Merit-Based Immigration System And How It Works

Name Tutor Course Date Merit-Based Immigration INTRODUCTION The proposal by President Trump concerning a shift towards a merit-based immigration system has significant advantages towards the nation as a whole. In the previous decades, the immigration system of the U.S has been mainly based entry on family ties while providing preferences to individuals with relatives that are citizens (Alvarez 1-3). However, President Trump’s first address focused on a proposal of moving further away from this policy and creating an immigration system that would mainly prioritize in highly skilled immigrants. The paper will analyze the Merit-based immigration system and how it works. It will also discuss the benefits and consequences associated with this system. ANALYSIS OF MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION Numerous immigrants that are admitted to the United States are typically granted entry on the basis of their family ties. Less than a fifth are typically admitted through the preferences of their jobs and also in a similar fashion, a small number of these people come into the country through asylum and refugee programs (Davis 7-9). The United States can sponsor immediate family member, parents and spouses for visas that are not subjected to any caps. Their siblings and adult children under the current system can get preferences under the program that focuses on providing a specific number of visas yearly to the relatives of citizens (Davis 7-9). Legal permanent residents and also citizens that have green cards have been allowed to apply for visas for their children and spouses. HOW MERIT-BASED SYSTEMS WORK The president did not indicate the manner that the government would create a suitable framework for this system. He provided an example of the Canadian merit system whereby immigrants are granted points in accordance with their employment and educational backgrounds, their level of language proficiency and also financial means (Davis 10-12). The highest scores based on these assessments will get a high priority regarding admissions. The points system was a component of the 2007 immigration proposal that was not developed further than the Senate. Under this measure, employment characteristics such as education and skills would mainly account for more points compared to family relationships. Therefore, immigrants that had a family member that lived in the United States legally either as permanent residents or citizens, would have seen their visa preferences strictly restricted or ended permanently. However, employment-based visas would have increased significantly (Davis 10-12). In this measure, temporary workers would have been prevented from bringing their family members to the U.S unless they accepted temporary visas and also could confirm that they would not become mainly dependent on benefits from the government. The main focus of the president is financial self-sufficiency for immigrants which were highly favorable if it was successful (Davis 14). This proposal in association with the White House Plan would significantly cut the number of legal immigrants by up to forty-four percent or five hundred thousand immigrants yearly. This is the largest policy-driven legal immigration cut since the 1920s.When compared to the current laws based on imm...