Senior with 4.09 GPA accepted at UC Berkeley, oh wait illegal immigrant

[MaachaQ]

Getting a green card is fucking hard and people don't seem to realize it. Getting my wife's was hard, took months and cost over $3000 dollars, and that was with us being married. Just applying for one? Fucking give me a break.

Even a Green Card doesn't guarantee anything... we finished the filing process for my husband's Green Card shortly before they doubled the fees a few years ago. Unfortunately, we lived in the vicinity of Detroit, Michigan, and he was unable to even get any interviews for jobs, let alone job offers. We ended up moving here to Korea where he got a job within a couple months. His Green Card is still valid for a few years, but I don't know if the job situation in the US will recover sufficiently for us to move back before it expires...

At least our kids were born in the US and have US passports, so they can choose to be Korean or US citizens when they reach 18 (no dual citizenship allowed). Universal health care over here and really good schools too, I think we're much better off here than we would be if we'd stayed in the states...

I really hope that Dream act passes, it is one of the rare lights of hope in the shitty US immigration system.

[Rhinox]

I did read it, if you dont know the answer, say that.

You cant get a tax refund if you never paid taxes, you havent shown me 1 example of how an illegal alien can legally be paying taxes.

I have no sympathy here for her, or any system that wants to usher in people through something like a Dream Act, it's gonna make the illegal immigration issue worse.

LOL

[aurik]

You are supposed to pay taxes even if your income is illegal. Even if you are illegal. In fact, I'm pretty sure the IRS has a don't ask don't tell policy when it comes to that kind of stuff. Just pay the taxes that you owe (and you DO still owe taxes on illegal income) and they'll happily take your cheque.

Also, re: original article. Tell the girl to cry moar about not qualifying for loans due to residency status. She has the opportunity to go to college but she can't afford it, wah wah wah cry me a river. Not everyone can afford everything they want, welcome to the real world.

[Vuitton]

lol? about undocumented workers not paying taxes. Dipshits, they use fake / stolen SS#s to get jobs from companies that don't bother to check or if they do check they look the other way. Undocumented workers are paying taxes for people who don't exist, are dead, or are unaware they're SS# has been compromised.

They're paying taxes though on the money they earn. The ones that aren't paying taxes are the ones that are paid in cash under the table, and that is not a majority of them. Those are the hard manual labor jobs that just want to hire day laborers.

Edit:

I have changed my stance on this chick. Who cares if she is intelligent enough for Berkeley or wherever. Thousands of students every year have to settle for less because they can't afford the schools they desire, even with loans. I could have gone to a private Jesuit university if I could have afforded it.

She can pay cash for her AA and then transfer to an in-state university and pay cash for the last two years of her bachelor degree.

She should just be glad she was able to achieve so much as an undocumented person.

[Bingbong]

Maybe she could ask her native country for which she has citizenship to send aid for college?

[archibaldcrane]

Grasping for straws bro.

You lost the argument move on.

Lol, I didn't lose shit. The fact remains that she won't be able to use her degree even if she gets it, because no employer who hires college grads is going to break the law (especially in a political science-related field) just to hire an illegal immigrant, so she'll be stuck in illegal menial labor jobs where her $130,000 degree is worthless and she'll be trapped by crushing debt for an extremely long time.

The fact remains that she shouldn't get a loan unless she can get legal residency - that's the only thing that makes sense and that is what she needs to address.

[EckoGecko]

My girlfriend is in this same situation, except she understands that it's impossible to get government funding for herself so she instead went into a program that funds the money to pay for tuition.

It pretty horrible for her and her family because none of them have a legitimate job. She's scared to apply for one because of her status. I do know though that her mom gets government help to pay the rent (at a reduced fee) and pays taxes yearly.

[archibaldcrane]

Do you make her do kinky sexual stuff for you, and threaten to call the INS if she doesn't?

[EckoGecko]

Do you make her do kinky sexual stuff for you, and threaten to call the INS if she doesn't?

Yes, yes I do. :]

[Syntex]

Lol, I didn't lose shit. The fact remains that she won't be able to use her degree even if she gets it, because no employer who hires college grads is going to break the law (especially in a political science-related field) just to hire an illegal immigrant, so she'll be stuck in illegal menial labor jobs where her $130,000 degree is worthless and she'll be trapped by crushing debt for an extremely long time.

The fact remains that she shouldn't get a loan unless she can get legal residency - that's the only thing that makes sense and that is what she needs to address.

That is a good point you bring up.

Becoming a citizen is a wall that isn't going away by walking around it. Its just going to pop up at every step of her life until she finally deals with it so its best to handle it sooner rather than later.

[Kyreth]

4.09 isn't getting you into Harvard unless you're exorbitantly rich. At *best* it's really about a 3.8, at worst it's around a 3.0.

My family is rich as fuck. Nowhere near rich enough to buy our way into Harvard. Barely rich enough to afford going without scholarships, that shit is expensive as fuck.

If you want to buy your way into Harvard, we're not talking a few million. We're talking 10's. It's not the ridiculous joke to get in you people seem to think it is.

That would be Notre Dame.

Notre Dame doesn't stick it's nose up into the air like Ivy League schools often do.

My grandpa on Mom's side went there. Son of a farmer. (Mom went to St. Mary's across the road, literally)

My father did. ROTC, son of a steelworker.

My cousin did. Her dad was Notre Dame (again, her mom, St. Mary's), the legacy helped, but they're also rich as fuck...but she did aces in college/B+ average in high school.

Harvard's a lot more "money" than Notre Dame will ever be, even though nobody's going to look askance at either one on your resume under "college education". That being said, if she somehow gets a student visa/green carded, Notre Dame would probably snap her up in an instant if she's Catholic. ND's always been very pro-immigrant, and Catholic institutions don't tend to care much if they're legal or not if they can wrangle a way to keep her in the country.

[Kurokikaze]

Is the girl and her family still in the country after having this publicized?

[Kyreth]

For falsifying a social security card, or driver's license, or passport? Or passing off the SS card, DL, or passport of someone else's as your own?

Probably varies a little bit for each but they're all illegal.

Under the identity theft/fraud laws, it's a felony. Which makes you wonder if the family (or worse, the young woman in question here) has done just that at any point. California permits/driver's licenses require a legit SSN.

If she's illegal and even has so much as a permit, that means she used a false one.

[Acturus]

Is the girl and her family still in the country after having this publicized?

Yeah, they're all going to live with some family in Florida, go to Disney World, and then some asshole uncle is going to insist that they are better off living in Mexico with him.

At that point, Janet Reno will send in the SWAT team to find them all huddled in a closet.

[Kyreth]

Hey retard read your form again. and whats the penalty for lying on one of these?

I'll restate it again.

The IRS doesn't check legal status.

Did you get that?

I-9's fall under Homeland Security/Dept. of Justice, according to this:

http://www.i-9help.com/I9Handbookm-2...09revision.pdf

One would reasonably guess they do check legal status for evidence of fraud, considering the long list of penalties to both employer and employee for fucking it up.

And that's for any job nowadays, save for:

1. Hired before November 7, 1986, who are continuing in their employment and have a reasonable expectation of employment at all times;
2. Employed for casual domestic work in a private home on a sporadic, irregular, or intermittent basis;
3. Independent contractors; or
4. Providing labor to you who are employed by a contractor providing contract services (e.g., employee leasing or temporary agencies).
5. Not physically working on U.S. soil.

(quoted from the handbook linked above)

So unless she's planning on any of the above or leaving the country to work, that college degree means jack shit.

[thestalkmore]

Only a 4.09? Pretty fucking low for admissions these days.

[thestalkmore]

Now if you know exactly what you want to do, none of this need apply. I myself am going to Law School this fall and my application was hurt by an average-ish GPA. That is because I went to a very competitive school that's a peer to HYP as far as admissions statistics. If I could go back I would definitely have gone to UCLA or Cal, chose easy over "academically challenge but rewarding" classes, and rode to a near 4.0 off the mediocrity of average classmates.

But there are many times where choosing on prestige makes sense.

Many people don't intend to do graduate school, so paying for a brand name diploma might be very important coming into the job market right after graduation. Especially in a situation where general prestige might be more important than how respected your specific department, the school's prestige can speak to your qualification.

If you want to see how go meet some new people for two weeks. For one week tell them that next summer you are going to Harvard. The next week tell another group you are going to a local community college. Who was more impressed by you the first five minutes of conversation before even knowing you? You may think these are just average people and you don't need to impress them... but many employers ARE average people. If you're not trying to get into a job with enough specialization to require the employer to know the top-10 schools in their field, you are always going to be better off if you can name-drop an Ivy.

Additionally if you don't know what exactly you want to do going to a school like Harvard is a safe way to make sure doors are open to you after graduation. Sure it may not be the ideal path, but I can guarantee you that no door will be closed to you because you went to Harvard. When you don't know what you want to do in life that flexibility is more important than local Tijuana Tech's high placement in Engineering -- specialized reputation limits you and is therefore not of use unless you are 100% set on your life path. And the fact is that a huge number of people change majors in college (I want to say 50% but I have no idea if that's correct).

Better schools get more employers for OCI programs. This is essential to getting a high paying job if you are trying to break into a competitive market without any connections.

Those better professors are also usually helpful in networking.

You're fucking daft if you think that "coddle me please" LAC's are academically more challenging than "face in the crowd" public-ivies.

[archibaldcrane]

Anyone who uses the phrase "public ivy" with a straight face should be punched in it.

[Edgie]

so whats gonna happen when she is finally out of school and still doesnt have a social or Itin... cant work regular jobs and wont be paying taxes at under the counter jobs. She needs to bite the bullet and get her legal status so she doesnt have to hide from the govmint

LOL at IRS not checking status, cant file taxes without valid social or Itin. Plus dont qualify for credits, and rebates with Itin. Then there is the I-9 that was already mentioned, google the form

[archibaldcrane]

Illegal immigrants can get an ITIN. It doesn't mean they can be legally hired, but when illegally hired they can pay taxes with it.

Yes, it's a really stupid system.