I am a student from Australia. I hold very libertarian views, but I'd more readily describe them as anarchist.
I am a deontological libertarian - I think government is undesirable because of the non-aggression principle, not the statistical advantages the free market provides. I do, however, get along with most Libertarians of all stripes.
I am a huge fan of American history and am trying to find a place to settle down for the rest of my life.
Planning on undertaking a law degree following my undergrad, and would like to look into the United States as a potential option - specifically New Hampshire due to the strong sense of liberty within and the amazing scenery.
What are my potential options? Is it possible to eventually gain citizenship as a student? How would I go about getting a student visa? Are there many decent law schools in New Hampshire? What are their general admissions requirements? (GPA wise if you have the details).
I've been considering law school in NH as well. Here's the list: http://www.educationnews.org/career-index/law-schools-in-new-hampshire/ and you can google each school independently and there will be various websites which outline their acceptance requirements, costs, and capabilities. While GPA is important the critical part of acceptance is going to be a good LSAT score. It's almost purely a logic and critical reasoning skills test so if you have good reading comprehension it won't be too hard to get a decent score.
What is your undergrad? You can do pretty much anything before going to law school but stuff like Criminal Justice, International Business, and others which deal with law/regulations do help.
My undergrad is Arts with majors in philosophy and political science. It's at a world top 100 university if that helps. Guessing it doesn't.
One well-known Free Stater transferred from GMU to Franklin Pierce for law school. He says the latter was very easy, for whatever that's worth. My guess is that it's probably easy to get into as well. He now he has his own criminal defense practice in NH and is doing quite well.
Not tremendously. If you have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, you can apply directly to law schools in the US. We get grad school applicants from abroad all the time.
Getting residency shouldn't be too difficult either. My dad(British) went from a student visa to a work visa after graduating college and getting a job and if your plan is to naturalize(he never has) then you can probably start that process while still in school.
Well that makes things easier! If accepted into law school in the US do you automatically get permanent residence or something? Is it easier?
Also, guessing you can't get arrested during your student/work visa or you're deported - does this mean I should refrain from protests and stuff for like 10 years? That seems like a really annoying catch.
Hahah yeah we're pretty much all convicts so that might hurt my case D: Nah haven't been arrested aye.
Hmm... how do you start naturalization while still on a student visa?
I meant un-officially starting it. Figure out what paperwork you need to get, what the process is, how long it takes, what you need to do, and what's on the test and such.
Ahh, alright. I study American history in my spare time so the test shouldn't be too much of an issue, I am a little worried about the employer requirements (I am currently a professional casino dealer, doubt I can carry this over lol), and the restrictions on arrest (I smoke cannabis/enjoy protest).
You would be coming in on the F1 visa which is non-immigrant (https://www.educationusa.info/ for more information on this type of visa and the process). During your stay in the US if you find a job you can get a work visa (H1) or get married and get a green card. Once you have the green card it takes between 3 and 5 years to get naturalized.
Another option is to enter the diversity lottery. If you live in Australia then you have a 5.5% chance of winning which gets you a green card. The current FSP president is from SA originally and moved after winning the lottery.
Convicted rather then arrested. Arrests can be annoying but don't invalidate your visa.
Also I wouldn't worry too much about it. Protesting is one of the worst ways of getting anything accomplished (almost as useless as petitions) so you can exclude yourself from protests and still have active involvement with activism.