

Denied a Visa - CaiGengYang

Denied a visa to USA due to poor academic results how ? Stuck in Singapore, a place with little civil liberties ...<p>I think if you were born as a US citizen or simple a citizen of a western liberal democracy, you have  won half the race already, as long as you don&#x27;t screw up badly. It sucks if you are not a citizen of a liberal democracy ...
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jasonkester
Keep in mind that there are several people here on HN that moved from the USA
to Singapore to build their software companies. It's cheap to live there,
things generally work, internet is good and connected to the rest of the
world. There's nothing about your location that stops you building a business.

There's also nothing about your location that stops you working remotely for a
company in any other country. I for example work remotely from overseas, and I
live farther from my company's headquarters than you would if you picked up a
gig for a company in the Bay Area.

Things are not quite as bad as they seem.

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coldtea
Seems like you want to go to the USA because you have some baseless dream that
it's some magic land of success.

With that part about lack of "civil liberties" you make it sound like you're
in North Korea or something...

In fact, Singapore is one of the nicest countries on the planet to live and
work in, and lots of ex-pats Americans, including very rich ones, pick it as a
place for work and recidence.

Or perhaps you just want to flee "conscription", which is something lots of
places as small as Singapore do, as it cannot have an optional army service
like the US (which had compulsory conscription back in the day too, for
Vietnam, etc). And which more or less its your duty as a citizen -- that's how
the country protects its borders.

> _I think if you were born as a US citizen or simple a citizen of a western
> liberal democracy, you have won half the race already, as long as you don 't
> screw up badly._

Compare to what Singapore? 2/3 of the world's population would cut an arm to
be able to live in a place like Singapore.

And do you think the millions of homeless, white-trash, poor blacks, latinos
etc in the USA have won "half the race"?

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datalist
I'd hardly call conscription a duty of a citizen. It is nothing more than
modern-day slavery, coupled with a nice topping of state-sanctioned gender
discrimination (considering that most countries with this system require only
men to enlist).

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coldtea
> _It is nothing more than modern-day slavery_

Only if you believe you owe nothing to your country, and you have some god-
given right to roam carefree and enjoy what others have helped build.

Coming from a country with actual experience of having to live under foreign
occupation, you come to see things differently.

Of course if you're country is unchallenged and mostly occupies or bullies
other countries itself, then that's another thing. But in actual historical
real life, and for most countries who are not the US (e.g. who had suffered
wars and invasions instead of creating them), you get to live in a free
country only if you defend it.

> _with a nice topping of state-sanctioned gender discrimination (considering
> that most countries with this system require only men to enlist)._

That was actually meant with the exact opposite intention, so that women won't
get involved in the mess that is war. The same way on a sinking boat it was
"women and children first". Only over-exposure to PC BS would make people see
that, women not getting machine gunned in some barracks for example, as
"gender discrimination"....

(Not to mention the second complaint contradicts the first, like in the famous
joke: "― The food in this restaurant was terrible", "― Yeah, and so small
portions").

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thaumasiotes
> Only over-exposure to PC BS would make people see that, women not getting
> machine gunned in some barracks for example, as "gender discrimination"

Discrimination in favor of women is gender discrimination.

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yitchelle
You could be stuck in much worse place that Singapore. Get a little bit of
perspective. Plenty of Singaporean thrive and prosper there.

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que0x
I'm actually surprised that you as a Singapore citizen need a visa to USA. It
seems that Singapore is doing much better when it comes to quality of life:
[https://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/SG/US](https://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/SG/US)

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CaiGengYang
I studied at Northwestern University for several years but lost interest
towards the end and dropped out of school 3 times. The last time I reapplied
back about 3 years ago I got denied a visa and was told to only reapply back
when my personal circumstances have improved a lot. Once i got denied a visa,
I am no longer eligible to travel there under the visa waiver program if
remember correctly. So unless I build some really great company that USA
really needs or become really really rich and invest tons of money in America
to become US citizen through the investor immigrant program , I am fucked !!

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CaiGengYang
Plus in singapore, there is compulsory conscription ... and I don't know how
to program and no friends in this field ...

~~~
coldtea
Start with web programming I'd say, don't go directly to mobile apps.

People in the 80s and 90s (in the USA) learned coding from a couple or so
books they bought and playing with their home computer.

You now have thousands of videos, articles and books online for free, and the
whole documentation for languages etc.

Start with small webpages, add JavaScript functionality, learn jQuery, move to
learn Ember, React or Angular, and that can be enough to get you a job.

