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US Visa laws are certainly hard, but there is a positive side (for the US at least): only those that are highly motivated to move here make it through the proce

US Visa laws are certainly hard, but there is a positive side (for the US at least): only those that are highly motivated to move here make it through the process. This really does bias the types of immigrants we get. As much as people might complain about immigrants coming in and then going on welfare, it just doesn't happen with any frequency. Instead, we get immigrants who come here and start companies at twice the rate of natural born citizens. Our labor laws also select for people who really want to work - at least compared to our European counterparts. I don't mean to say that people who emigrate to Europe don't want to work, but the perception that you have to work longer hours in the US certainly does weed out the people who are overly concerned about working too much. As long as we continue to have people who want to come to the US, I can't see why we'd want to make the process easier unless we can continue to keep these filters in place.

jkarni 13y ago
Or: weeding out everyone who believes forms and bureaucracy shouldn't constitute a significant fraction of one's mental landscape, or who is offended by the extent to which the difficulty of the process makes it seem like the government doesn't want you here in the first place, or whose opportunities in other countries are close enough in attractiveness for the annoyance to tip the scale (presumably precisely the people you should most try to attract). Though "weeding out" or "filtering" to any real extent clearly isn't all that much of a priority when a large part of the system is a lottery.
- Aloisius 13y ago
  Though "weeding out" or "filtering" to any real extent clearly isn't all that much of a priority when a large part of the system is a lottery. The green card lottery (Diversity Immigrant Visa) makes up less than 5% of the total green cards issued in the US. I'd hardly call that a large part of the system.
  - jkarni 13y ago
    I was thinking of H1B.
ajju 13y ago
>As long as we continue to have people who want to come to the US, I can't see why we'd want to make the process easier unless we can continue to keep these filters in place. Our onboarding process is hard, but there is a positive side: only customers who are highly motivated to pay sign up. As long as our customers continue to pay, I can't see why we'd want to make the user experience easier unless we can continue to ensure we get paying customers. [If you can't spot the folly in your logic, your false dichotomy suggests that the U.S. is getting all the motivated immigrants it can get. In reality, even the motivated immigrants who do end up in the U.S. on an H1B end up working semi-rote jobs at large companies when many of them would start job creating companies if they were allowed to. ]
bigd 13y ago
Your argument is the kind of comment I can imagine being said by an army sergeant. "Only the strongest survive the training". followed by: "Wearing a skirt is asking for rape."

jkarni 13y ago

Or: weeding out everyone who believes forms and bureaucracy shouldn't constitute a significant fraction of one's mental landscape, or who is offended by the extent to which the difficulty of the process makes it seem like the government doesn't want you here in the first place, or whose opportunities in other countries are close enough in attractiveness for the annoyance to tip the scale (presumably precisely the people you should most try to attract). Though "weeding out" or "filtering" to any real extent clearly isn't all that much of a priority when a large part of the system is a lottery.

Aloisius 13y ago
Though "weeding out" or "filtering" to any real extent clearly isn't all that much of a priority when a large part of the system is a lottery. The green card lottery (Diversity Immigrant Visa) makes up less than 5% of the total green cards issued in the US. I'd hardly call that a large part of the system.
- jkarni 13y ago
  I was thinking of H1B.

ajju 13y ago

>As long as we continue to have people who want to come to the US, I can't see why we'd want to make the process easier unless we can continue to keep these filters in place. Our onboarding process is hard, but there is a positive side: only customers who are highly motivated to pay sign up. As long as our customers continue to pay, I can't see why we'd want to make the user experience easier unless we can continue to ensure we get paying customers. [If you can't spot the folly in your logic, your false dichotomy suggests that the U.S. is getting all the motivated immigrants it can get. In reality, even the motivated immigrants who do end up in the U.S. on an H1B end up working semi-rote jobs at large companies when many of them would start job creating companies if they were allowed to. ]

bigd 13y ago

Your argument is the kind of comment I can imagine being said by an army sergeant. "Only the strongest survive the training". followed by: "Wearing a skirt is asking for rape."