Torvalds Becomes an American Citizen 654
netbuzz writes "Having brought his open-source work and family to the United States from Finland some time ago, Linus Torvalds has marked an important personal milestone by attaining US citizenship. A casual remark on the Linux kernel mailing list about registering to vote led to the community being in on the news. Torvalds has acknowledged being a bit of a procrastinator on this move, writing in a 2008 blog post: 'Yeah, yeah, we should probably have done the citizenship thing a long time ago, since we've been here long enough (and two of the kids are US citizens by virtue of being born here), but anybody who has had dealings with the INS will likely want to avoid any more of them, and maybe things have gotten better with a new name and changes, but nothing has really made me feel like I really need that paperwork headache again.' In that post he also expresses dislike for the American style of politics in which he will now be able to participate directly."
Re:The Real American System (Score:2, Informative)
The US has this thing called "voting". It's not just about the 4 year change of president, there's a huge amount that can be voted on locally, particularly on local positions in govt, school boards, firecheif, sheriff etc. As a tax payer, you have no say, as a citizen, you can get involved.
Re:Oh stop (Score:2, Informative)
Please learn to recognize sarcasm. This wasn't even a difficult one; the second line of the GP made it clear that the first line was said in jest!
Re:immigration category (Score:5, Informative)
H1B is a non-immigrant visa, good for three years, renewable for another three, and then year over year as long as a permanent residency adjustment of status petition has not yet been adjudicated.
To become a naturalized citizen, one must be a lawful permanent resident first, for five years. To become a lawful permanent resident, requires an immigrant visa, basically, a "Green Card". To get a Green Card, that is not based on family sponsorship, but employment sponsorship, one is placed into several prioritized categories:
EB-1: Persons of National Interest or Extraordinary Ability (Nobel prize winners, etc.);
EB-2: Persons with Advanced Degrees;
EB-3: Skilled Workers;
EB-4: Special Immigrants;
EB-5: Visa Investors ($1M and creating ten American jobs, or $500k and investing in a rural area paying 150% of the national wage).
Re:immigration category (Score:5, Informative)
I'd like to know as well.
According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, the annual immigrant visa quota is 140,000 for employment-based (EB-x) immigration. EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 each receive 28.6% of the total number, while EB-4 and EB-5 each receives 7.1% separately.
For the current 40,000 quota of EB-2 preference, each country receives 7%, with 3,000 available for China and India, 2,500 for the other countries, and 9,000 remaining for use by those countries in need, such as India and China.
Linus could also have come in through one of the 32,000 diversity (DV) visas available to Europeans.
Once here (legally with a green card). having American citizen children or an American citizen spouse is one of the fastest ways to be come a citizen (3 years as a spouse, 5 years for children).
The best guide to understanding US immigration laws is this handy poster [reason.org].
Re:immigration category (Score:3, Informative)
Not really. One should be classified in the most preferential category to begin with. Additional work experience will not let you move up a category. So, you should "fill any gaps" (like get that graduate degree) first, or at least while on a non-immigrant visa. You can't really go from EB-2 to EB-1.
Re:The Real American System (Score:1, Informative)
Unlike most of Europe where citizens 18-20 have to go into the army or other duty for two years
That's not true. In the European Union, out of 27 member nations, the only ones that have conscription are Germany, Austria, Finland, Greece and Estonia, and in Germany, the scales have just tipped towards its abolition, something that's all over the news [dw-world.de] right now. So, if you'll allow me to remove Germany from the equation already, that's 4 nations left out of 27, representing barely more than 26 million people out of 500+ million.
That's hardly "most of Europe".
Outside of the EU, conscription still exists (with no plans to get rid of it) in Norway and Switzerland in western Europe, and Belarus and Moldova in Eastern Europe. Still not exactly "most of Europe".
Re:Welcome Aboard (Score:3, Informative)
Except what you describe is crony capitalism not socialism.
Re:More importantly ...taxes (Score:1, Informative)
He's so screwed.
Us collects taxes no matter in wich country he makes, stores the money.
You appear to be misinformed (Score:3, Informative)
Neither the UK nor the USA require that you renounce your UK citizenship when you take US citizenship. See http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html [state.gov] and http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/dualnationality [homeoffice.gov.uk].
In fact, until 2002 there was no way to give up British citizenship - now you can get a form from the British embassy, fill it in and send it to the UK government. It doesn't even have to be permanent as you can reacquire your UK citizenship by filling in another form and sending that one in.
There is one good reason to become a US citizen - to protect your social security pension. If you have spent (or expect to spend) a significant number of years in the USA, enough to be eligible for a US pension (40 credits = 10 years, as I recall) then you might want to protect your investment in the social security system i.e. the 6.2% of your income you have paid and continue to pay. However, in my view, that's certainly not the only good reason to be a citizen of the USA if you have permanently moved here.
I've been a US citizen for some years now and have never been called for jury duty.
Re:The Real American System (Score:5, Informative)
Unlike most of Europe where citizens 18-20 have to go into the army or other duty for two years
I call bullshit. Please enumerate this list that encompasses "most of Europe" that has such a requirement.
Not most, but about half, not all citizens, but only men, not for two years but only 6 to 12 months. However, the list includes: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Greece, Denmark and Serbia
Re:The Real American System (Score:3, Informative)
I don't suppose you're European, as your statement on conscription in Europe is blatantly false. Most European countries have abolished conscription. Austria has military service that lasts less than a year, Albania is in the process of abolishing conscription, Finnish service is 6-12 months. Norwegian service is a year and German service is 6 months. Oh yeah and Greeks have a 9 month draft. Hell, Ukraine is schedules to end its mandatory military service program.
I probably forgot a couple countries but certainly most do not have mandatory military service, and I'm not sure if there's any country remaining with a mandatory 2 year service. Which is certainly a good thing in my understanding.
Re:Jump off the racing horse, get on the donkey (Score:3, Informative)
I was going to say "But Finland has much higher taxes!" Then I checked... the highest tax bracket there is 30%.
You've been misinformed. Not a quantitative error but a process error.
True, their income tax is only about 1/3. But....
In the us, we (mostly?) have low sales tax, no VAT, and high income taxes.
In finland, their "sales tax" aka V.A.T. is roughly 1/4, although lower for some things. I specifically remember books had a relatively low VAT, only like 10%.
So, if you're a wage slave, spending about what you earn, your total tax burden in finland is well over 60% by the time you add sin taxes and such. I suppose if you don't own a car or drink or smoke or earn much money it might only be 40% or so.
Similar amusements happen in the USA, where some places use income tax, some use sales tax, and some use property tax to fund their operations.
Re:Welcome Aboard (Score:5, Informative)
From the Wikipedia.
"Bell was a British subject throughout his early life in Scotland and later in Canada until 1882, when he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1915, he characterized his status as: "I am not one of those hyphenated Americans who claim allegiance to two countries."
Alexander Gram Bell was an American by choice.
Re:WOAH WOAH WOAH (Score:3, Informative)
They are the ones who will contribute most to our economy and pay for your and my social security when we retire
This is so ridiculous I am undoing moderation to reply.
First of all I'd rather my children be contributing to the economy and social security when I retire. There is no shortage of American workers in the US right now. In fact there is a surplus. Putting these people to work will do more for our economy than hiring illegals. Not only will unemployment be lower but the cost of unemployment, food stamps and other welfare benefits payed to currently unemployed or underemployed Americans will decrease. It could even help raise wages for low-paying jobs as Americans (or legal immigrants) aren't as likely to live in unsafe conditions just to save a few bucks.
You are also forgetting the burden illegal immigrants put on our welfare system. Since they often work for low wages and live below the poverty line they qualify for all sorts of benefits. In Wisconsin they get excellent health care (better than my current employment benefits and they pay nothing for it), housing assistance, heating assistance, food stamps, etc... all on the American taxpayer's dime. Interestingly it seems that these programs were tailored for illegal immigrants as you do not need a social security number to qualify--meaning you don't have to be paying taxes to get the benefits.
As someone whose job was displaced by illegal immigrants I don't believe that Americans would not do the same work as illegals. I was paying my way through school by working on a farm on weekends and over the summers. Pretty soon the farmer hired a few illegal immigrants to work week nights. Within 6 months he had hired 4 more and my hours went from 30/week to about 4. Why? The illegals were willing to work for minimum wage and I couldn't. I have a few unemployed friends who would be more than willing to work on a farm or something similar for $8-$10 an hour just so they can get by. None of them can find work because all the farms around are only hiring illegals these days.
Re:More importantly (Score:3, Informative)
"earned a PhD"?
As far as I can tell (and please correct me) Glenn Beck was given an honorary PhD from a not very well renowned evangelical university. That is not the same as earning a PhD.
To bring things slightly back on topic, far more deserving people, such as Linus Torvalds, have received honorary degrees from far more established universities (1 [wikipedia.org] and 2 [wikipedia.org]).
Yet, only pompous people, and certainly not Torvalds, would refer to themselves as Dr. on the basis of an honorary degree. Torvalds, who is educated to a Masters degree (unlike Beck), which in Scandinavia used to be quite close to some countries' PhD, knows better.
Re:The Real American System (Score:4, Informative)
That's 11 countries of geographic Europe, which covers 46 countries, so that's not "about half", but "less than a quarter".
Taking only the EU countries into account, your list of 11 shrinks to 5 (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Switzerland, Norway, and Serbia aren't part of the EU), while there are 27 EU countries (one of them, Cyprus, outside geographic Europe). That's less than a fifth.
Comment removed (Score:2, Informative)