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NY Tops US in Green Card Wait
By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 2, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 2, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The Daily News today has one of those stories that is not particularly surprising but sad nonetheless. Basically, getting a green card in New York is harder and takes longer than anywhere else in the country. By next year the backlog of old cases and applications could go as high as 144,000 with people having waited years just to get an interview. To hammer in the point the News manages to find the saddest stories to give as examples, like the woman who has been waiting for 15 years for a green card so that she can legally go back to Bolivia to see the grandfather who raised her until she was six and who is now going blind ("'He wants to see me before he goes blind' said the part-time City College student, housekeeper and waitress"). And what is the government doing about all of this? Upping quotas and then sending in more immigration officers so as to at least keep up the current, very slow, pace. In the meantime if you or someone you know are waiting for a green card, the News recommends moving to Jersey where the wait is noticeably shorter.
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