Question:
I got my LCA back from the INS in San Francisco and send the final paperwork to
the INS in Laguna Niguel, California for my H1 visa. They received it on 26th
October. Does anyone know how long it takes to process the H1 visa in the
California office? (I am presently on F1).
Answer:
The WSC reports a processing time of 29-30 days, but we are currently getting
approvals for cases filed as recently as 20 days.
You can find more information about US visas and employment-based immigration
via our firm's web site at:
http://www.schulzlaw.com/~mschulz.
In recent years the politics of France are being hijacked by right wing
nationalists like Jean-Marie LePen who have stirred up fear in the
people against immigrants and especially those from Northern Africa
(Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco etc). This is definitely xenophobia. In more
recent times, France is finding itself in a very delicate situation with
regards to its former colonies. Algeria comes to mind instantly. If you
follow the situation more closely, you'll find out that Paris is being
bombed almost daily by people/groups alligned to the religious
fundamentalists in Algeria who want France to cease interefring in its
internal affairs.
In closing, the situation is driven by slightly different historical factors.
Don't know if anyone noticed since we're all so busy calling each other
names and throwing rocks at each other, but the French Government has
been quitely pursuing a course of DRASTICALLY reduced immigration for
the past several months. AP wire story just announced that they have
turned back some 60,000 prospective immigrants at the border over the
past few months.
I wonder. Does this qualify the French as being racist, elitist,
nativist, greedy, selfish xenophobes, or are those titles reserved
exclusively for Californians?
Who would activly choose to emigrate to France?
Answers on a postcard please....
Just two points, Comrade Sickle:
1) Currently, France is having serious economic problems. The Franc
may not meet the criteria to join the upcoming ECU (EU's unified
currency due in 1999). Without France in it, the European Community
is virtually a failure. Second, France is a lot more chauvinist,
racist if you will, than the US. Hardly a country for the US
to look up to.
2) I am a Californian and I would never, never share the xenophobic
views that have been presented in this forum; so let's not make
gross generalizations (tm) about my home state.
What is your problem with France ?
I am french.
Where do you come from ? I suppose U.K.
All the Brits who have been snapping up these "fix-er-upper" houses in
the French countryside...They must know something you don't.
other names and throwing rocks at each other, but the French
government has been quitely pursuing a course of DRASTICALLY reduced
immigration for the past several months. AP wire story just announced
that they have turned back some 60,000 prospective immigrants at the
border over the past few months.
nativist, greedy, selfish xenophobes, or are those titles reserved
exclusively for Californians?
France does not have an immigration policy, so it does not accept or
reduce number of immigrants, because there is no such beast in France.
You have legal and illegal foreigners ("étrangers en situation
irréguliére", to use the French official euphemism), with or without a
"permis de séjour"/résidency permit, and/or a work permit. Of course,
a foreigner can become a French citizen in some conditions
(naturalisation/marriage etc...), and it is only then that he could be
called an immigrant, although the terme is rarely if ever used in
France. The term "immigré" is used, and it has a different meaning
than the French word "immigrant". Immmigré litterally means
"immigrated"; this is a subtle distinction, but it reflects the fact
that immigrants to France are on their own, i.e. they were not brought
in (or are not perceived as such), as a result of an official policy
or quota; neither were they invited to stay when the policy was to
bring them in (when the times were good); they were then
"travailleurs immigrés" foreign workers; "immigrants" in France (if
you want to use this term) are are in effect independants fending for
themselves.
The Germans solved their foreign Turkish workers "problem" by kicking
them out pure and simple; lots of these workers are illegal aliens in
France now. France has simply not expelled any large number of
immigrants. In the 70's, many of them were given sums of money to
finance a return home; most of them took the money and came back
illegally, or legally (e.g. the Portuguese when Portugal became a
member of the EEC). To stay on that subject, large immigrant groups
like the Spaniards (biggest wave after the 1936 civil war) and the
Portuguese, have been an enormous positive and enriching addition to
the French identity. I was raised in the heart of France listening to
Spanish spoken all around me as a second language; my grandmother (of
100% French ancestry) used to take me as a kid around the tour of
Spanish fiestas in the city; most of my little friends parents were
Spanish or Portuguese; and one of the tenant in the house was an
ex-WW2 German war prisoner who had decided to stay in France after he
was released (and this was not a rarity by the way). To portray the
French as dumbly racists is an idiocy. They are racists yes, but so is
everybody else up to a point; being an immigrant myself, I know what I
am talking about.
The situation concerning the huge problem of illegal aliens (not
immigrants, aliens! This is not the same thing): in many ways this is
akin in France to California, because the numbers are enormous
(millions of persons probably), and education/welfare is nevertheless
provided at taxpayer's expense: being a resident in France entitles
one to certain social safety nets, including education. Another
problem is that some of these groups are happy to avail themselves of
social services, but refuse to learn the language or to abide by the
laws of the land; does that remind you of something? When I am in
Canada or the States, and I see a boutique with an unilingual
non-English sign, it pisses me off. No respect! like Rodney would
say...
The French problem is exarcerbated by the very high unemployment rate
and the terrible problems in Algeria; but you would not know anything
about that watching US network news.
