I tried to write the least I could on mobile at the time and afraid it would be misinterpreted . Everyone who has immigrated to the US has paid for a visa or the closest equivalent including political , religious , ethnic , ect . refugees . Obviously , the descendants of such people are citizens of the country and don ' t need visas . However , illegals skip this process and give the proverbial middle finger to all the people whom have recently or are waiting to immigrate to the US . Not that visa is the correct term anyhow , since illegal immigrants come on a legal visa and just happen to overstay it ' s length the correct word is green card , for which the system is fucked to oblivion . For example , the backlog for siblings of US citizens to become permanent residentshave green card is 10 20 years .