Posted on 11/07/2001 5:23:05 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
ATTENTION, terrorists: Want a U.S. visa? Worried about America's so-called immigration "crackdown" in response to the 9-11 attacks? Have no fear. If you've got cash, your green card is in the bag.
Last weekend, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that federal officials had arrested a Saudi national accused of accepting bribes for U.S. visas. Abdulla Noman worked for the U.S. Commerce Department and issued visas in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An informant told FBI agents that he paid Noman "approximately $3,178" in 1998 for a U.S. visa. Noman was nabbed last week during a visa-buying sting operation in Las Vegas. Investigators are probing Noman's possible links to the 9-11 hijackers -- 15 of whom received their visas legally in Saudi Arabia.
Noman's arrest, coupled with new measures to "tighten" the foreign student visa program, may appear to close off easy access to American green cards. But terrorists need not worry. There are plenty of other ways to purchase U.S. visas.
These cash-for-visa schemes are advertised widely on the Internet, in international newspapers, and by the U.S. government itself.
Take the EB-5 immigrant investor visa offered by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. It allows up to 10,000 wealthy foreigners and their families each year to buy immigrant visas in exchange for business investments. The law says the down payment must be at least $500,000. But former INS officials-turned-private consultants successfully lobbied for loosened financial rules. Despite recent reforms, the scam continues around the world.
Here is what one immigration firm, Acker Choquette Advocates based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, promises Middle Eastern immigrant investor applicants on its website: "Financing is available, with low initial cash investment of US $136,000.00. Minimum physical presence in the US is all that is required, along with the intent to remain a permanent resident."
We sell visas like used cars: Cheap, quick, and sleazy.
Here's another: The E-2 treaty investor program allows many foreigners (including those from Egypt, Oman, and Pakistan) to enter the country without INS approval if they fork over a modest $150,000 investment and agree to manage U.S.-based businesses. The E-2 visas take as little as two days to process and can be renewed indefinitely. Investors can bring their spouses, children, and "key employees" with them.
Then there's the "245(i) provision" of immigration law, which allows visa overstayers to pay a measly $1,000 fee and "adjust their status" without leaving the U.S. Rest of Story Here.
We should be pounding on the doors US Crongress demaning that practices like this be stopped!
Support America...Buy a CONGRESSMAN
Just a ticky-tack thought: How did he come up with the amount of 'approximately $3,178'? Why not $3,200?
he doesn't know either....thats just what the "agent" @the mercedes dealership asked for....
Visas, visas! What hte big deal? I get them in the mail each week. </sarcasm>
Well, it is news to me. I've had some dealings with the INS in years back over some Australian friends. You wouldn't believe the hoops that the INS mae them jump through to stay -- all the time warning them to never DARE to speak to a Congressman or elected official about it, or it would mess things up. We were told that the State Department was very jealous of their authority and didn't like having elected officials mess in their business. That to contact an elected official would ensure that these people were deported.
We finally wrote a letter on their behalf to a well placed elected individual who knew them, and their green cards arrived promptly thereafter. Their bags were packed, their house was for sale, and they were ready to head to Canada to establish their business there when the green cards came through. It had been a 10 year fight.
Prior to our letter (which we had been told not to write) they had spent $50,000 on "immigration attorneys", had to sign over their business to someone else to run, and were kept waiting for days at INS in Houston while every Central American candidate just walked in with an application and out with the proper approvals after about an hour's wait. It was outrageous, and I feel more than ever that someone in the State Department or the Department of Commerce is running a scam.
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