Reply #157: Except that it's not that expensive, nor is it that difficult... [View All]

[Spider Jerusalem]

to go to Amsterdam. (Comparatively speaking, that is.)

Depending on the time of year, one can travel round-trip for as little as $350-400; if you're a US citizen with no pending felony trial or parole, you can get a passport very easily (if you don't already have one), and you can even get the process expedited (for a total cost of about $160, with service usually within a week); and you can find a room in a good hotel for as little as $60-80 a night if you know where to look. (Not everyone, granted, has the disposable income to just drop a grand or two on a pleasure-jaunt overseas, but it's less hard than you make out.)

Compare that to legal immigration, which can cost thousands of dollars in various fees (including, possibly, retaining an attorney/advocate); requires many hours of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape ('no, sorry, you'll need to fill out a 427B stroke zed for this, this isn't the right form') and takes five years from application to completion in any case.