4 ms·
To be honest, the current system is so dysfunctional that this may even be an improvement. It is shocking to me that only 10% of our immigrants have gotten here
by whack 9y ago
To be honest, the current system is so dysfunctional that this may even be an improvement. It is shocking to me that only 10% of our immigrants have gotten here though merit. There was an article on nytimes recently about the Canadian immigration system, how successful and popular it's been, and how this is largely the result of a system that heavily priorities immigrants who are highly skilled and can contribute the most to the economy.
I distrust Trump just as much as any other liberal, but even a broken clock can sometimes be right. Any moves we make towards a Canadian model of immigration, would be a great improvement over the status quo.
https://nyti.ms/2ugNBLH https://nyti.ms/2ugNBLH
"Those admitted to the U.S. on the basis of merit have accounted for less than 10 percent of all legal immigrants over the past 15 years"
"The legislation would, for example, increase the number of green cards — which allow for permanent residency in the U.S. — that are granted on the basis of merit to foreigners in a series of categories including outstanding professors and researchers, those holding advanced degrees, and those with extraordinary ability in a particular field."
- vertex-four 9y agoIf only 10% of your immigrants are there on merit... maybe your legal definition of "merit" is way too tight? Loosening it while decreasing the amount of non-merit-based green cards available would be the obvious solution.
- whatupmd 9y ago"those holding advanced degrees, and those with extraordinary ability in a particular field." Would be interested to see a break-down of degree and field. I will posit that majority of H-1Bs are Masters holders in IT field from the same country.
- calvinbhai 9y agoMajority in IT are from India and China, getting degrees in US universities. But high skilled merit based immigration helps industries that are not in the IT field.
- scarface74 9y agoWhat percentage of immigrants holding "advanced degrees" from foreign countries are actually any good? My experience from interviewing "senior software engineers" that were educated both domestically and abroad shows an appalling percentage of people who can actually code let alone architect a decent system. If people in the industry can't distinguish between qualified and non qualified people, how can the government?
- bryanlarsen 9y agoI suspect the old system was designed to keep people of color out of the States. The United States was predominately white Christian, so people related to Americans were mostly white Christians. However today the people most likely to bring their families over are "brown" people who immigrated on merit or as refugees or who got lucky, so now it's time to close that loophole.
- letitgo12345 9y agoWhile that is indeed a big reason for the current family based immigration system, I think there are strong arguments to be made for a merit based immigration system. Some people may support it for the wrong reasons but that doesn't mean that such a policy wouldn't be good long term for the country.