The difference is that you WOULD have a clue as to whether you are in bounds because you’ve been keeping track of it. I have H1B colleagues and others who know when they can and cannot leave the country, who make visits to the consulates when needed, etc. this man had 6 or 7 YEARS to figure out what the heck happened to his application. He never bothered to find out.
I paid tens of thousands in income taxes this year. If I “forgot” to pay my taxes, the visit from the IRS would not be pleasant. I dont consider ignorance an excuse in this matter.
Oh, and the legal immigration system is screwed up in part because of the massive volume of such cases. All the more reason to oppose amnesty, which will swamp the bureaucrats like a Tsunami.
I've heard form my attorney, as wellas from a few other people in the immigration field that the current backlog is a shadow cast from the previous amnesty that Reagan did. That amnesty so overwhelmed the system that the backlogs resulted. USCIS has done much to streamline their work flow, but 20 million illegals applying roughly at the same time is going to grind their current work to a halt. And you know the political pressure will be to legalize the illegals rather than concentrate on a First In First Out approach. And when denials by USCIS start happening, the immigration court system will become backlogged, too. In practice, amnesty will paralyze the immigration system for legal immigration.
I also wonder if the immigration amnesty is a back door quid pro quo for the dems to fund the Iraq war.