我在美国待15年，有两常青藤学位现面临被驱逐

I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American. I've failed.

我花费15年试图成为一个美国人但失败了。

I have lived in America for the past 15years. I have two Ivy League degrees. And I am on the verge of deportation.

我在美国待了15年，有两个常青藤学位。而我现在却面临着被驱逐出境的威胁。

Despite being an "honoraryAmerican," as I have often jokingly introduced myself, I am in fact acitizen of New Zealand. I was 18 years old when I first came to America. Istill remember the excitement I felt when, very late at night, my flight fromAuckland touched down at JFK. Americans may romanticize New Zealand for itsnatural beauty, for being Middle Earth, but we from the small country oftendreamed of the metropolis, longed for its culture, its opportunities, its senseof being the center of the world. And I was about to be a part of all that.

尽管我经常开玩笑地说，自己已经是一个“荣誉上的美国人”，但我事实上是一个新西兰公民。当我第一次踏入美国国土时，我才18岁。我仍然记得当时激动的心情，当时已是深夜，而我从奥克兰机场的航班刚刚在纽约肯尼迪机场着陆。美国人可能会迷恋于新西兰美丽的自然环境，迷恋于中土世界，但我们这些来自小国家的人却经常有着一个都市梦，渴望它的文化、机会和那处于在世界中心的感觉。而我也迫不及待地想去体验这一切。

I had come to America to attend Yale. Barbara Bush, President Bush's daughter,turned out to be in my class. I spent four dutiful years there and graduatedwith honors, initially majoring in math and physics before switching to thehumanities. (Later I would from time to time regret this decision, asimmigration rules are somewhat more lenient when you have a degree in"STEM" — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — althougheven with STEM graduates the immigration system is badly dysfunctional.)

我在美国耶鲁大学上学。芭芭拉布什，布什总统的女儿出现在我们班上。我安守本分地用了四年时间获得了荣誉学士学位，一开始读的是数学和物理学，后来转到了人文学。（之后我会解释为什么会详细做出这个决定，简单点说是虽然移民政策不知怎么地会偏向“STEM”的学科——S科学，T科技，E工程，M数学——尽管STEM毕业，但移民系统仍然有失偏颇）

When the rest of the worldsends America its best and brightest, America says, "Go away"

当其他国家为美国提供最聪明和最优秀的人才，美国却把他们拒之门外

I then decided to go to law school at Columbia. I was lucky enough to get cushyjobs at prestigious law firms despite the Great Recession, and to work onhigh-profile cases representing Fortune 500 companies.

然后我决定去哥伦比亚大学读法律。我运气不错，尽管经济不景气，但我在一个略有名望的法律事务所找到了一份轻松的工作，并且代表着这家《财富500》的大公司处理一些高端的案件。

All of these years I have spent in America, I have spent legally. I have beendetermined to do everything on the up and up. From college to law school toprofessional life, from student visa to work visa, I have scrupulously followedevery immigration regulation, paid all my taxes, filed all the papers I had tofile, and have not so much as received a parking ticket.

我在美国的这些年都遵纪守法。我制定好目的一步一步向上爬。从法律学院的到职业人生，从学校签证到工作签证，我都严格遵守移民局的规定，诚实缴税，如实填写所有文件，甚至连停车违章都没收到过。

But it turns out that following all the rules is not enough. A move into publicinterest work unexpectedly fell through, leading to the imminent cancellationof my work visa. Come July, my current visa will expire, and — again in thespirit of obeying the rules — I will get on a plane to somewhere else in theworld, anywhere but America. Following all of Uncle Sam's rules has led me, 15years down the road, to a plane ticket booked on short notice to anywhere buthere. Maybe at some point in the indefinite future I will be able to come back,but I cannot count on it, certainly not the when or the how. Maybe in fiveyears, maybe 10, maybe never.

但我发现遵守这些法规是不够的。我在一次为公众谋取福祉的任务中意外地遭遇滑铁卢，这却导致我面临着工作签证被取消的威胁。在即将到来的7月，我现时的签证将到期——而我将不得不再次遵纪守法地搭上飞机，飞去任何一个不属于美国的地方。遵守美国的法律，令我在经历这15年的职业生涯后不得不急促地订一张离开美国的机票。可能在未来的某一天，我能够回来，但我也无法对用何种方式和什么时候能够回来有所期望。可能5年后，可能10年后，可能永远回不来了。

I have done battle with the US immigration system for a decade and half, and Ihave lost. And here's what I've learned along the way.

我与美国移民系统的这场战争持续了15年，而我输了。以下是我从这场战争中感受到的。

I don't want to leave

我不想离开

I like it here. Americans are such decent, well-meaning people. You may besurprised to hear this, but Americans as people have been more welcoming to methan people most anywhere else. Indeed, of the four countries I have lived in,including the one where I was born and the one where I spent my formativeyears, America has come to feel more like home to me than anywhere else. Mymother says I have converted to the "American religion." And my earlyexpectations have not been disappointed: What I do in America, in themetropolis, seems far more likely to matter, to have an impact in the world,than anything I may do elsewhere. When I studied math and physics in college, Istudied with world-renowned scholars. When I worked at law firms, I worked withsome of the world's most important corporations.

我喜欢这里。美国人是如此的正直友善。你可能会觉得不可思议，但美国人的确比其他地方的人更欢迎我。的确，在我住过的4个国家里，包括我那个出生的国家和我成长的国家在内，美国比其他国家更令我觉得有家的感觉。我的母亲说过，我已经被美国同化了。而我原先的期待也的确没有令我失望：我身处在美国大都会，我所做的一切，与在其他地方相比，似乎更有可能能够影响这个世界。当我在学校学习数学物理的时候，我学到这个世界最前沿的知识。当我在律师事务所工作的时候，我与一些这个世界上最有影响力的公司打交道。

But there's no way for me to stay

但我没有办法留下来

Numerous American friends, when the subject of my immigration status came up,have said to me things to the effect of, "Why don't you just become acitizen?" To the Americans I have known, it really seems that people, orat least law-abiding people like me, should be able to just go down to the DMV,fill out some paperwork, and get citizenship. Time and again I have had todisabuse my friends of this misconception. What matters when it comes toobtaining citizenship is your "status" while you're in America, andyour status can be difficult to change. Years spent as a student do not count.Neither do years on a work visa unless your employer is willing to sponsor yourgreen card. Marrying an American works, as a thousand films and televisionshows have taught us, because it allows a change of status to permanentresident. But if you wish to follow the rules, as I do, then it must be a bonafide marriage. And if you take important personal decisions such as marriageseriously, then you may not wish to have their timing dictated by HomelandSecurity.

当涉及到我的身份问题出来的时候，几个美国朋友问我“为什么不成为美国公民呢”。在我认识的美国人看来，像我这种遵纪守法的人，真的应该下到楼下的DMV，填写一下表格，然后成为公民。我要一次又一次地矫正他们这些误解。在美国，真正影响到你获取公民身份的因素是你的“身份”，而你的身份不是那么容易改变的。无论你在这读了多少年书都没用。你用工作签证做了多少年也一样没用，除非你的雇主愿意担保你获得绿卡。就像电影电视上看到的那样，和美国人结婚的确能让你获得永久的美国身份。但如果你希望像我一样遵从自己的原则，那就只能真正地爱上一个美国人才结婚。而如果你认真地考虑像结婚这样的会影响个人一生的重要决定，那你肯定不希望受到国土安全局的干扰（调查假结婚）

Right now there is no viable path for me to gain citizenship or even to stay inthis country, because right now there is no way for me to get a green card. Icannot obtain employer sponsorship. My parents did not have the foresight tohave obtained earlier US citizenships for themselves. And now is not the righttime for marriage.

现在我没有任何可行的途径获得美国公民资格了，甚至连留在这个国家的方法也没有，因为现在我没法获得绿卡。我也没法获得雇主担保。我的父母也没有预想到他们应该在早年给他们自己拿下身份。结婚对我来说也不是一个选择。

American immigration lawleaves the skilled immigrant feeling like an indentured serf

美国移民法让有着高技能水平的移民申请者感到身不由己

At every step, the immigration system sets up roadblocks for the law-abidingimmigrant. An employer who wishes to hire an immigrant employee has to sponsora work visa and bear the application cost and lawyer's fees; federal regulationsbar the employee from paying those costs on behalf of the employer. Even if anemployer is willing to incur the costs of sponsoring the employee's work visa,it is more likely than not that the employee will fail to obtain the visa,because the number of work visas given out every year is capped at a level farbelow the number of applicants. This year, 233,000 highly skilled applicantsfiled for work visas, but by law the government could only allow 85,000 of themto have visas, 20,000 of those being reserved for applicants with advanceddegrees. The rest are turned away, even though they are certified to beskilled, with many holding US degrees, and even though American businesses haveindicated that they need these applicants.

移民系统在每一步都对遵从法律的移民者设置了路障。一个希望雇佣移民作为员工的雇主必须为工作签证做出担保和承担申请费与律师费；联邦法禁止了员工自己承担这些费用。即使雇主愿意承担工作签证的费用，雇员也不一定能获得签证，因为每年颁发的签证数量远低于申请人的数量。今年，有233000个有着高技能水平的申请者，但政府法规只给他们旨颁发了85000工作签证，其中20000个保留给了高学位的申请人。有着技能认证的申请者、有美国学历的申请者和甚至被美国企业认为急需的申请者，争夺剩下为数不多的名额。

Finally, the federal government hands out these visas in October of each yearwhen the federal fiscal year begins, but it accepts applications up to sixmonths in advance, which means that to have any chance of receiving a visa askilled foreigner needs to apply in early April. That means that this applicantneeds to convince an American employer to offer him or her a job by Aprilwithout expecting any actual work until October, bear the costs of applying forthe visa, and still live with the likelihood that the government may not issuethe visa anyway. By any measure, this is a tall order. In my experience, mostemployers simply (and very reasonably) throw up their hands and say they don'twant all this hassle.

最终，联邦政府将在每年10月份联邦财政年开始的时候颁发这些签证，但他提前6个月就开始接受申请，这就意味着想申请签证的高技术水平申请者不能晚于4月初。这就意味着申请人需要在4月前让雇主愿意给你提供一份工作，承担申请费——即使你要在10才能真正开始工作，而且你还不一定能获得签证。不管怎么想，这个要求都是不可理喻的，从我在经验看来，大部分的雇主都是撒手而去，不想冒着任何风险。

Additionally, an H1-B visa (the most common form of work visa and the only formavailable to most) is only valid for three years and renewable only once. Thismeans that the skilled legal immigrant must obtain permanent residency or agreen card if he or she wishes to stay for more than a few years. Again, anemployer can sponsor an employee's green card, but the employer must again bearthe costs, which can run to the tens of thousands of dollars, and again theemployee cannot offer to pay the cost. Employers are often reluctant to engagein this kind of sponsorship because of the cost and because there is noguarantee that the employee in question would stay at the organization afterobtaining the green card, and there is also no guarantee that the employer willeven want the employee to stay.

再者，一个H1-B的签证（最常见的工作签证，并且对大部分人来说也是唯一可选的）是唯一为期三年并且可以延续的签证。这就意味着合法的技术移民如果他/她想留下几年的话，就必须有永居或绿卡。同样，雇主可以给雇员担保绿卡，但雇主必须承担数千刀的申请费而不能由雇员支付。每个雇主通常都不愿意涉及到担保的事，不仅因为费用，而且也不知道雇员在获得绿卡后会不会离开公司。

Where I have worked, I would bring up the green card possibility as tactfullyas I knew how, only to be told that the higher-ups needed to discuss thematter. I would bring up the issue again a few months later, only to be toldagain that there needed to be a discussion. Eventually, a senior partner toldme that the firm simply would not sponsor my green card, no matter whathappened, and that I should stop asking. In the end, seeing that I was unlikelyto obtain a green card in the corporate world anyway, I opted for altruism andpublic interest work, only to have that decision not work out — this is howmuch risk a job change can entail for an immigrant.

在我工作的地方，我为获得绿卡担保谨言慎行，却被告知这件事有待进一步讨论。我在几个月后再一次提出这个问题，却得到同样的回复。最终，一个高级合伙人告诉我，不管将来会有什么变化这个公司不会为我担保绿卡，叫我不用再问了。最后，在我似乎无论怎么努力也不会获得绿卡后，我选择了为公众利益工作而不是直接离开公司——这是一个移民申请者由于工作改变而对移民造成的大多的风险

I don't want to give the impression that I begrudge my employers; they merelyreacted to the system they faced in a way that was reasonable from theirperspective. And at least some of my bosses went to bat for me and lobbiedtheir fellow higher-ups to help me out; it is only unfortunate that they wereunsuccessful.

我不想留下我憎恨我雇主的印象；他们仅仅只是从他们的角度出发做了该做得事情。至少我的一些上师也有帮我游说，只是他们也没能成功。

The immigration system has made me overlydependent on my employers.

移民系统令我过于依赖我的雇主

American immigration law leaves the skilled immigrant feeling like anindentured serf. At every turn, I've had to rely on my employer forsponsorship, whether it be for a work visa or a green card. An immigrant whoquits while an application is pending necessarily loses that sponsorship, evenif the application may remain pending for years at a time in the case of greencards. And any work visa holder who quits or is terminated from a job withoutimmediately finding a new employer who is willing to take on all the trouble ofhiring an immigrant quickly loses the visa and is required to leave America.

美国移民法让有着高技能水平的移民申请者感到身不由己。每一次申请，我都必须依赖雇主的担保，不管是为了工作签证还是绿卡。如果申请者在等待申请审批时离职，那他将失去担保的资格，如果是申请绿卡的话，这些申请审批可能需要长达数年。而所有辞职或工作终止了的工作签证的持有人，必须马上找到新的愿意担保你的雇主，否则你就得离开美国。

I have experienced these fears and frustrations. They leave you feeling likeyour life is not your own, that you are not living life at all but ratherliving a series of arbitrary immigration rules. If you feel that your time andenergy can genuinely be better spent on something other than your current job,too bad; you will stick to this suboptimal work anyway, just because the riskof leaping to something else is too great. If you feel a desperate need to taketime off to recharge your batteries, then don't expect to be able to come back.If your employer does something that truly troubles you, your Americancolleagues may resign on principle, New Republic style, but you have not theluxury of principles.

我经历了这些无奈和挫折。它们让你觉得你的人生不由你所控制，你似乎不是活在这世界上，而是活在移民法的条条框框里。如果你觉得比起你现在的工作，把时间和精力花在其他地方能带给你更多的快乐的话，那就太糟糕了；不管怎样，你都只能退而求其次，因为做出改变的风险了。如果你感到绝望，需要时间来重拾心情，那就不要期待可以回来了。如果你的雇主喜欢给你们造成麻烦，你那些崇山新共和主义的美国的同事可能就辞职不干了，但这些对你来说只是奢侈的愿望。

Employers who hire immigrant workers have to certify to the Labor Departmentthat the immigrants and their American co-workers in similar positions workunder similar conditions and receive similar pay. But nonetheless, the workvisa gives the employer all the leverage in the employment relationship — anemployee who cannot risk changing jobs can hardly bargain for much.

雇佣了移民申请者的雇主向劳工署证明，移民申请者和他的美国同事在相近职位相近条件下获得相近的薪酬。但尽管如此，担保工作签证的权利让雇主在雇佣关系中占优——雇员不会冒着失去工作的风险而讨价还价。

Another problem with the employer-dependent immigration system: visa holdersare barred from founding and working on start-ups. Immigrants on work visas arelegally only allowed to work for the organizations currently sponsoring theirvisas; if they devote their after-work hours to some Silicon Valley-style sideproject that may turn into the next Apple or Google, then they're breaking thelaw.

另一个雇主的问题是——有依赖的移民体系：签证持有者被禁止成立或从事新公司。工作签证申请人在法律上只被允许为提供向他们提供担保的公司工作；如果他们像《硅谷传奇》一样为创立下一个苹果或谷歌而奉献出下班后的时间，那他们很可能就违法了法律。

The difficulties of the American legalimmigration system aren't just bad for me — they're bad for America

美国障碍重重的移民体系不仅对我不利——也不利于美国的发展

My friends say I am precisely the kind of immigrant whom the United Statesshould wish to retain. My friends are kind people, and I am no Albert Einsteinor Steve Jobs. But at the risk of being immodest, I should say that my Americanfriends are right on this particular point. I am well-educated. I havecontributed economically and otherwise to this country, which I love with thezeal of a convert.

我的朋友说，我绝对是那些美国梦寐以求的移民。我的朋友很友善，尽管我不是Albert Einstein 或 Steve Jobs，但不忌讳地说，我觉得我朋友在这一点上说得很正确。我受过良好教育。我为这个我由衷喜爱的国家的经济和其他地方做贡献。

I can't help but laugh at the idea of thecivics test they give you when you apply for citizenship: As someone who haspublished law review articles on American constitutional law, I'm fairlycertain I know more about civics than the vast majority of native-born Americancitizens. Not for nothing, I also speak fluent Mandarin, which I hear is avaluable skill these days. Nevertheless, soon I won't be able to use theseskills to help the US economy — America is turning me away, requiring me tofind work elsewhere.

我情不自禁地对申请公民身份时所需要填写的公民测试感到无奈：就像某些人出版文章评论对美国宪法一样，我敢肯定我比那些在美国出生的公民更懂得“公民”的含义。不为什么，我同样可以说流利的普通话，这在近年来被认为是很有价值的技能。然而，很快我就不能用这些技能来为美国经济做出贡献——美国正把我拒之门外。

The immigration system also undermines the US economy in smaller, more subtleways. For example, during my first year at a law firm, a senior partner wantedme to travel with him to China on business. I had to explain to him that Icould not do so because Homeland Security was still processing my visaapplication, and had I traveled abroad at that juncture I might not have beenallowed back. Needless to say, the episode did not help my career or the firm'sbusiness.

移民系统同样也在以一种不起眼的方式慢慢侵害着美国经济。例如，在我在律师事务所工作的第一年，一个高级合伙人希望我能与他一起到中国出差。我不得不向他解释道我不能跟着去，因为国土安全局仍在处理我的签证申请，如果我那时离境的话，我很可能就回不来了。不用说，这些规定对我的职业道路和对公司的发展毫无用处。

Many Americans have no idea just how broken theimmigration system is

很多美国人都没意识到移民体系有多落后

I've already talked about my friends who think becoming a citizen is as easy asgoing to a government office and signing some papers. But even people whose jobit is to understand the system often don't see how broken it is. At one firm whereI worked, an HR manager told me to "just get married." Marriagesolely for the sake of a green card is, of course, illegal — it is fraud uponthe federal government. A bona fide marriage is fine, but that depends on youfinding the right person and having your relationship progress according toHomeland Security's timeline. Once again there is the humiliating feeling thatyour life is not your own: the government may now effectively dictate when youget married.

我一遍又一遍地向我的朋友解释成为美国公民有多艰难，他们当初认为就像去政府办公室签一些文件一样简单。但甚至从事与移民相关的人，他们也不总是意识到移民系统有多落后。在我工作过得一家公司，一个人事经理告诉我只要结婚就好了。但为了绿卡而结婚很明显是违法的——这是在欺骗联邦政府。一个事实婚姻没问题，但这取决于你是否能在国土安全审批期限内找到对的那个人。如果你是虚假婚姻，那政府可能会给予你警告。

In addition, a popular position for politicians posturing on television is tosay that they favor immigration, just not illegal immigration, or thatundocumented immigrants ought to get to the back of the line, otherwise thesystem would be unfair to legal immigrants. Guess what? The system is alreadyunfair to legal immigrants. And if the political class actually favored legalimmigration, it certainly could have done any number of things to fix theproblems I have described. If the political class actually favored legalimmigration, I should not have to pack my bags right now.

另外，政客们总会在电视上说他们需要新移民以赢得信任，但不包括非法移民或没有来源地证明的非法入境者，否则这个系统会对合法移民不公平。你猜怎样？这个系统已经对合法移民申请者不公平了。如果政客真的会需要合法移民，那肯定会做些什么来解决我提到的问题。如果政客真的会需要合法移民，那我现在就不用收拾行李了。

I'm fairly certain that Iknow more about civics than the vast majority of native-born American citizens

我敢肯定我比那些在美国出生的公民更懂得“公民”的含义。

So I'll be off. I'll travel for a while and then see where I end up, somewhereon this earth that is not America. I don't know what I'll do yet, but whoknows, maybe I'll start a company and create some (non-American) jobs. And I amnot alone: surveys show that of students from abroad studying at certain USuniversities, only 6 percent from India, 10 percent from China, and 15 percentfrom Europe expect to stay in America permanently, in large part because of thedifficulties of the American immigration system.

所以我要离开了。我会去旅行一段时间，去寻找属于我的地方——地球上任何一个不属于美国的地方。我仍不知道我要做什么，但谁又知道呢，也许我会成立我自己的公司且雇佣一些非美国人为我工作。而我并不是唯一的：调查表明在美国留学的外国学生中，只有6%印度学生，10%中国学生和15%欧洲学生希望能够永久留在美国，主要是因为美国的移民系统太不合理了。

In short, American immigration law hangs a Damocles's sword over the heads ofeven the supremely talented among us, turning those heads prematurely white.Never mind the tired, the poor, or the huddled masses. When the rest of theworld sends America its best and brightest, America says, "Go away."

简而言之，美国移民法高举达摩克利斯之剑（译注：意指令人处于一种危机状态，“临绝地而不衰”。或者随时有危机意识，心中敲起警钟等）凌驾于极其有才能的移民申请者，使这些申请者心灰意冷。不说那些劳累的，贫穷的和其他不适合的申请者，但当世界各国给美国输送最聪明最好的人才时，美国却把他们拒之门外。

声明：作者：William Han，译者：翻译：wilmin，原文刊登在《时代》杂志和新加坡《海峡时报》。译文原载龙腾网