> "My questions was, why didn't the author become a U.S. citizen?"
Her personal motivations and desires really have no bearing on her legal status here. Questions like these imply that the only people the US can accept into its borders are:
1) Citizens
2) Non-citizen short term visitors
3) Non-citizens committed to obtaining citizenship
Yet, historically, many of our most valued and productive members of society have been immigrants who did not obtain citizenship right away (not to mention the labrynthine and expensive process required to get just a green card today [1])
> "A person who has no intent on citizenship is not a immigrant, should their visa expire, they are simply an illegal alien outstaying their welcome"
The issue is not legality, but proportionality. If you forget to renew your drivers license and drive with it expired, you will get a ticket. You then pay your fine, renew your license, and in the few days this process takes, you are inconvenienced by not being able to drive. At no time have you "outstayed your welcome on the road" and no sensible person will accuse you of "thinking it's acceptable to drive without a license". Sensible people recognize an honest mistake in a byzantine system and give people the benefit of the doubt.
On the other hand, if your visa status is in any way imperfect for a single minute you can be deported and barred from ever reentering the country. The OP was "lucky" to be allowed to be able to reenter 18 months later. Welcome to the land of the free.
Well, the US can accept all kinds of people, but isn't it quite clear that it wants to let in only those three major groups (with some tiny exceptions) ?
The current USA policies seem quite clear - it wants to expel anyone who wants to live and work there but pretends to be a short-term visitor. Try saying "I want to live and work in USA" in your visa application - you won't get a visa. According to the current immigration laws, if you want to do so, then you've "outstayed your welcome on the road" already before entering USA.
The whole point of these laws wasn't to get people like her to 'follow a proper procedure' where a mistake can be forgiven; the intended goal actually was to detect people like her and get them out.
One can definitely argue that the goal is evil (IMHO it is) and should be changed; but these policies aren't stupid, they're doing what they're designed to do.
Wow, that document does show the process to be quite a labyrinthine... I would definitely support simplification of the process. I also think 5 years is too long (so long as the other requirements are met) and I think time spent legally resident with any kind of visa should count towards the threshold.
However, I do feel that people groups 1,2 & 3 are the only people any country should accept into its borders. Maybe with the addition of medium term visitors like students, people on prolonged business trips or investors.
5 years greencard-to-citizenship is nothing in comparison with how long it takes to get the greencard.
If you are a Filipino who in 1991 filed for family-based green card, because your brother was US citizen, then you are still waiting for your greencard approval. Yeap, 23 years later.
Her personal motivations and desires really have no bearing on her legal status here. Questions like these imply that the only people the US can accept into its borders are:
1) Citizens
2) Non-citizen short term visitors
3) Non-citizens committed to obtaining citizenship
Yet, historically, many of our most valued and productive members of society have been immigrants who did not obtain citizenship right away (not to mention the labrynthine and expensive process required to get just a green card today [1])
> "A person who has no intent on citizenship is not a immigrant, should their visa expire, they are simply an illegal alien outstaying their welcome"
The issue is not legality, but proportionality. If you forget to renew your drivers license and drive with it expired, you will get a ticket. You then pay your fine, renew your license, and in the few days this process takes, you are inconvenienced by not being able to drive. At no time have you "outstayed your welcome on the road" and no sensible person will accuse you of "thinking it's acceptable to drive without a license". Sensible people recognize an honest mistake in a byzantine system and give people the benefit of the doubt.
On the other hand, if your visa status is in any way imperfect for a single minute you can be deported and barred from ever reentering the country. The OP was "lucky" to be allowed to be able to reenter 18 months later. Welcome to the land of the free.
[1] http://immigrationroad.com/green-card/immigration-flowchart-...