Her Majesty, the Custodian of the Crown gives Royal orders and medals, visits other countries and receives diplomats form other countries. They apparently even receive military and police personnel and a gaurd of honor.
Doing just as much work as a constitutional head of state then why not just replace the President with a Monarch?
Also does the Romanian Royal Family have any special status give by the constitution? How else are they permitted to receive diplomats, military personnel and have foreign trips?
View Poll

For the Queen!!

Clan code: #29VJ0VG2U Direct Link (opens game).

About Us

-Achieve with the clan and fulfil your clan obligations. -Event roster spot lists posted to discord. -Those that don’t meet the minimum are kicked. -Legend league members. -Three wars per week. No hero? No war. -One ‘All-in’ per month. No hero? No problem. -We have war orders. -Consistently high 90% war destruction. -CWL Crystal I -Capital District Level 10 -Social/WaCWL/CG Lvl 18 Clan. 

Why to chose For the Queen?

INTRO
We are a solid group of players progressing bases, maximising rewards from wars, CWL, capital raids, and clan games. Promotions are given based upon meeting minimum standards, and Elders that go above and beyond are promoted to co.
DISCORD
Our discord server is running the Clash King stats bot with dedicated feed channels for the clan. We have chat categories to talk bases, attacks, wars and more. Join via https://discord.gg/grxwsfz
WARS
We're serious about winning wars, our primary source of loot. Keeping ahead of the ever-changing attack / defence meta is essential. War without heroes is not permitted; you must fight at your best. Each clan mate must maintain their war status as green or red. 100% green lights for CWL are preferred. We have one ALL-IN 50v50 war per month; even heroes are down.
CG
Clan games are a great source of rewards. To show your commitment to your clan, we ask all members to bring at least 1000 points, and we always max out CG.
CLAN CAPITAL
Keep that forge busy! We ask all clan mates to use all their attacks and to donate all gold to prioritised buildings. Our Capital District is level 10.

TLDR: If you are looking for a new home where you can grow and improve, join us.
Clan code: #29VJ0VG2U Direct Link (opens game).

Our Requirements

-TH12+. -Stay active and communicate. -Achieve all clan obligations. -Follow the war orders. -Use all weekend raids. -Achieve at least 1000 pts in CG. -No heroes, no war. Maintain war status. War when you can. -No campers. -100% green status for CWL preferred. 

Hello everyone, I would like to ask over a situation where I am finding a way to live both in The Netherlands and my home country, as a person who has a permanent residence permit.
As I understand from IND at https://ind.nl/nl/met-een-verblijfsvergunning-wonen-in-nederland/hoofdverblijf, my residence permit can be withdrawn in case:

• I have been outside the Netherlands for more than 6 consecutive months
• I have been outside the Netherlands for more than 4 consecutive months for 3 years in a row

Due to this, my question is, if I want to keep my permanent residence permit from being withdrawn, is it possible for me to, for example, remain outside of NL for 3 continuous months, and get back to NL for a month, and keep on repeating it for a few years? During this period time I will still have my residence registered, continuing with my job which is with a Dutch employer (so I am still paying taxes as usual) in a more remote working way, and ensuring that I am still having a Dutch insurance for my work.
If this is possible, can someone tell if there is anything else I need to take into concern (payroll taxes, job, residency etc.)?
Would be great if this can be achieved, since I have been living in NL for almost 10 years now, however it has now come to a phase where I am in need to be close to my fiance, who is not capable of moving to NL yet in the next few years. And I don't want to lose the permanent residence status either.
Thanks everyone and wish you all a great weekend!

I have a couple of Time Machine external USB backup drives that I would like to copy to image files that I can archive on my NAS/cloud. Apple Disk Utility "New Image From...the USB drive" gives an error, which is how I was archiving USB thumb drives successfully.
Error message was: Operation failed with status 1: Operation not permitted
Is there good utility for this? Anything free? dd? I need to be able to mount the image file.

Hi there everyone, we've been getting some concerning complaints regarding the nature of the space and how politically occupied it is(again). Though I do think it's healthy to let out frustration and vent anger toward what hurt us in the first place, need I remind everyone this is NOT a gender critical or gender critical adjacent subreddit. This is first and foremost a detransitioner support community that allows people to vent and otherwise voice unpopular or even controversial views but that latter is being stretched very thin that I'd rather not risk Reddit admins knocking at our door or worse, just hitting us with a hammer again. [You can read about that here written by a former detrans moderator]
So going forward things are changing a bit, the rules aren't changing but we are going to be enforcing things a little stricter on rule 1, 3, 6 and 8:
1: Be Civil. You will see words you like and dislike. Degrading or dehumanizing terminology toward self is permitted. Language applied to other members must be considerate of any views they hold and respectful of Reddit policies. Character attacks are not permitted, nor are derogatory labels for other users. Even if you yourself think an expression is neutral, don't call another user here by anything that could be taken the wrong way. Address action more than actors and always say "I" more than "you."
This means that if you go on about how transgenderism is a cult, or how someone is brainwashed and essentially telling them HOW TO THINK. Calling trans people absolutely disgusting terms on the basis of being trans will not be tolerated and I can't believe this even needs clarification. We used to be or considered being trans, I understand more like the next person how the movement and communities can hurt people and misguide them but the problems are communities, not individuals and you need to understand how sensitive and delicate of a topic this is. Those attempting to thought police in ANY POLITICAL or RELIGIOUS MANNER will have their post removed and met with scolding and possibly punishment in modmail. Oh and this includes telling people they're mutilated or ruined, this is not going to be tolerated anymore. That language is strictly for self-reference use only.
3: Be on Topic Posts should be of interest in some way to detransitioners and those questioning. Members must follow post flair request or will be confronted have their post deleted and warned. Detrans folk may discuss controversial issues, but this isn't a debate space for persons without personal experience in detransition. Outsiders will be banned if seen giving advice or suggestions.
This means that any social media posts, tabloids, or articles about transgender people(THIS MEANS NOT EXCLUSIVE TO TRANS CHILDREN, TRANS ADULTS TOO) that do not involve the theme of detransition or topic of will be removed on the spot and the original poster will be possibly suspended or banned.
6. Posters must be detrans or questioning their gender transition with flair Our subreddit is reserved for detransitioners/desisters and those questioning their own transition; your user flair must clearly indicate that you fall into this group. Healthcare or legal professionals can apply for exception by messaging the moderators. User flair helps mods keep this forum on Reddit for all detransitioners. Violating content will be removed. Violators will be banned. If you need help setting user flair, do not hesitate to ask a moderator.
Lately we've seen a tremendous increase in abuse from all sides in the gender wars on claiming to be something they're not. It's hard to enforce this rule because we know that some people are scared to voice their opinion, questioning or even detransition on their main accounts due to the backlash you can get for being associated with this subreddit on Reddit. That said, we've seen an increase in transgender people claiming to be questioning(when they're not, or their argument is "I'm questioning why other trans people are doing this, or my personal favorite "why you're bigots") as well as conservatives and GCs in general claiming to be desisted or questioning, either through lying or thinking that questioning means the "idea." AS A RESULT: Anyone deemed to be suspicious or lying about what they are, will have their posts removed and be immediately pulled off to the side for interrogation. Reapplying of flair or ignoring the moderator will lead to IMMEDIATE BAN. THE QUESTIONING FLAIR WILL ALSO BE AMENDED.
8. Advice giving should not have an ulterior motive Members are encouraged to give advice to their fellow member here but there are unfortunately individuals who set a user flair and then strictly give advice only with no clarity on their own situation or status of their questioning/detransition status. These members with questionable post history will be investigated and subject to punishment if found to be exploiting the rules.
We are open to all kinds of opinions and beliefs here, this subreddit is open to people who may still be allies with the transgender community, feel skeptic toward it or straight up feel what they're doing is wrong. As a result it's hard to balance things here without flairing posts as controversial, or opinion. HOWEVER! If we suspect that your advice giving is for religious or political motivation, expect immediate removal and possible suspension, double that to a ban if we learn you're a flair abusing outsider.
Thanks for understanding, and no worries because we are listening to your complaints and concerns and understand there's a thin balance between a political free for all and letting this be a space of healing and moving forward. I'm upset I even have to make this post, this shouldn't need said yet here we are. It's a fine line and juggling act trying to keep this space mostly open to free speech of detransitioners so they can get their feelings out while toeing the line and preventing ourselves from becoming an extremist space. I've had requests to ban pro-transgender community posters who are verified detransitioners, as well as banning more skeptical members for "encouraging hate speech" - Neither of these are justified requests for what this subreddit aims to be. Only time punishment will be dealt is if members are in direct violation of the rules or are harmful to the subreddit's existence(or another person, for that matter which falls in the former.)
Thank you.

A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers filed a bill this week to clarify that federal “Right to Try” (RTT) laws give seriously ill patients access to Schedule I drugs, including marijuana and psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA.
While the bipartisan measure would make a technical amendment to the text of existing law, the primary purpose is to clarify—in the face of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) objections—that RTT policy as signed into law by then-President Donald Trump already means that patients with terminal health conditions should be able to obtain and use investigational drugs that have undergone clinical trials, even if they’re Schedule I controlled substances.
Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Nancy Mace (R-SC), are the lead sponsors of the legislation, titled the “Right to Try Clarification Act.”
“Patients and doctors deserve to discuss treatments—including psilocybin—that researchers find provide immediate and sustained relief from pain, anxiety, and depression for people battling terminal illness,” Blumenauer said in remarks for the Congressional Record. “Federal restrictions have obstructed access to end-of-life care for too long, this legislation will change that and ensure that all patients have the Right to Try.”
“The psychedelics laws in this country are broken, including our laws governing patients’ access to new and promising end-of-life care,” the congressman said. “Forty-one state legislatures have passed Right to Try laws to allow terminally ill patients access to treatments, including psilocybin, that are still in investigational stages. Both psilocybin and MDMA have demonstrated tremendous care potential in phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials.”
“The Drug Enforcement Agency, however, has refused to accommodate Right to Try laws and denied terminally ill patients their freedom to elect their preferred treatments. These patients deserve to be able to discuss and pursue treatments with their doctors that researchers are finding provide immediate, substantial, and sustained relief from anxiety and depression for people battling terminal illness. That is why the Right to Try Clarification Act is necessary to ensure patients have the Right to Try these treatment options.”
Reps. Madeline Dean (D-PA), Andy Biggs (R-CA) and Lou Correa (D-CA) are also cosponsoring the bill alongside Blumenauer and Mace.
The lawmakers had filed a previous version of the measure last Congress that did not end up advancing. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) also introduced a companion measure in the Senate at the time, but have not yet done so this session.
The clarification sough by the bill, if enacted, could have a direct impact on an ongoing case against DEA, which was sued after refusing to give an oncology doctor access to psilocybin to treat his terminally ill cancer patients.
Psilocybin, along with MDMA, has already advanced in clinical trials and been designated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a “breakthrough therapy.” Cannabis has also undergone requisite clinical trials.
The three-page bill in Congress is meant to “clarify that the Federal Right to Try law applies to schedule I substances for which a phase I clinical trial has been completed and to provide access for eligible patients to such substances pursuant to the Federal Right to Try law,” its text says.
The legislation contains a findings section that says there are numerous Schedule I drugs that have going through phase I trials and received the breakthrough therapy classification from FDA. There is “preliminary clinical evidence indicating that such drugs demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies, but eligible patients have not been permitted access to these drugs pursuant to the Federal Right to Try law,” it says.
To make the existing policy abundantly clear to agencies like DEA, the measure proposes to amend statute by inserting clarifying language about what’s covered.
Last year, bipartisan members of Congress sent a letter, led by Blumenauer, requesting that DEA allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.
In May, Booker and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) separately pushed top federal officials to provide an update on research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, arguing that ongoing federal prohibition has stymied studies.
Federal health officials have recognized that federal prohibition makes it harder to study the benefits of psychedelics, requiring researchers to jump through additional regulatory hoops.
Activists including one of the plaintiffs in the Right to Try case, Erinn Baldeschwiler, staged a demonstration outside of DEA headquarters in Virginia last year, demanding that the agency allow terminally ill patients to access psilocybin therapy.
DEA is separately being sued over repeated delays in processing requests for public records related to psychedelics and marijuana.
Meanwhile, the agency announced last year that it was cancelling controversial proposals to ban several psychedelic compounds by placing them in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.
The agency has separately increased production quotas for the production of certain psychedelics like psilocybin in an effort to promote research, but its scheduling decisions have continued to represent obstacles for scientists.

More than 78,000 Afghan refugees relocated to the US as part of Operation Allies Welcome, but few have gained permanent status
On the day he turned 24 earlier this month, Asmatullah checked the status of his asylum request online, hoping that an approval would be his birthday gift.
When he realized that his case was still pending, he took a deep breath and looked up at the California sky, more than 7,000 miles away from the city he grew up in but that he fears returning to.
It’s been more than 18 months since Asmatullah and some members of his family rushed to Kabul’s besieged international airport after Taliban fighters stormed into the capital and retook control of Afghanistan.
“It was crowded and I saw a little boy that lost his parents,” he told the Guardian, speaking in a park in Sacramento during a break between rainstorms last week. “I grabbed him and started yelling ‘whose son is this?’ whose son is this?’”
Asmatullah called out for help at one of the airport’s busiest gates, where Afghan citizens and US military were all trying to deal with the chaos, but to no avail.
In the crush and mortal danger from so many directions, he knew he needed to get himself out. Asmatullah managed to board an evacuation flight after showing an American soldier a certificate his father had received for his work as a civil engineer in several US military construction projects in the country, which would put him and his family in peril as Afghanistan came back under Taliban control.
Asmatullah asked for his last name to be withheld out of concerns for the safety of his father, who remains in Afghanistan.
The plane took off and he, his mother, sister and two brothers escaped, flown first to Qatar for vetting then the US via the government’s humanitarian parole system, a special immigration authority that the Biden administration used to resettle tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees, dubbed Operation Allies Welcome.
Within six days of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Asmatullah arrived in Pennsylvania. He was later taken to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, where he was offered temporary housing and medical care for four months until he was able to travel to Sacramento, home to several relatives who had emigrated to California following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, after Al-Qaida’s terrorist attacks on the US on September 11.
Asmatullah was given permission to live and work in the country legally for two years.
That period runs out this September and he’s increasingly concerned that if his asylum request is not approved he – along with tens of thousands of other Afghan evacuees in the US – is at risk of losing his work permit and protection from deportation and he dreads the prospect of having to return to a Taliban-controlled nation gripped by humanitarian crises.
But nearly two years since the fall of Kabul, only a small percentage of evacuated Afghans have managed to secure permanent legal status in the US’s clogged immigration system.
“We are strongly pushing for an extension of parole status. This is very much within the power of the [Biden] administration,” said Tara Rangarajan, executive director of the the International Rescue Committee in Northern California, a resettlement organization that assisted 11,612 of the more than 78,000 Afghan refugees relocated to the US as part of Operation Allies Welcome.
“There’s an unbelievable mental instability of not knowing what the future holds. It’s our responsibility as a country to help ensure their stability,” she added.
In the Sacramento area alone, IRC has helped resettle 1,164 Afghans.
Asmatullah watched his little brother ride a bike near a tennis court in busy Swanston Park, in a part of Sacramento with a growing Afghan population, in the county with the highest concentration of Afghan immigrants nationwide.
“Sacramento feels like home and I love it,” he said. “Here, we are not concerned about getting killed, I just want to worry about getting an education.”
Nearby is bustling Fulton Avenue, notable for its Afghan stores and restaurants, where Asmatullah and his family enjoy spending free time, he said.
Asmatullah’s ambition in the US is to become a computer scientist and he recently enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at American River College, a Sacramento public community college.
His 14-year-old sister is one of more than 2,000 Afghan refugee children in the local public school district and he said she’s eager to pursue higher education, an opportunity now out of reach for women in Afghanistan.
He also hopes that his asylum request is approved so that he can apply for a green card and ultimately find a legal path for his father to come to the US and be reunited with the family.
His voice cracked as he began talking about concerns for his father’s safety back in Afghanistan and he quickly asked to switch topics.
Meanwhile, legislation that would help Asmatullah and thousands of other Afghans out of their nerve-racking wait with a clear pathway to permanent residency, the bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act, stalled in Congress last year.
The law would provide the evacuees a sure pathway to permanent US residency. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar called it “the right and necessary thing to do”, while Republican Lisa Murkowski called on the US to “keep our promises” adding she was proud of legislation designed “to give innocent Afghans hope for a safer, brighter future”.
But Chuck Grassley, the Senate judiciary committee’s top Republican, blocked the bill, seeking tougher vetting.
Almost 4,500 Afghans have received permanent residency through the Special Immigrant Visa program for those who directly assisted the US war effort, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
And as of 12 March this year, USCIS has received approximately 15,000 asylum applications from Afghans who arrived under Operation Allies Welcome, but has so far approved only 1,400, according to agency data provided to the Guardian.
Asmatullah said he always knew that starting again in America from scratch would be a challenge.
But he said: “I just want to show my siblings that a better life is possible.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ma28/afghans-resettled-in-us-future-uncertain

I am extremely fortunate to have been picked for the H1B lottery whilst on my first year of STEM OPT.
Given the economic conditions, I'd love to get some thoughts on what the best strategy for H1B processing is:
Option 1: Change of Status - H1B becomes active on October 1st. In this case, if I were to be laid off anytime after that, I would only get 60 days to find new employment. This appears to be riskier than the unemployment time available on STEM OPT
Option 2: Consular Processing - Stay on the STEM OPT until the economic landscape is slightly better (hopefully towards the end of this year, if not early next year). Travel to my home country, get the H1B stamped and activate it on my return. This way, I should have the 150 days of permitted unemployment associated with a STEM OPT during the worst part of this economic turmoil.
Does anyone have any experience in this situation? Or are there factors you'd recommend considering before making this decision? (E.g higher RFE chances with consular processing, or higher chance of rejection at stamping)
Thank you!

https://old.reddit.com/germany/comments/127jskh/government_draft_law_for_immigration_reform_i/
my_qualifications: professional reddit poster
I don't know why I couldn't crosspost. Anyway, I am copy-pasting verbatim from that post:

• This law only changes who can come to Germany, the citizenship reform will be a separate law
  
• Students can work 140 full days or 280 half days per calendar year (up from 120/240). Work during the semester break counts only half (2.5 days are counted for 5 days of full-time work).
  
• The labor market test for apprenticeships visas is abolished
  
• A new work visa allows immigrants to come to Germany without needing formal recognition that their degree or training is comparable to a German degree. You get the visa if you have 1) a foreign training of at least 2 years that is recognized in your country or a university degree that is recognized in your country, and 2) you worked at least 2 out of the 5 last years in that profession and 3) in Germany you will either earn according to the collective labor agreement that was negotiated by the trade union or you earn 39,420 euro per year or you work in IT.
  
• The Blue Card or any other work visa is only issued if the Federal Employment Agency determines that "workers are not employed under less favourable terms than German nationals employed in an equivalent position" (unchanged from the current law).
  
• The Blue Card threshold is lowered from 58,400 euro per year to 49,586 euro for most professions. The threshold for some particularly needed professionals (IT, natural sciences, engineering, mathematics, and human medicine) is lowered from 45,552 euro to 39,682 euro. Some additional professions are added to the list with the lower threshold: Nurses, midwifes, veterinarians, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dieticians, audiologists, speech therapists, optometrists.
  
• Everyone who got their university degree within three years before they start the job also falls under the lower Blue Card threshold of 39,682 euro.
  
• Blue Card for IT workers without a degree who have three years of IT work experience and earn 39,682 euro.
  
• Immigrants with a Blue Card no longer need to ask for permission before they can switch jobs. But if you switch jobs within the first year then Ausländerbehörde can suspend you from the new job for 30 days to check if the new job meets the Blue Card requirements. No such checks are possible after one year.
  
• You get Permanent Residence with a Blue Card and German level A1 after 2 years and 3 months (down from 2 years and 9 months) or if you speak German level B1 after 1 year and 9 months (unchanged)
  
• Permanent Residence for other skilled workers (e.g. those that have a university degree) after 3 years (down from 4 years)
  
• Immigrants who lived in another EU country for 5 years and have the status as an EU long-term resident) can move to Germany and work whatever they want. The current labor market test for this group is abolished.
  
• An immigrant with a university degree or a qualification that is comparable to a German apprenticeship will get a work visa if they have an offer for any skilled job in Germany. A skilled job is defined as one that is typically done by a person who went to university or did an apprenticeship. The job no longer needs to be connected to the degree or qualification that the immigrant has.
  
• You can work 20 hours per week on a language course visa (up from currently 0 hours)
  
• Work permits for citizens of western Balkan countries are doubled from currently 25,000 to 50,000 per year
  

my travel document and working permit approved. I am in F1 status now.( I changed my f1 status in USA) I am takinf classes. I have not started to work yet. I would like to visit my family for 2 months. what should I do with F1 visa? I need to let them now? or my visa will cancel automatically? my lawyer wants me to stay till green card . is that risky?

The Canadian government has started tightening the screws on non-registered crypto exchanges offering products to Canadians. We've seen Kraken ban margin/futures trading in many Canadian provinces, OKX completely leave Canada, and there are rumblings that Binance may follow.
I think Canadians will lose access to futures on reputable CEX within a few months.
I make a reasonably good living trading crypto and so I don't want to lose access to these products.
I'm trying to figure out a solution to this.
A few thoughts:
Jersey/Caymans/Whatever corporation.
Cost:

• $1,000 - $10,000 setup and perhaps $1,000 per year ongoing

Pros:

• Foreign corporation.

Cons:

• Audit bait.
• Corporation is still a Canadian resident.
• Some exchanges (e.g. Coinbase I think) are wary of accounts set up in tax havens.
• May not satisfy exchanges worried about current CFTC precedent where the US went after Binance for serving US clients that used these shells.

Permitted client status through $5m personal liquid assets or $25m corporate equity.
Cost:

• Interferes with efficient tax structuring (e.g., cannot use corporation for income splitting maneuvers unless you leave $25m equity in it).

Pros:

• Clear regulation.

Cons:

• Requires liquid assets (I do not have $5m financial assets, so would have to reorganize my finances in an unpleasant way).
• Some exchanges are unclear whether they will accept even permitted clients.

Permitted client status through becoming an advisodealefund
Cost:

• Hours of annoyance (courses, CE, etc)
• Even more hours of annoyance if you want to use a corporation to hold the assets.

Pros:

• Low financial cost.

Cons:

• Some exchanges are unclear whether they will accept even permitted clients.

Move to other exchanges: dydx / no kyc
Cost:

• Free?

Pros:

• Easy.

Cons:

• May be forced to move, again
• Worse liquidity, potentially higher risk of fraud/exploits.
• Fewer venues means fewer profit oppurtunities.

[edit: changed formatting as reddit deleted numbers]

Legal fees I’ve been quoted are very expensive, 4k-5k seem common and the lowest is 3k. Not something most normal people my age have sitting around in a bank.
Would I actually need a lawyer to file for adjustment of status? I was here on a student visa from when I was 16, been on a work permit after. Last entered the country pre-covid legally, no legal or visa issues, not even been pulled over before. Me and the partner have been living together about 5 months too, working to get their name on the lease.
Only issues I could think of is I know the spouse is supposed to prove they can financially support me. But they are still in college, and I’ve been working to support us both. My work permit ends in about 6-7 months too, so time is plentiful.
Would I need a lawyer?

Hello I applied for a PGWP but my student permit had already expired so I can’t work and it’s taking incredibly long. Is that possible for me if I qualify as a refugee to apply to have a refugee status and so get a work permit faster ?

Well I couldn’t get all the paper necessary from the university to apply before the permit expired so I had to pay for the restoration of status can I still work while waiting ?

I've waited 7 months for my CCW upgrade. I tried to call the permit office to try and get a status update and was shot down by an angry clerk as you might expect. How is it legal to make someone wait 7 months with no update?

• Is there no recourse for egregious wait times?
• What exactly is defined as an egregious wait time? Any thoughts or input welcome.

I received a GRA Moissanite ring yesterday, (3/24/2023) via USPS which I did not order. The shipping label says it came from 29180 S Jupiter Road, Garland, TX 74051. The Permit No on the package is 50034. This is where I ordered from.
Macy
Order skirtguru4 Macy#skirtguru4 Shipment Status Updated Tracking Number: ZD810064****CD;
If you have any questions about your order or need to contact Macy, please click to view order details or visit our store.
Check Order Detail View our store
I'm in Houston
Read full report here

Hi everyone. Has anybody else experienced this? A biometrics validity letter was uploaded as they approved the permit and I received two emails to say the status of my application had changed and that I’d received a message, but no LOI…
For anyone interested I am a UK application, non SDS and my application took 4 weeks from submission to approval.

Sources: draft law, draft regulation

• This law only changes who can come to Germany, the citizenship reform will be a separate law
  
• Students can work 140 full days or 280 half days per calendar year (up from 120/240). Work during the semester break counts only half (2.5 days are counted for 5 days of full-time work).
  
• The labor market test for apprenticeships visas is abolished
  
• A new work visa allows immigrants to come to Germany without needing formal recognition that their degree or training is comparable to a German degree. You get the visa if you have 1) a foreign training of at least 2 years that is recognized in your country or a university degree that is recognized in your country, and 2) you worked at least 2 out of the 5 last years in that profession and 3) in Germany you will either earn according to the collective labor agreement that was negotiated by the trade union or you earn 39,420 euro per year or you work in IT.
  
• The Blue Card or any other work visa is only issued if the Federal Employment Agency determines that "workers are not employed under less favourable terms than German nationals employed in an equivalent position" (unchanged from the current law).
  
• The Blue Card threshold is lowered from 58,400 euro per year to 49,586 euro for most professions. The threshold for some particularly needed professionals (IT, natural sciences, engineering, mathematics, and human medicine) is lowered from 45,552 euro to 39,682 euro. Some additional professions are added to the list with the lower threshold: Nurses, midwifes, veterinarians, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dieticians, audiologists, speech therapists, optometrists.
  
• Everyone who got their university degree within the last three years before they start the job also falls under the lower Blue Card threshold of 39,682 euro.
  
• Blue Card for IT workers without a degree who have three years of IT work experience and earn 39,682 euro.
  
• Immigrants with a Blue Card no longer need to ask for permission before they can switch jobs. But if you switch jobs within the first year then Ausländerbehörde can suspend you from the new job for 30 days to check if the new job meets the Blue Card requirements. No such checks are possible after one year.
  
• You get Permanent Residence with a Blue Card and German level A1 after 2 years and 3 months (down from 2 years and 9 months) or if you speak German level B1 after 1 year and 9 months (unchanged)
  
• Permanent Residence for other skilled workers (e.g. those that have a university degree) after 3 years (down from 4 years)
  
• Immigrants who lived in another EU country for 5 years and have the status as an EU long-term resident) can move to Germany and work whatever they want. The current labor market test for this group is abolished.
  
• An immigrant with a university degree or a qualification that is comparable to a German apprenticeship will get a work visa if they have an offer for any skilled job in Germany. A skilled job is defined as one that is typically done by a person who went to university or did an apprenticeship. The job no longer needs to be connected to the degree or qualification that the immigrant has.
  
• You can work 20 hours per week on a language course visa (up from currently 0 hours)
  
• Work permits for citizens of western Balkan countries are doubled from currently 25,000 to 50,000 per year
  

Opportunity Card
The Opportunity Card is a jobseeker visa:

• you can stay in Germany for 1 year
  
• you can work 20 hours per week
  
• you can switch to a work visa once you have an offer for a job that qualifies you to get a work visa
  

You get the Opportunity Card if you

• have a university degree that is comparable to a German degree or
  
• got training that is comparable to a German apprenticeship or
  
• you have 2 years of professional training or a foreign degree that is recognized in your country AND you speak German level A2 or English level B2 AND you get 6 points
  

How to get points: You speak German level B2 (3 points), German level B1 (2 points), English level C1 (1 point), you are younger than 35 years (2 points), you are 35-39 years old (1 point), you have been in Germany for at least 6 months in the last 5 years (1 point), you apply together with your spouse who qualifies for an Opportunity Card (1 point), you complete professional training or a foreign degree that is recognized in your country and worked in that profession for 5 out of the last 7 years (3 points) or for 2 out of the last 5 years (2 points), you completed professional training in your country and it was determined that further qualifications are necessary before your qualifications are recognized as being equal to a German apprenticeship or before you are given permission to work in a regulated profession (4 points).
Timeline
The draft bill will be debated in Bundestag and Bundesrat, there will be hearings with experts, the bill will probably pass sometimes in the 3rd or 4th quarter of this year then then the law also has a built-in waiting time of 6 months after it passes before it takes effect. There are usually only minor changes made by parliament.
My thoughts
Certainly exciting and huge changes that make it again easier for lots of people to immigrate to Germany. I am not aware of a first-world country where the legal barrier to immigration will be so low (of course other barriers like language and bureaucracy remain). The new work visa opens up immigration for a whole new group of blue-collar workers who have an apprenticeship equivalent in their country but can not get formal recognition in Germany because what they learned is not exactly comparable. The Opportunity Card is a bit underwhelming, I had hoped it would be like the Canadian Express Entry where immigrants immediately get permanent resident status and can work whatever they want. But to be fair, for a jobseeker visa it is actually quite good with 1 year of stay and 20 hours of work per week allowed.
Edit: I have added that the current requirement remains that a work visa is only issued if the Federal Employment Agency determines that "workers are not employed under less favourable terms than German nationals employed in an equivalent position". Also added the section "timeline".