Why don't undocumented aliens just get the documents they need?

P-ha! Been to dmv lately? C’mon, ypu’re asking a question which involves the whole wide world.
Look, for those who are legal, just, honest persons, there is a lot of paperwork, and even more processing time.
Then too, there are those who have dishonest intentions, or, they have just simply screwed up so bad where they are, they want to squirm off to somewhere else.
The very easiest country to enter is where the very worst squirmies will go.
OMG, @tinyfaery , I can’t believe we were both thinking dmv at the same time.

It is quite complicated. First, the vast majority are not here legally, so if they showed up at an immigration office, they would be handcuffed and deported.

Getting into the US legally is very complicated. The biggest hurdle is that you have to prove that you will not become a burden on society. You can do this most easily by being independently wealthy and opening a business in the US employing people. If you’re not independently wealthy, then you have to have a sponsor. This is why having a relative here makes it simpler, because they will be more ready to sponsor a family member.

I do not know all the other requirements, but after living outside the US for a long time, I heard a lot of stories.

I have an English friend now whose Canadian wife just got her US passport. They’re jumping through unbelievable hoops to get one for the husband.

If you mean the USA, at least two main reasons:

1) It’s not easy to immigrate to the USA in the first place. Unless you already have family, you need to satisfy the nasty capitalist requirements that most Western countries have that either have piles of money or you have education and technical skills that are wanted by the US economy, etc.

2) If as you wrote, you are already an undocumented alien living in the USA, then you also need to not let them find that out and deport you and blacklist your name etc.

I know a young woman who came to the U.S from China on a student visa. She is in her early-mid 20s now, and has been here since she was a teenager. She recently graduated from college, which means that her visa will be expiring soon. In order to continue to live here, she has to prove that she will be useful to society. Her best bet at being able to do this is to continue her education in a highly specialized profession, like an engineer or a doctor. And among immigrants who are able to prove that they will be useful this way, only 25% are granted a visa renewal. Her only other option to continue to stay in the U.S. is to get married to a natural-born citizen – which is what she did last month.

Come to mention it I think that’s exactly what my grandmother did fifty-sixty years ago.

I suspect that many if not most undocumented immigrants come to reach their illegal status the same way, by coming here legally on a student or work visa and then overstaying it.

I have heard it is very expensive, too. Lots more expensive, and far more complicated than getting a driver’s license. Like, thousands of dollars.

People can wait years and years to accomplish legal admission. It may involve court appearances and expensive legal costs, including fighting deportation orders. I read recently about a woman who waited 12 years for everything to get worked out, and when her day in court came, the judge called in sick and her case was postponed. I don’t know how that turned out. But no, it isn’t like walking into the DMV and coming out with a temporary license. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, possibly made much harder if you don’t have all your papers from your country of origin—which some people deliberately destroy so no one knows where to send them “back” to. Or so I’ve read.

Just because some people think it means “extraterrestrial,” that doesn’t mean it’s offensive to use it correctly.

They don’t get he documents they need because it is a lengthy, complicated and expensive process, and not like getting a driver’s license at all. To become a permanent resident and get what it’s known as a green card, the immigrant needs to have at least 150K to invest in a business—which brings money into the country, or marry an American. Another way is if the immigrant has a parent or a child who is already a citizen then they can sponsor them after 10 years of being national citizens. When they marry an American, they can apply for a work permit and a green card, but they have to be able to prove that the marriage is legit and remain married for at least two years. They also need to have a lawyer to file the paperwork for them and pay the fees of every stage of the process which can add up to 20K or whereabouts. People can also apply for political asylum, in which case they need to prove they had been persecuted or have been subject to extreme racism. Being educated per se does not give an immigrant an edge over one that is not qualified. There are a number of visas that allow the immigrant to work and live in the country legally, but they don’t give the immigrant a permanent residence status.Illegal immigrants usually don’t have the money to legalize their immigration status. Those who have money and want to become permanent residents need a company to sponsor them for a working visa and there aren’t that many companies who are willing to sponsor them and those visas have a lot of restrictions as well. So, that should be enough to understand why there are so many illegal immigrants here. Canada however, has a different system and allows for people who are highly educated to get the documents they need to work and live legally in Canadian soil.

My daughter’s boyfriend is from Argentina, and has overstayed his visa.
He avoids airports, and tryies not to call attention to himself. That said, he recently has been dealing with his embassy in Los Angeles, and acquired his birth certificate, and now has his DMV driving permit. Obtaining all these things has made him very nervous about Trump’s stormtroopers coming to his work or his home.

Illegal alien is the old term. I’m sure the OP meant no offense. She actually used undocumented, which now is the preferred term to illegal. So, from everything I’ve heard of late, we should be saying undocumented immigrant. I still think in my head illegal alien, and then fix it before I actually say it write it.

The biggest reason people don’t do it legally is fear of being rejected. America still has quotas, and especially if you are from countries that quickly fill quotas the line to get in can be long. A perfect example is Mexico. Also, take into consideration that immigrants from Mexico have an average education of 8th grade. So, let’s say you have a 5th grade education, barely speak English, you can barely feed your family, and a guy you know knows how to cross the border and get you work. Are you likely to apply for paperwork?

Many do enter legally on tourist visas and school visas and overstay, or work when they are not allowed. The ones who overstay are here illegally, so their afraid to alert the government they are here. If they are here legally on tourist visas, you can’t just easily turn it into a permanent resident visa. Lots of those people get married (pay someone to marry them sometimes) or there have been times we have had lotteries or different ways to put your name in to get proper paperwork.

People with specific skills can get sponsored by their employer. Parents can be brought her by adult children who are citizens, but you sign that you are responsible for them. Basically, you are sponsoring them. You cannot do this for siblings or adult children.

My girlfriends sister was rejected. She applied for entry under a student visa. She was already accepted at University of Mississippi. All of her siblings live in America. The US rejected her application citing they didn’t believe she would return home. She is from Venezuela.

For people like my husband he had to do it legally, because one, it’s simply his personality, he would never be comfortable doing it under the table. Two, he was a corporate guy, and corporations don’t hire undocumented managers. Unless, that manager is using a false SS# and has gone to the extent to have all the false documents he needs to trick employers. If you’re a busboy, a farm hand, maid, etc, those industries are used to being paid under the table.

It’s much easier to get papers if you’re Italian than if your from Mexico.

Not at all like a Driver’s License.

A friend in high school wanted to be 100% legitimate before he graduated, and eventually become a citizen. He was a Palestinian immigrating from Kuwait with his extended family, some of whom were legal residents and some who weren’t.

He needed a ride once so I got to go with him to the nearest office (San Antonio, ~100 miles away from his home in Austin) and hear the story to that point. It’s just a big impersonal building, like the DMV, with all the smiling faces you’ve come to expect. Since his case was “complicated” he kept getting redirected and each time was a new appointment set out several weeks in the future. So it was a long string of driving 100 miles to be told he was in the wrong place, and driving 100 miles home, only to go back again. Like a court case, you’re not in control of any of it, and you have no recourse. You just keep your head down and keep showing up.

If we wanted a parallel, maybe imagine you wanted to start a business in China. The process would make little sense to you and even if you know Chinese, you could get held up on a cultural issue that just doesn’t translate. Not to mention that the people involved in making the decisions that affect the rest of your life are low level government employees with all the human fallibilities we all deal with.

It might be really tempting just to show up and give it a go, then figure out the legal issues later.

I have a friend who came here from Brazil on a tourist visa about 20 years ago. He overstayed, found work, and sent money home. In 2003, he was getting ready to go back, when he found out his ex-girlfriend had given birth to his daughter. He also realized that baby mama would not be a suitable mother, so, in spite of his immigration status, he was granted, and still retains full custody. He pays taxes with a tax ID number, and had a driver’s license up until a few years ago. It came time to renew, and he had to retest. Due to his status, he could not just walk into the local DMV. He was put on a statewide waiting list, and finally got an appointment for a DMV office 250 miles away. His spoken English is good enough, but his reading and writing skills are limited, and so he failed the written exam. Next time he gets an appointment, he will have to hire his own interpreter, and possibly even pay for the interpreter to accompany him for a several-hundred mile round trip.

So, he has had custody of his daughter for 14 years, has payed income tax regularly, and still can not get a green card or a Social Security number.

These have been interesting stories. I think most people thing of “Illegal aliens,” and they imagine an illiterate, violent piece of human trash. My experiences have been vastly different. People doing the hardest, dirtiest jobs are often immigrants. When we had our house re-roofed there was (is) one section that is SO steep that the contractor I hired wouldn’t do it. He said, “I’m calling in the Mexicans!” And he did.
People don’t seem to realize that if an undocumented person is found guilty of a crime they are automatically deported. My son dated a girl from Australia, who was here legally, for several years at the end of high school and for a couple of years after. Smart, beautiful girl. Well, she got into the drug scene after graduation, was eventually arrested, spent 18 months in jail, then deported back to Australia. I’m still in touch with her. She’s doing well. She would have been an asset to America. But, she’s gone.

My dad worked construction the whole time I was growing up and when I was old enough he took me to his job site for a summer job.

The first day he introduced me to his crew and started laying down the rules and what everyone needed to be doing. He walked me over to one of the workers and said “This is Cheecho, it’s the same for you as everyone else, if Cheecho outworks you, you get one warning and then the second time you’re fired”.

Cheecho was probably in his late 60’s or early 70’s, he was maybe 5’4” and I’d guess a little over 100 pounds. He smiled huge and was deferential to just about everyone.

Everyone worked hard, and Cheecho made sure everyone saw him working hard. When it was lunch time and everyone else would sit together to eat, Cheecho would walk off for a little while, come back early, and start setting everything up for the afternoon’s work. When we were done for day, he’d stay and sweep everything up. He took care of everyone, so the other guys took care of him when the job was something a 70 year old man just shouldn’t have to do.

Over the summer I learned the reason Cheecho didn’t eat with everyone was because he walked back to his bus, that he lived in, to eat lunch there each day. He saved all his money and sent it home to his children and grandchildren in Mexico. He hadn’t been “home” in years. He was supporting a family with the skills he had.

He’s who I think of when I hear about people being upset migrant workers send their checks home. He’s who I’m supposed to be afraid of.

I knew engineers who worked as busboys, because their visas ran out, and they wanted to stay in America.