20090708 -- Moving to America (1)

Moving to America

The ins and outs
SC: What qualifies someone to live or work in the U.S.?
RA: Well, there are three basic ways to come to the United States on a permanent basis. Most people immigrate based on close family relationships. The second category is based on employment. If you have skills needed in the United States, it could be grounds for immigranting. The third basic way is if you are suffering from persecution back in your home country. About 800,000 individuals get permanent residence in a given year. About 600,000 individuals get residence based on family connections. About 140,000 are based on employment and maybe 50,000 are based on fear of persecution.

It would also be possible to come to the United States on a temporary basis. This would enable you to come for a variety of activities, including work, visit, study, etc. Generally speaking, there are no limits to temporary immigration.

SC: What's the best way to get in? Is it better to enter as a student and then stay, or to enter as a professional?
RA: It depends on the person's background. But remember, student visas are only temporary. The nice thing about starting as a student is that is can give you, presumably, a good background to enter the U.S. labor market. And that could eventually help you attain permanent residence.


permanent adj. 永久的/固定的
eg: Carl's family is living in a rented apartment, but they are looking for a more permanent home.
eg: a permanent job 固定的工作
eg: a permanent address 永久的地址

temporary adj. 暫時的
eg: The medicine can only provide temporary relief of your pain.

emigrate v. 移居國外
immigrate v. 遷移/移民進入
eg: Justin and Allison are hoping to immigrate to Australia next summer.
eg: Nick immigrated with his parents from Greece in 1967 and now lives in Queene New York.
eg: Maria and her family emigrated to England in 1952.

category n. 種類
eg: The teacher divided the students into two categories those who could swim and those who could not.

residence n. 居民
eg: Michael received permanent residence after working in America for 10 years.

labor adj. 勞工的
eg: There is an important meeting this week between the city's two biggest labor group.

presume v. 推測
presumably adv. 大概/假定/可能
eg: This proposal will presumably cause a lot of reaction.
eg: Josh is late. Presumably he missed the exit on the freeway.

persecution n. 迫害/困擾
eg: That guy met with severe persecution.

//== Chat room ==//

floor 地板
ground 地面
grounds (建築物)庭院

ground n. (本文章)動機/理由
-> the basis reason for some action you want to take\

eg: These are private grounds. 這裡是私人的庭院
eg: grounds for immigranting 移民的理由
eg: He resigned on the grounds of ill health(因病辭職).


country 國家
the country 鄉下
home country 祖國