Posted by Ducatigirl, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 27, 2012 at 8:58 pm

My question is, why don't more Asians become US citizens, or have dual citizenship?

Why aren't Asian college grads given H1B visas with their diplomas, rather than taking what they learned here and going back home? The Chinese government , in particular, often steals money from entrepreneurs in China, and closes down their businesses ( or so we have been told by businessmen who work in both countries).

We have Asian neighbors who have no intention of having US or dual citizenship, even though their children were born here. The one family says they want to keep their options open, but you have that with dual citizenship.

Also, why do Asian Immigrants feel that it is bad to let their children play with American children? Don't they do that in school, anyway? It just alienates them more, racially.

I am hoping that an Asian immigrant can give some answers. This country takes all comers, but they should give back, too, and historically, other immigrants have.

Posted by resident, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 27, 2012 at 10:02 pm

I agree that the US Government needs to make it easier for hard working residents to become citizens. Some of my neighbors have been living right here in Palo Alto for 20 years and still do not qualify for permanent residency, let alone citizenship. The process is very convoluted, very time consuming (years and years), and very expensive (lawyer dollars). If the government could streamline this process (for all immigrants, not just Asians), then we would have a much larger pool of highly educated, hard working, local entrepreneurs to create jobs right here instead of offshore like the big corporations are doing. And yes, my Asian immigrant neighbors do socialize with their neighbors.

I know that Obama keeps talking about a path to citizenship for immigrants. Why was that not covered in the presidential debates?

Posted by Ducatigirl, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 27, 2012 at 10:17 pm

It seems Obama only intended this for illegal Mexican immigrants.

However, I have friends from Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands who were able to become citizens in a relatively short time, three years in fact. Why would it be easier for them?

There was a time, such as when my father and his parents came to America, when "preferred immigrants" had priority in citizenship.

However, Europeans have to literally win a lottery to come here--an emigration lobby.

Apparently, Asian immigrants have no such thing.

Posted by resident, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 27, 2012 at 10:40 pm

US immigration law makes it relatively easy for Western Europeans to become US citizens. US law is much different for immigrants from Latin America or Asia. This is partially due to the economies and politics of these countries. Partly due to the ethnic demographics of those countries.