Something needs to change

djh

Member
I was thinking that I only have 11 months until I can apply for my citizenship (then of course wait 1+ year to get approved) and I began to reflect on my journey through the immigration process and how long it was.

Reading my signature line, it seems so distant when I came here on my first visa and going through the RIR LC etc. I remember the many people on the forums here that helped "track" things and the websites they created like:

CIBA's tracking site
http://www.geocities.com/ciba_2/I485/WebCSC.htm

and PCee's tracking site
http://pceegcee.tripod.com/

and people like Kashmir and Sillyman etc

and it occured to me that the immigration process to citizenship consumes 20-30% of your lifetime to get... yes read that again 20-30%!!! And that thought made me more than ever realize how bad this process is.

How I determined 20-30% is let's assume your childhood/teen years, you really aren't "started" in "your" life but merely under the control of someone else. So I figured I really started my life for myself when I was 20 years old and let's assume I live to 70 years. That gives me 50 years of living my life. If this process takes 10-15 years.... of the 50 years... that has consumed 20-30% of my life where I've actually had to act, process forms, worry, stick with an employer, have uncertainty etc.

This is obviously worse if I'm a family immigrant person and it's even far more worse for those going through the EB process now, I guess it could take them 15-20 years... I know I'm stating the obvious when I say the process is busted... but I guess I never realized how much of your life it actually consumes... let's hope with a new election they come up with a more fair and faster process.
 
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You're right... it's a huge commitment. But, I think, for many people, unless you put your life on hold from the beginning to the end of the citizenship process, it's just a perk or an extra benefit (albeit a great one). I guess for many it's an investment, hehe.

I definitely wish it were faster, but there is definitely something built in to discourage people from pursuing the goal of citizenship. Otherwise, EVERYONE would be getting it, and then it wouldn't be something special.

I myself cannot wait to have that passport... and I came here in 1998.
 
Some are lucky and some are lucky some of the time, ohters might be lucky all of the time. In my case I arrived in 2001, started my gc process and got a green card in 9 months through CP route. Did not get stuck in name check and had my interview very quickly then delayed oath because of an overseas visit, got my passport in 6 days. From H1B to Citizenship in around 6 years.

I really feel bad for those who are stuck in endless delays for file lost or name check. I have come to know that even ex military people are stuck in security clearance for a long time when they apply from a place different then where they lived before. I have some friends in defense industries and they have huge delays due to FBI checks. I think delays in security clearance are more widespread than we are aware of.
 
Hi There,
It was a very long and painful ride (to GC) and I agree that probably it shouldn't be that way. Initially it use to take (when I first time came to US in mid 90s) less than a year for this process though! I was not much interested in GC at that time and things changed later on.

I just filed for my Citizenship.
PCee
 
I know some people who got GCs super fast and others who are stuck for nearly 5-6 yrs and still not done, the randomness is what the problem is. The AC21 was a blessing for some friends.

It is not right to consider a 70 yr life pan though, most of us will probably live into our 90s and 100s ! ;-)
 
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