The immigration process is incredibly stupid and difficult to do in United States of America. Becoming a legal immigrant is not only tiresome, but takes years of work. How does one become an immigrant? To become an immigrant in the U.S, a person needs to file a petition or be sponsored by a citizen who already lives in America. The petition then needs to be approved and a Visa is available. Next, a medical examination occurs and an interview happens. After enduring all of that, it’s far from over, because the person has to wait for the decision of approval or denial.

      It might seem as though this process does not take long. Conservatives claim that people should “get in line and wait to come into the country legally” yet in reality, this all takes years. There are country caps which limit countries from sending 7% of Green Cards to the U.S. Country caps are when no country can receive more than 7% of visas in a year. These are to limit certain countries from sending too many people over.  The easiest ways to get a Visa is to get family sponsors, work sponsors, unless  you are a refugee.The government process to send in those Visas is dawdling  because of these quotas. It’s so slow, it can take up to 50 years to get a Visa approved. If an applicant is on an employment Visa, it is only temporary and when the date expires, they may have to leave the country. Converting work Visas into a Green card is incredibly strenuous. 

     After all those years and all that hard work, if an applicant makes it  into this country, the work to get citizenship starts. And many consider this process to be easy, yet it’s not. The citizenship process is how an applicant applies to become a citizen of the United States of America. This process entails application for naturalization. This needs to be filled out and needs to be seen if the applicant fills all the requirements. Then, the biometrics appointment occurs. This is when the applicant’s fingerprints are  taken with a background check. After around 14 months, an interview is scheduled where  the USCIS officers review all the information presented. The exam occurs after this. This is the citizenship test that assesses  the applicant’s English as well as their civic knowledge. Lastly, after passing the exam, an oath of allegiance occurs to pledge allegiance to the U.S. 

     When did restrictions even occur on immigrtaion? The answer is around 1875. Why? They banned criminals, people who had contagiouse illnesss, polygamists, anarchists, beggars, and importer of prostitutes. While for rightful reasons stated before, these restrictions have only increased throughout the years making it nearly impossible for those who want to come to America for better reasons like needing better education, better work life, or just a better life!With all these restrictions and the amount of time it takes to legally come into the United States, there is no wonder as to why some people consider coming to America illegally.