decades-long queues no one chose on merit. What an American Points System Would Look Like Written Into Law A merit system is easier to praise than to draft. Here is how points for age, education, English and jobs would be scored, and what Congress must repeal. Should the H-1B Lottery Give Way to Picking the Highest-Paid Offers First The H-1B visa is allocated by random draw, which favors volume filers over employers who value a worker most. A wage-ranked system is the better reform. Temporary Protected Status and the Problem of Temporary That Never Ends TPS was meant as short shelter after war or disaster. Renewed for decades, it becomes quiet permanence that Congress should settle by statute. The Statue of Liberty Was Built on a Pedestal Paid for by Small Donors France gave the statue, but Americans had to build the base, and more than 120,000 small donors answered a newspaper campaign to finish it in 1886. Ellis Island Asked Twelve Million Newcomers to Become Americans and They Did Ellis Island processed about twelve million people from 1892 to 1954, and its line, sponsors, night schools and oath all expected newcomers to become Americans. Andrew Carnegie Went From Bobbin Boy to Steel King and Then Gave It Away A Scottish immigrant who started at $1.20 a week built the world's largest steel company, then gave his fortune away on principle, with Homestead on the record. Why a Green Card Lottery Makes No Sense for a Serious Country The Diversity Visa hands permanent residence to winners of a random draw. A serious country picks its newcomers on purpose, and the lottery picks nobody. Thinking of Moving to Canada? Its Points System Might Not Pick You Canada, Australia and Britain all select immigrants by skills and points, which ends the claim that selecting newcomers is un-American. A side-by-side look. The Melting Pot Was a Good Idea and the Salad Bowl Is a Worse One Assimilation made Americans of millions and gave their children full membership; the salad bowl keeps the pieces apart. The argument and the best objection. The Statue of Liberty Was a Gift About Liberty, and the Poem Came Later The sonnet on the pedestal is beautiful, but it was written to raise money, mounted in 1903, and never said what immigration law should be. My Great-Grandparents Came Without Papers, the Family Story Argument Answered The family story that our ancestors just showed up misreads Ellis Island, which ran on inspection, exclusion grounds and a ship's manifest long before visas. What Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson Feared and Hoped About Newcomers The Founders welcomed immigrants and worried about whether they would take up republican habits, and their disagreement beats today's slogans. The Forgotten Immigration Grievance in the Declaration of Independence The Declaration charges the King with blocking naturalization and discouraging migration, which shows the colonists claimed the right to decide who joins them.