By Navtej Kohli

PLEASE NOTE: I realize that American Citizens do not need Green Cards. This review is purely hypothetical. Please read all the
before you make comments, as many of your complaints are addressed therein.- Kohli Navtej.

A friend of mine recently went through the process to become a U.S. Permanent Resident, meaning that he got a “Green Card.” The process of obtaining such a thing is very complicated. So complicated, in fact, that almost 17% of the United States’ population would either not qualify to be permanent residents of their own country, or would find significant road-blocks on their way to residency.

Why, you ask, does it matter if you are gay? The answer is this: One of the only ways to get permanent residency in the US is by marrying an
American citizen. Employment-based residency applications usually require the immigrant to be a “person of extraordinary ability”. The likelihood of obtaining a Green Card without “extraordinary” or “exceptional” abilities is very low.

Marriage is the most simple way to get an immigrant visa. As gay marriage is not recognized in the United States, a gay U.S. Citizen cannot act as the sponsor of his or her foreign partner.

Just to clarify, most people enter the United States on “non-immigrant visas”, meaning that their stay in the country has a time limit. If I, Navtej Kohli, came to the U.S. to take a vacation, I’d need a visitor’s visa, which is also (obviously) of the non-immigrant type. Students who come on F-1 student visas, for example, usually have a visa that lasts for four years. Unless the person extends their visa or obtains a new one, they must leave the U.S. after their visa expires.

Here’s a link to the http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-693.pdf medical examination report that doctors fill out. You’ll see the ailments they test for on Page 3.

Applicants must make at least 25% more money than that which designates “poverty.”In this graph, I’ve only included the 12.7 million Americans who are actually under the poverty line, so there are potentially millions more U.S. Citizens who would fail to qualify on the basis of making too little money.

Acknowledging that many people may fall into more than one category (that is, they may be infected with HIV and be living in poverty), I’ve not included numbers for the people whose income falls between 100% and 125% of the poverty line, and neither have I compensated for the untold number of Americans who may have the mental and physical ailments that doctors are required to look for when examining potential immigrants. You will see the various otherlimitations, such as “Other physical defect, disease or disability” on the abovementioned medical examination form.

Also, for the sake of citation, here are the sites I consulted in order to obtain figures for the “other” diseases that hinder a person’s acceptance as a U.S. immigrant:

Hope you’ve enjoyed this!