Originally Posted by synthia

It's the list for the NAFTA treaty. Perhaps it can provide some guidance.

We get a lot of people on this forum who are a little familiar with how the process works in Australia and New Zealand, and think the US process is going to function in the same way. It doesn't.

For one thing, Australia and New Zealand are actively seeking immigrants. The US is not, and seems to be doing its best to discourage it, especially from the countries where we have traditionally had a high level of immigration. That was the reason for the diversity visa (green card lottery), to get immigration from countries that are different from the ones we historically have drawn from. Since many people come in on family sponsorship (immediate family now, not aunts and uncles and cousins), we tend to get immigrants from the same countries.