MEGATHREAD- What does a Trump Presidency mean for visas? (merged)

[Boiler 45,522]

I doubt if anything will happen before the wall is built.

[NYCruiser 423]

Ever since the election and all the talk about immigration reform I have had a paranoia that my status isn't secure anymore. Do you guys think Lawful PRs can be messed with?

Is it unreasonable that I fear talk about an isolationist America, which could lead to LPRs would being kicked out for taking jobs away from citizens? I know there's talk about banning muslim countries or enforcing extreme screening processes. What does this say about the current LPR muslims? Should they need to get re-screened?

What do you guys think? Not just about my crackpot theories, but the current status of LPRs in general. I feel like even though I haven't done

anything wrong, i'm in the wrong just for being an immigrant. Even though US is built on immigrants, the zeitgeist of this era doesn't feel that

way.

I do hope that this topic will not result in insults and ad hominum attacks. In answer to your anxiety. I do not think that you need to be worrying. It is the ILLEGAL immigrants who maybe should worry. If you look at jobs, YES, I would agree that illegal immigrants DO take jobs away from legal immigrants (refugees, lower education LPRs etc). For instance, a LPR dishwasher or waiter would NOT get hired. Why? An illegal will take half the wages, no reporting to the IRS, Medicare, OSHA etc. Do we need reform? NO. Enforce the e-verify law AND increase penalties on scum bucket employers.

That being said, we have to take care of LPR AND USCs FIRST. Minimum wages have to be raised (I accept and would allow for this) as prices will be higher too. NO sanctuary cities (defund them). That is accepting illegal activity. YES YES there will be many moral relativist replies to this I am sure. I dont care. Countries have a duty and right to control their own borders.

In summary, Trump (not a fan by the way) will not touch your immigration status

[jeffkadrliktorr 99]

I do hope that this topic will not result in insults and ad hominum attacks. In answer to your anxiety. I do not think that you need to be worrying. It is the ILLEGAL immigrants who maybe should worry. If you look at jobs, YES, I would agree that illegal immigrants DO take jobs away from legal immigrants (refugees, lower education LPRs etc). For instance, a LPR dishwasher or waiter would NOT get hired. Why? An illegal will take half the wages, no reporting to the IRS, Medicare, OSHA etc. Do we need reform? NO. Enforce the e-verify law AND increase penalties on scum bucket employers.

That being said, we have to take care of LPR AND USCs FIRST. Minimum wages have to be raised (I accept and would allow for this) as prices will be higher too. NO sanctuary cities (defund them). That is accepting illegal activity. YES YES there will be many moral relativist replies to this I am sure. I dont care. Countries have a duty and right to control their own borders.

In summary, Trump (not a fan by the way) will not touch your immigration status

For someone who's not a Trump fan you sound like you spend your free time memorizing his rally speeches. Remember when you speak of "illegals", these are human beings just like you and me, they have families who love them. Some of them were brought to the US before they were old enough to understand what was happening. Now this is all they know and realistically don't have anything to go back to if they were to be deported. Try having some humanity.

That being said it seems like so much of Donald's campaign rhetoric was just empty words, to pull in his gullible supporters. If you immigrated here legally, I doubt you have anything to worry about. If you immigrated here illegally, then it may be a different story..especially if you have a criminal record it seems.

[Mounat 74]

OP, nothing to worry about. Almost every act to change immigration will require congressional and/or the courts' involvement and will move slowly through the system.

Funding to USCIS could be cut or severely reduced temporarily to slow things down.

All hypotheticals at the moment. Not much will change between now and 2020 on this front.

Trump can't retroactively delegitimize LPRs. No president can.

[cdneh 3,112]

OP, nothing to worry about. Almost every act to change immigration will require congressional and/or the courts' involvement and will move slowly through the system.

Funding to USCIS could be cut or severely reduced temporarily to slow things down.

All hypotheticals at the moment. Not much will change between now and 2020 on this front.

Trump can't retroactively delegitimize LPRs. No president can.

USCIS is a fee-based agency. Its funding is not dependent on annual appropriations from Congress.

[Mounat 74]

USCIS is a fee-based agency. Its funding is not dependent on annual appropriations from Congress.

A moratorium on new applications means no fees with which to fund operations. A defacto defunding.

[cdneh 3,112]

A moratorium on new applications means no fees with which to fund operations. A defacto defunding.

Why on earth would there be a moratorium on new applications? No such thing has even been mooted. Mr Trump is interested primarily in illegals. If you aren't illegal, why worry. Seriously, people are getting all worked up for nothing.

[Mounat 74]

Why on earth would there be a moratorium on new applications? No such thing has even been mooted. Mr Trump is interested primarily in illegals. If you aren't illegal, why worry. Seriously, people are getting all worked up for nothing.

It's possible but highly improbable. Much like the odds of Trump winning the presidency.

[cdneh 3,112]

I thought the odds of his winning were quite high, really. But the odds of him instituting a moratorium on any applications to USCIS is infinitesimal.

[Ash.1101 1,756]

Saying everything that COULD happen in the world, is why people end up being misinformed, confused, and scared. By saying it's improbable AFTER the fact doesn't take away the impact of someone that's reading the first post and goes "but what if it DOES happen!?". Some people aren't as logical, and want to prepare for all situations, so even if you bring up a situation that has a 1% chance of happening, they could take it in their minds of "yeah but there's a 1% chance for a reason, it has to happen to someone right?".


With that said, I HEAVILY doubt they would have USCIS cease fee funding. It's a lose lose for both parties. Federally, they would have to start funding something they've never funded before which puts them out of money immediately just by handing over a single dollar, and yes, if they give less money than they expect on average a year, USCIS loses. The next question would be, would that remove the fees or where would the fees go? A lot of people claim to not do the process legally due to the cost, would that actually help some people do this process if it cost nothing but took MUCH longer?

Lot's of ifs and buts, No one has said anything about removing USCIS fees or attempting to lower the money they receive in, and until it is mentioned by someone up in the high rises, it shouldn't be considered something that's an option right now, or if you're so literally in that EVERYTHING is technically an option, Consider it as much as an option that a world killing asteroid is going to hit the earth tomorrow.

As for him winning, "no one" thought he was going to win, yet a lot of people seemed to have voted for him. Less than halfway through the counting of votes, he was at a 90% win chance on NYTimes, it only went up as the night went on. It also depends on what article you look at, if you google "chances of trump winning" you'll find articles three days apart from each other saying he has an 87% chance of winning, a 0% chance of winning, a 10% chance of winning, and a 70% chance of winning. The internet is a fun thing, you can get 50 different feelings, stats, opinions about the same topic at almost any given time. For any study you find, you can find a study that says it's wrong. Take anything you find with a grain of salt and use your best judgement.


As for the OP, as long as you came in legally and continue to act in a good upstanding LPR manner you shouldn't have anything to worry about. No changes would happen overnight, anything that they could attempt to pass through, you'd know about it (especially here) well before it started going through the channels that it would need to go through to become anything.

[cdneh 3,112]

There's quite a bit of misinformation flying about. It's as though the thought process for some of it is the belief that discrediting the president elect somehow validates the person who lost. Mr Trump isn't the boogeyman he is being portrayed, and neither was Mrs Clinton the saint she was painted out to be.

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Key thing Trump has spoken about many times is his dislike of "illegal" immigrants. He has no issue with immigrants, look at his wife lol.

As long as you have done everything legally, you are fine.

The extra screening he has talked about is for future immigrants from MENA countries. If you're here, done immigration all properly, you're going to be fine.

[andy78 178]

Based on everything I heard, there is no indication that immigrants (including permanent residents) will be "messed with". I wouldn't rule out extra screening and registration requirements in the future for people entering the US who come from certain countries (which is similar to what happened after 9/11).

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Based on everything I heard, there is no indication that immigrants (including permanent residents) will be "messed with". I wouldn't rule out extra screening and registration requirements in the future for people entering the US who come from certain countries (which is similar to what happened after 9/11).

Especially after also the whole Ohio State campus incident recently... it was a Somolian refugee wasn't it?

Just another example, for whatever reason the person attacked those people, that's why Trump wants to have all these extra checks and also limit them even

[Hypnos 6,576]

Given the current climate towards immigrants - legal or otherwise - or just towards non-white Americans, I think the smart money is on becoming a US citizen as soon as you possibly can.

I become eligible on 4th January 2018. You can bet your ### that my N-400 will be arriving on 5th January 2018.

Trump is uninformed and speaks without knowing the intricacies of what he is speaking about. His words and actions have already empowered hard right racists and xenophobes, and that's before he's even taken office. It's only going to get worse from here.

It's going to be a rocky four years (and hopefully that's all it will be). I would urge anyone considering filing for citizenship to just do it, for their own protection if nothing else.

LPRs may not necessarily be protected from some of his more outlandish plans. Remember internment camps for people of Asian descent in the US during the second world war? 62% of those were US citizens.

Is anything like that planned, or even likely? No, but with Trump, really who can say definitively. As commander-in-chief, a US President has very wide latitude to take actions they deem to be necessary to defend the country. God only knows what his tiny brain and hands will come up with.

Buckle up. It's going to be a fun four years!

Edited December 11, 2016 by Hypnos