Reasons for Illegal Immigration

The most common method of illegal immigration is Visa Fraud, which occurs when a person gets a Visa built on false pretenses. In fact, the most common type of this kind of method is Green Card Marriages.

What is a Green Card Marriage?

It is when foreign nationals intend to marry a citizen to avoid the usual immigration laws. This is actually regarded as a crime in the United States. They are thinking of a special blessing as their means to acquire citizenship, instead of building a life together as a family.

It is through Green Card Marriages that foreign nationals do not even try to get themselves a Visa in order to obtain permanent citizenship and residency. It is an American law that spouses of citizens and permanent stayers in the US are not required to get their own Visa anymore. Unfortunately, it is this particular law that is being widely and very popularly taken advantage of by many foreign illegal immigrants.

To date, many individuals or companies are still hiring unauthorized employees. Such situation is regarded as the Magnet for Illegal Immigration. Since lots of today’s employers are very willing to hire illegal immigrants in to obtain higher pay, as compared to what they would most likely get back in their home of origin, they feel much more inspired or motivated to gather the guts necessary for successfully crossing the border.

What does Mexico have to say?

It was actually in 2003 that the former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, said that Mexico’s most effective source of foreign income is the remittances they get. In fact, he even states that the income they got merely from remittances beat what they received from foreign investment, tourism, or oil. Furthermore, he also states that the money transfers that the country got, after the Mexican consulates gave out identity cards to Mexicans who are now America citizens, largely increased.

Vicente Fox has stated that Mexican workers located in the US sent around twelve billion dollars to their families located back home. And in 2005, the World Bank released its statement that Mexico got more than eighteen billion dollars in remittances only, ranking third from China and India.

The network effect

Expert demographer, Jeffery Passel, who works in the Pew Hispanic Center, stated that the flow of Mexicans living and working in the US has generated what is called a network effect. This network effect occurs when more immigration cases take place as more and more Mexicans transfer to the US so that they can join their relatives who are already living and getting quite comfortable there.

Why do they choose to illegally immigrate in the first place?

Many expert analysts believe today that the Government’s delays, high expenses, and further inefficiencies in the processing of Visa applications and working permits, add up to the huge number of those who opt to be illegal immigrants. In fact, it was only in 2007 that the Green Card applications obtained a back log amount of more than one million. It is a sad thing that those who apply for their Visa need to get used to the waiting time of three years.