[opelayday]

A few interesting articles about this I found here, here and here. They mainly seem to be about Cambodian immigrants but I guess the issue is the same for Lao ones too.

Quote[/b] ]On March 22, 2002, the US and Cambodian governments signed a repatriation agreement in which the US government could now deport certain Cambodian American noncitizens convicted of "aggravated felonies." Because of the Cold War political climate, the US did not have diplomatic relationships with several Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos for the last 25 years. With no such "repatriation agreements," Southeast Asian immigrant non citizens eligible for deportation were being held indefinitely in Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) custody because they had no country to be deported to........The US is currently in negotiations with Vietnam and Laos for repatriation agreements, and such agreements could potentially put 9,000 Laotians and Vietnamese refugees in danger of deportation. Even without an agreement, the US government is claiming that such deportation to Laos and Vietnam in light of current negotiations is within the "foreseeable future" and is using this rationale to detain immigrants from these countries for an indefinite period of time.

Quote[/b] ]....allowing for the deportation of any non-citizen (of any status) who is convicted of an “aggravated felony” or who overstays their visas.....A drastic 1996 anti-immigrant law, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), expanded the definition of “aggravated felony” (meaning the sentence is for more than a year) to include seemingly minor offenses such as shoplifting and marijuana possession.

[Kneedycrype]

I wish...but nothing.. There are fews pictures, and it is not what some might think. It's not little tents, but actually a community like. I'll ask my parent when I'm home.

[stastony]

He was a baby when he came with his family. Apparently, getting all the paper work in order for him never happened. As time went on it just never was done. The rest of the family's paper work is in order. So what I am trying to say is make sure all the paper work with immigration is correct.
Just because a person grew up in one place all their life and was assumed to be from an area is not enough.
I don't know how long it will take for them to straighten out the paper work. Now he is at home. They had to put up some big $ to get him out of confinement while waiting for the case to be heard.

Deported means to be sent back to a person's birth place.
The case is a hearing to determine if the person is allowed to stay or go.

[22CreessGah]

well, i check you on the list for a gastronomic tour...
I recapitulate: harry ok if no chicken, tok ok i am sure he is greedy, shoreuz ok, Diana yes i make a promise, peanutbutter ok, makiy0 ok if i am not scottish or a particular australian forumer... ( curious this stingy reputation).
Well i think it will be more profitable if i bought a restaurant!
But we do not count when we are with nice and openminded people.
More people and i can only offer you a Mac donald's restaurant... lol

[stastony]

Khan what do you remember about the camps? Any stories to share?

[juyrett]

I won't claim to know the terrain well but from what I understand of post-9/11 actions by our immigration authorities, they are paying closer attention to students with expired visas and hope to track them much better than they had in the past. Nevertheless, I hear that they are still too understaffed to monitor everybody with an expired visa (in the meantime they are improving their tracking database). But certainly don't take my word for it. Check around (e.g., on the internet) for info on this. Maybe calling an immigration attorney might help -- they can give you some free advice & consultation on the first call and charge you later if you need more involved assistance. Would it help if I told you not to commit an aggravated felony or a crime of moral turpitude? :-)

[juyrett]

rclaimo, having re-read that your friend is from Laos, here's another tidbit. Most every country in the world has agreements (or treaties?) that will let the US send a felon/deportee back to their country of origin. The country exceptions to this can be counted on one hand. Two of those exceptions are Laos and Cuba (and I think Viet Nam also). Since Laos will refuse to take back a US felon of Lao birth citizenship, the attorney in SD told me that the felon will most usually reside indefinitely in an immigration confinement prison until the US immigration authorities decide what to do with him (or her). It sounds like your friend's family was extremely fortunate (money has a way of doing that) to get him out during the pre-hearing phase.

Based on what the attorney did not tell me (by default), US felons of Thai origin without US citizenship would get deported back to Thailand. I wonder what happens to them after that.

[Kitdowstyhodo]

After this trip, I realised that I do not love my home country as much as I do Thailand. So everytime I make a trip there, I have to bear the blues of having to return home. I hate the feeling. I want to know how possible it is for a young person, 24-28, to migrate to Thailand. This hypothetical young person is able to speak Thai fluently, looks Thai and has a law degree in the premier university of Singapore.

Will this non-Thai person be able to get a good-paying job in Thailand, have problems getting permanent residentship, blend into society?

People with experience are especially welcome to post!

[jisee]

Makiy0

Quote[/b] ]
I'll take you up on the offer. Will you be treating or will you be expecting me to pay as would some particular Australian forumer...joking!

Hey Makiy0

Next time you're in Perth let me know, and I'd treat you (oblogation free). Don't let that "one" particular Australian forumer spoil our good reputation.

cheers

[realnilkless]

Ummm ! Being about 6000 miles from the place of my birth and growing up, I don' t really miss the "land". Food maybe and definitly miss being close to family. Now I have my own family and keep in touch with the rest. As long as one can be creative in their thinking and learn how to use the words of the "law" I think it is possible. One thing to think about is the political situation where one desires to live.

[juyrett]

With a felony being committed within the White House itself, i.e., the exposure of CIA operative Valerie Plame, has anyone noticed how diligently this faith-based, "Character-is-everything" administration has sought out the perpetrators of this crime (about as diligently as OJ Simpson is looking for the killers of his ex-wife)? Exposure of Plame's role may have already meant the death(s) of some of her associates back in Europe and Africa. Oh, and I wonder if the perps will be as harshly punished as the Cambodian who urinated behind the gas station.

[aAaBecker]

Hi Chai,

I'm just wondering, how fluent is fluent? I guess it is alot harder to grasp reading thai than speaking thai, so does that mean that gaining residency in Thailand depends alot on reading? If so, I have to wait a loooonngg time. Hehe.

[stastony]

My friend's son was born in Lao and came to Hawaii with his family at a very early age.. As he grew up he went through some times that were kind of wild,. Got into some trouble and such. Now he cleaned up his life. Some how immigration looked him up. Since coming to the US ,going to school , working he passed through some cracks in the system. He never became a naturalized citizen . Now he is waiting for his case to come up and has a chance of being deported.

[Kneedycrype]

I too am not a naturalized citizen. What do you mean by deported? And what is the case, being a immigrant?

[22CreessGah]

Quote[/b] ] The food in Europe is really bland...sad to say they only make good beer and chocolates.

ahhhhhh nooooooo don't tell me that Makiy0oooohhh !!!!

If you go in France, call me and i invit you in a restaurant. You will see if food is bland!!!! .lol. Chocolate and beer!!!! and i suppose you see french with a cap and walking with bread under the arm !!! lol
You will see that food can be aromatic without be very spicy...
But I recognize Thai have a very well cooking. I like spicy too but sometime it can denatured the goods....

[Kitdowstyhodo]

Quote[/b] ]I too an currently am feeling the blues of having to return home after taking a much loved trip to thailand. Ever since I arrived home two weeks ago All I can think about is my Thai friends, and my Thai girlfriend. I have been in a rut ever since i've came home. Now every night when I go to work I feel like I'm severing time in prision and waiting for my sentince to finish so I can return "home."

I'm a little younger than you, and a little less educated than you (I don't have a college degree). But I'm going to save up for the next year and see what kind of life i can establish with my friends and girl friend in Thailand. I know this has got to sound navie but it's the only direction I can see at this moment.

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you can find Happiness in Thailand.

I see that the both of us share some similarities, except for the having an other half portion. I feel that since we only live once, we should really consider where we want to live our precious lives and not be limited by our place of birth. Thanks for the luck, I wish for you the same. It's good to see that you are working towards your goal.

Quote[/b] ]When you live in a country since your birth, you experience feelings, souvenirs that you will measure more if you will come back long time after in your home country. Grass seems always more green on the other side
People who live far from their birth country often say their heart is in their new adoptive country but their soul is in their origin country.

I understand what you mean by this. Home will always hold a special place in my heart. Home sweet home. Friends and family, but that is simply not enough for me. The grass is always greener on the other side? This statement has always been disregarded by me, more so in this context. I've travelled pretty much and seen quite a lot for someone my age and the grass is only greener in Thailand.

Quote[/b] ]ter 18 years in australia....as much as i love it and i dont really know anyother place...in my heart when i say I miss home i still mean thailand...is this strange???

Not at all. Home is where the heart is and your heart is in Thailand and so is mine.

Quote[/b] ]MakiyO Thailand is a great countyis that is your goal, but haven traveled all over Europe Asia and North America, I have discovered there is No countries better than, Japan, and if you don't mind the cold weather Norway and Finland are just as good.

That is not true, Paul. I have travelled to USA (Florida, Hawaii and New York), England (London), Turkey, China (Beijing and Shanghai), Hong Kong, Taiwan (Taipei), Japan (Tokyo), Brunei, Malaysia (Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Johor Bahru), Indonesia (Jakarta, Batam), Australia (Tamworth, Perth, Sidney), New Zealand and of course Thailand. I liked Japan alot too, but just not as much as Thailand. Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world, so much so that even London and Paris cannot match it. Since I'm not a millionaire, I cannot afford to live there nor do I want to. Taiwan is pretty nice but the people don't compare in warmth to the Thais. Hong Kong was nice too but just not as nice as Thailand and the rest, they didn't meet my minimum requirements. And I do mind cold weather. I love to laze around under the hot sun on the beach all year round. So cold countries are all out for me. Plus I love spicy food. The food in Europe is really bland...sad to say they only make good beer and chocolates.

[Kneedycrype]

Quote[/b] ]I learned this from an immigration/deportation attorney in San Diego

hey, did you see this in the news, I just remember that last month they had news about this situation.

I'm thinking about getting my US citizen sometime in the next year. But, lets say you are an exchange student, and your grade wasn't good enough or for some other reason, you drop out of school and is still in the US, and your visa expired. What will happen to you then? My long distance relative had this situation and was arrested, but my granni bail him out. But what will happen after that? Do he have a chance to renew his visa? I don't want to get into this discussion with him. So I just asked here.

[Unoloknovagog]

Quote[/b] ]There are also (unrelated) stories in the news about the INS harassing customers at a Latino grocery stores in Maine. We Americans have to get the idiots who are running our country out of office. They are a menace to our nation, and to the world.

Delawang, I couldn't agree more. I am currently living in Portland, Maine, and the immigration raid a few months ago was unforgiveable. They went to all the bus and train stations and the airport and ethnic grocery stores and even the Maine state department of health and human services and detained anyone Who wasn't white!

With the "patriot" act now in effect, If they are merely accused of terrorism, they have no legal rights to defend themselves.

I read another case about this 20-something year old guy that was deported for a misdemeanor he had already done his time for, to Cambodia. He didn't speak a word of Khmer. He was an American kid, disowned by the political policies of his adopted Motherland, doomed to abject poverty in a country where he doesn't even know the language.

So sad

[wrenjmerg]

If this hypothetical young person is of Thai nationality, speaks Thai fluently, and graduated from a university overseas, then hypothetically, yes, s/he should be able to get a job. As for how much the pay will be, or if the job will even be in the field of law, I cannot answer that. Lawyers do not typically make a lot of money in Thailand, unlike lawyers in the USA.

[whimpykid]

I would not miss Australia if I left, It is not the land of milk and honey any more. I just stay here because of my family & Friends. MakiyO Thailand is a great countyis that is your goal, but haven traveled all over Europe Asia and North America, I have discovered there is No countries better than, Japan, and if you don't mind the cold weather Norway and Finland are just as good.