"'After escaping the drug cartel violence of my village and fleeing to America, it was the thought of a life suspended in complete limbo that kept me going as I traveled through the grueling desert terrain for three days. To be tacitly allowed to live and work in this country that I love, all the while knowing that this protection could disappear in two years, or even two months—it’s made it all worth it.'"
Jacki Is Leaving D&B
We asked Jacki how sad she was to be leaving D&B and moving to sunny California. This sad, apparently.
From Visitor to Green Card: The Life of a Legal Immigrant
In media coverage of immigration reform, one of the common complaints of anti-immigrant groups is that “illegal immigrants” should have followed the current immigration law to come to the United States.
As someone who advocates every day for people struggling to live and work here, I often wonder if most people realize just how long, arduous, and seemingly arbitrary the path to a Green Card (or even a non-immigrant temporary visa) can be for those who follow the rules. As an example, let's take a look at "Maya"—a fictional character not based on any particular individual, but a representative example of the journey many foreign nationals take.
As many foreign nationals do, Maya first comes to the US as a visitor with her parents as a young girl to visit family friends who moved to the US. After she spends two weeks on the beaches of Florida and goes to Disney World, she thinks that the US is an amazing place.
Read moreNew York Times: "Why I'm Giving Up My Passport"
Jonathan Tepper is giving up his US passport. The founder of Variant Perception, a macroeconomic research company, has spent most of his life abroad, but as an American citizen he is still required to fulfill "onerous financial reporting and tax filing requirements that are neither fair nor just." Mr. Tepper is scheduled for an "in-person final loss of citizenship appointment" at the US Embassy early next year. He will keep his British passport, obtained in 2012. With the renunciation of his US citizenship, he will join the 3,000 Americans who gave up their citizenship last year, a number that is expected to grow this year and next, even as the cost for renunciation of citizenship has increased dramatically from $450 to $2,350.
The reason, Mr. Tepper explains, is the unusual US tax laws that apply to American citizens and companies no matter where they are physically located. He notes that America is the "only country (except, arguably, Eritrea) that taxes all of its citizens on worldwide income rather than where the income is earned. Expatriate Americans have to pay taxes once, wherever they live, and then file again in the United States." Even if no taxes are owed (the IRS doesn't tax the first $97,600 of foreign earnings), many expatriates must pay thousands of dollars to accountants to navigate the complicated rules.
The US government has been taxing Americans living abroad since the Civil War, when it did so to prevent Americans from fleeing to Britain to avoid taxes. The recent Foreign Tax Account Compliance Act, which requires foreign financial institutions to report certain assets held by American clients or face severe penalties, has led to the refusal of many foreign institutions to take on American clients and arguably to the upsurge in Americans renouncing their US citizenship.
Mr. Tapper writes: "The founders agreed on 'no taxation without representation.' Why can't Congress?"
Lonely Americans
"All Americans have something lonely about them. I don't know what the reason for that might be, except maybe that they're all descended from immigrants.”
Joey and Petey Go Ice Skating
Joey took a break from work this afternoon to go ice skating at The Standard with his little penguin friend, whom he affectionately named Petey. They were busy practicing their moves and will no doubt be entering ice skating competitions in the couples category this winter.
Options for Fine Artists Applying for a US Visa
I love that in New York City art is everywhere—there’s graffiti on the side of buildings; sculpture installations throughout the streets and parks; and a huge variety of galleries and museums with artwork ranging from modern multimedia exhibitions to Renaissance paintings.
Since we are based in a city that is a center of the art world, and we often work with some of the best of these artists, we wanted to highlight some immigration considerations in the context of the fine art world, namely for gallery and museum artists.
Read moreUK Prime Minister David Cameron's Immigration Speech
A week after President Obama announced his executive actions on immigration reform, UK Prime Minister David Cameron made his own immigration speech, saying: "Immigration benefits Britain, but it needs to be controlled."
Citing the dramatic increase in immigration since 2004, Mr. Cameron proposed to "reduce the current exceptionally high level of migration from within the EU into the UK" by returning net migration to 1990s levels, when "proper immigration controls meant immigration was in the tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands."
To achieve this, he proposed to restrict time that EU-job seekers can legally stay in the UK to six months unless employment is found, change the alleged overly generous British welfare system so that those who claim benefits, tax credits, and child benefit must live and contribute for a minimum of four years, and increase residency requirements for social housing to four years.
Moreover, to decrease the level of undocumented and non-EU immigrants in the UK, Mr. Cameron pledged to continue to make "Britain a much harder place to exist as an illegal immigrant" by stopping undocumented immigrants from opening a bank account, obtaining a driver's license, and renting a home, as well as penalizing colleges who don't do enough to prevent foreign students from overstaying their visa.
Mr. Cameron made his self-admitted "radical" proposals after his failure to reduce immigration numbers, a promise he made before the 2010 election.
Germany has warned that any attempt to stop the free movement of EU workers will not be tolerated, and Poland reacted with strong disapproval to Mr. Cameron's proposed four-year timeframe before foreign workers would be eligible for welfare benefits.
A Guardian editorial also criticized Mr. Cameron's use of the "stereotype of immigrant scroungers and its belief that unchecked immigration is one of the biggest problems facing Britain. This flies in the face of the evidence, which points to the fact that EU migrants put in more than they take out financially; that they use public services less than British citizens because many leave their families at home; and that the proportion of jobless EU migrants is tiny."
When it comes to the possibility of Britain leaving the EU if these issues cannot be resolved, Mr. Cameron said, "I rule nothing out." In the meantime as his immigration proposals are considered, Mr. Cameron wants to do more mentoring to help people with "'interview skills or CVs or just giving people a bit of confidence.'" Presumably, though, he does not mean immigrants since they have received "disproportionate numbers of jobs" in the UK.
SNL Explains Obama's Executive Action on Immigration Reform
For a recent cold open, Saturday Night Live explained in song how executive action works. Featuring a bill (Kenan Thompson), an executive order (Bobby Moynihan), and President Obama (Jay Pharaoh), in this clip (in lieu of our regular "Monday Quote") we learn from President Obama of the supposedly "even easier way to get things done around here."
Happy Thanksgiving!
Despite the snowstorm and the travel delays, we hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving this year and ate lots of delicious food.