Because of double-dipping taxes and bank account closures of expats. Yet immigration continues unabated. My conclusion? As long as we give away good stuff free, those who want, will, those who pay, won't.
Without knowing you background, out of curiosity, discarding family reasons, what do you think is more appealing in migrating to the US over say.. Canada, Australia and the UK?
That's a good point, clearly Canada and UK provide much more of a welfare state. Don't know about Australia.
But strictly on economic grounds, US has more jobs. And has the added benefit of a walkable border with the third world, as opposed to swimming to England or down under.
sure, numerically there are more jobs, but per-capita is that the case? How many of them are well paid vs minimum wage / working poor?
I ask all these things since as an Australian, I could work/live in any of those countries and have thought about them all, but for now I'm sticking with Canada.
You might want to consider culture. Canada is much more left than America. If that floats your boat.
Though not true today, historically Canada has had a higher unemployment rate than the states. Higher wage jobs? Maybe. But high wage jobs with no openings is useless. Thought their dole is much more generous. Related...perhaps...
America offers more opportunities: to succeed or fail. IMO.
Canada and Australia have stricter immigration laws and better enforcement. If they'll let you in and your career doesn't compel you to work in the US (and, in Canada's case, you're fine with the weather), the US could very well be less appealing.
In contrast, the UK seems to be generally worse off than the US, with respect to immigration policy and just about everything else. I'll take hard-working low IQ Mexican peasants over hateful fundamentalist Muslims any day of the week.
Responding to the original post, the complexity of the legal immigration process is an argument for streamlining it, not for eliminating the process entirely. Enforcement of citizenship requirements is fundamental to sovereignty. Sometimes, the formal requirements can be minimal because immigrants self-select in a manner acceptable to the existing population (arguably true for the 19th century US), but that's circumstantial; it's obviously not a general rule. (Israel, for instance, would be ruined with open borders. Also: "you can't have free immigration and a welfare state.")
Yeah, I suspect the situation would be when you had a kid in the US and you and your partner were ordered out of the country and you refused to take measures to obtain a visa or citizenship for your child for your country of origin and your country of origin refused the child entry. However, your country's attitude may then give you grounds for filing a refugee claim..
Yeah, I just have no idea what situations make "we're sending you home but keeping your kid" an acceptable thing in the government's eyes. I only ever really know about it in the TV crime-drama sense which generally bears no relation to reality, as much as I do love some some crime-drama.
Great post. My mother is an immigrant. I suppose after over 50 years in the US she could have become a citizen, but I think for her it was always so much work/hassle she just kept her own citizenship and didn't fuss with it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 07:31 pm (UTC)Because of double-dipping taxes and bank account closures of expats. Yet immigration continues unabated. My conclusion? As long as we give away good stuff free, those who want, will, those who pay, won't.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 08:37 pm (UTC)But strictly on economic grounds, US has more jobs. And has the added benefit of a walkable border with the third world, as opposed to swimming to England or down under.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 08:56 pm (UTC)I ask all these things since as an Australian, I could work/live in any of those countries and have thought about them all, but for now I'm sticking with Canada.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 11:51 pm (UTC)Though not true today, historically Canada has had a higher unemployment rate than the states. Higher wage jobs? Maybe. But high wage jobs with no openings is useless. Thought their dole is much more generous. Related...perhaps...
America offers more opportunities: to succeed or fail. IMO.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 12:41 am (UTC)In contrast, the UK seems to be generally worse off than the US, with respect to immigration policy and just about everything else. I'll take hard-working low IQ Mexican peasants over hateful fundamentalist Muslims any day of the week.
Responding to the original post, the complexity of the legal immigration process is an argument for streamlining it, not for eliminating the process entirely. Enforcement of citizenship requirements is fundamental to sovereignty. Sometimes, the formal requirements can be minimal because immigrants self-select in a manner acceptable to the existing population (arguably true for the 19th century US), but that's circumstantial; it's obviously not a general rule. (Israel, for instance, would be ruined with open borders. Also: "you can't have free immigration and a welfare state.")
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 09:46 pm (UTC)Seems somehow within grasp when I think of it that way.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 10:17 pm (UTC)US Immigration is more than happy to separate children and parents.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 01:21 am (UTC)Ouch. Not as easy as I thought.
Seriously? They *do* that?!?! That's awful! (I live in an area with approximately zero exposure to US Immigration, so this is really news to me.)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 02:37 am (UTC)