Yay! It's Election Day!

[Tiz]

This is our first, and most important, opportunity to turn this beautiful ship around.

Remember, if all you know about your candidates is what you've seen on TV advertising, then you need to do your homework before you vote.

[WashingtonBay]

Voted already last weekend :) .... we're mail in only in WA.

[HeavensEast]

I voted today! :)

[outriding01]

I voted last week as well. But I'm trying to get all my friends out to vote today!

[shewasmyshadow]

I'm heading out to try to vote now. If it's too busy, then I'll drive past again later. Lunch time tends to be SUPER busy.

[JackieB]

I voted!

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Voted last week. Since I'm not registered in King county, I only get to vote once.

[Petra]

I don't vote. :) I just have to rely on everyone else to make the right choice.

[WashingtonBay]

Do you have full citizenship Petra?

[Petra]

Do you have full citizenship Petra?

No, I'm a permanent resident. Means I can live here as long as I wish, but cannot vote.
I want to get a citizenship. It has been offered to me several years ago, but it cost more than I could afford. I'm hoping next year...

[WashingtonBay]

Well, I figured that was why you don't vote.... yet. :)

Hope you can finish up with it sometime! I think you'd be a welcome addition to the voter pool :)

[Tiz]

Who do you have to pay to become a citizen?

[WashingtonBay]

Since it looks like she signed off... you have to pay filing fees to Immigration. A quick search around shows it's now around $675 total.

How much does it cost to file an application for citizenship? It costs $675* (http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship/faqs/citizen.html#Fees%20note) to file an application for citizenship: $595* (http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship/faqs/citizen.html#Fees%20note) application fee and $80* (http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship/faqs/citizen.html#Fees%20note) fingerprinting fee. Please see the USCIS Immigration Forms website (http://www.uscis.gov/forms) for the latest fee information.
From here: Becoming a United States Citizen (http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship/faqs/citizen.html) <---from CU of NY, but it seems easier to understand than the actual immigration website)



Way back when when I assisted people in this process I think it was closer to three hundred. That was close to 15 years ago now though.

[Petra]

Thank you WB! For the kind words and for answering the question. :)
It keeps going up.
My sister became citizen about 5 years ago and it was $400 than.
I really need to do it as soon as I save up.
When I came to US I was pretty much clueless what needs to be done. The people in immigration office in Kansas City messed my paperwork up. They lost my and my son's birth certificate, and the paperwork for my son either wasn't done correctly or they lost it.
Bottom line is he has no social security card and no A#. For now he is fine, because he is minor, but they would make him leave once he'd turn 18. I went to a lawyer and to have it fixed for him would cost me $3000. Just this information costed me $150. She talked to me about 15 minutes.
So my best bet is to get citizenship as soon as I save up for it.
My son would like to get a part time job, and without social security card he is not allowed to work. So he is pretty impatient too.

[Tiz]

Thanks, WB.

The racetrack here is full of Mexicans, who work as stall cleaners, grooms, exercise riders and jockeys. I know that many of them have been led to believe they will have to pay a lawyer to get their papers. The guys I've talked to mentioned a flat fee approach to getting "started" similar what you mentioned, Petra. You can't believe how long these people get strung along, and billed and billed, in this process. It's infuriating.

I'll bet a lawyer isn't necessary at all.

[natisha]

What's the election for?

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

All the marbles. :)

[WashingtonBay]

Well, so far... it looks like this election is for not having to say Speaker Pelosi any more. :)

[Remali]

.... and thank Heavens the idiotic negative ads on TV will stop......

[WashingtonBay]

We agree on that :)

[Petra]

Thanks, WB.

The racetrack here is full of Mexicans, who work as stall cleaners, grooms, exercise riders and jockeys. I know that many of them have been led to believe they will have to pay a lawyer to get their papers. The guys I've talked to mentioned a flat fee approach to getting "started" similar what you mentioned, Petra. You can't believe how long these people get strung along, and billed and billed, in this process. It's infuriating.

I'll bet a lawyer isn't necessary at all.

Well if I wanted to fix his papers without being a citizen it would be little tricky to do without a lawyer.
But I do not need one to become a citizen. As far as I understand it I'll just have to fill out some paperwork and he will get citizenship together with me since he is a minor.

[natisha]

I voted today! :)Good Girl!:) How did it feel?

[Pi and Tofu]

Tiz, it's a different situation for the guys at the track. You can be allowed to come in and issued a social security number (we had legal and illegal at our track, it was mostly cash under the table), but that does not make you a permanent resident. Unless they found a pretty little american wife, than they will have to go the lawyer route; which generally doesn't work anyway. You can be sponsored, but that is a really tricky process if you a. don't have an employer that is willing/able to fill out the paperwork that is involved in claiming a job that is necessary and that will be hard to fill otherwise, and b. don't have money (the company usually pays the high costs). Most of the guys applied for the permanent resident lottery. Political asylum isn't going to work for these people, which is another route (which my hungarian friends took).

After they do either get married or sponsored, then they have to fill out the paperwork, wait through the process, and then pass the test. If your english is not great, the test isn't so easy either. My husband and I were married 13 or 14 years before he became a citizen, frankly because I didn't want to have to study for the test with him - he can speak seven languages but can't spell in any of them. It took a lot of coaching to get him to put "e's" on the ends of his words (store/stor).

[Tiz]

Yes, I know, but I was talking about the people even trying to get green cards, as well as citizenship. They've been led to believe they have to hire a lawyer and pay $3000 up front to get started on the process. They are being fleeced in my opinion.

[Pi and Tofu]

They are being fleeced because there's not a lot a lawyer can do for a person in that position; they aren't getting their green cards either way. Where I worked was next door to a training track and a few miles from the Downs; I understand the situation and feel sorry for them, but there really isn't much of a solution.