Quoted:
INS Enforcement agents are required to issue work cards and green cards to illegals at a downtown office after inspection duties. They should be arresting them.
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Ha! I wish this were true, it wouldn't have taken four years for the INS to process my green card paperwork. Oh, maybe I should have been an illegal, then they would have given me a green card just like that. Get real. You obviously haven't been on the "customer side" of the INS.
A couple of things that no one in this discussion has even mentioned (ignorance is bliss):
According to US immigration law, there is a legal difference between [b]having a visa[/b] and [b]being in status[/b]. A visa is simply a stamp in a passport. A visa is valid for a certain period of time and admits the holder to the US for a certain purpose, such as studying, tourism, temporary work, etc. A visa only allows the holder to [b]cross the US border and enter the US[/b].
Once an alien is in the US, the [b]visa[/b] ceases to be relevant. What is legally important is that the alien "remains in status", a term much wider. This includes and is not limited to:
Continuing the purpose for which the visa was granted. E.g. A student may not work, a visitor may not study.
Further restrictions: generally, students must sign up for at least 9 credit hours per semester. Someone given a visa for temporary work can work for only the company which sponsored him for the visa.
If the alien disobeys these conditions, the alien [b]automatically[/b] falls "out of status", and becomes deportable, even if the visa stamp is valid. E.g. A student starts working without authorization. A tourist enrolls at a college.
An alien can also remain "in status" but can change his purpose by applying to the INS. For instance a tourist can ask the INS for permission to study. If the INS grants permission, the INS will officially change the status of the alien to be a student. This means that the original tourist visa becomes [b]null and void[/b], yet the alien is legally present in the United States. Oddly enough, if he leaves the US for any reason, even temporary, the visa (which allows him to cross the border) is null and void, and he has to apply for a new student visa at a US consulate overseas.
There are also lots of other little goodies in immigration law like:
A student's visa stamp can expire, yet the student can remain legally in the US as long as he continues his course of study.
Citizens of many countries, such as Canada and the UK, do not need a visa to enter the US for tourism.
So to sum up: if you meet a person who shows you a visa that is expired:
a) The person may now be an illegal.
b) The person may have taken other steps to remain in status, and may be lawfully present in the country. Correctly determining his status may require a phone call to the INS and their computers.
(to be contd.)