Firstly let me congratulate your family in escaping communism. It's a nightmare to live under one. My great grandparent from my maternal side did so too. She and her son escaped communist China with little to their name save what they could carry. They rebuilt their lives here in Malaysia or Malaya (Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) as it was known back then.
Now back to present time. My friend's story didn't just end with successfully migrating to the US. There is more since we are talking about US' immigration policies. For the first few years the US government made his life stressful. You see the job his company has for him was continually being scrutinized by the government. They kept asking the company why the position is filled by immigrant and has been putting pressure on the company to replace him with a local. The company did their best to justify his employment and move to the US. He told us how much he feared for his future in the US. How he feared that the entire family will be forced to go back after uprooting themselves from Malaysia. We have God (he being a Christian as well) to thank that everything worked out. Now he is stable in the US.
Then let me tell you another personal story this time my younger cousin who moved to Japan recently. The application was smooth and took little than a few months. She is well educated (Phd) but has not have a stable job yet when applying to go to Japan.
I know of a lot of people who have moved to other countries. I have families and friends that have moved to US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, UK, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and Thailand. I know of the challenges they faced when we meet each other. So I know of a lot of different quirks as I would put it in international immigration. Malaysians are famous for migrating everywhere. We have an issue with brain drain here due to the amount of high value individuals moving away.
Tell me again why my friend faced so much difficulty in a country Joe said was so open to immigrants? An upstanding guy with a stable job, good credit rating, a family and zero criminal records. While my cousin went into Japan with so little trouble.