In US immigration bill, skills trump family ties

The proposed Senate legislation could transform the ethnic and social mix of the nation's workforce.

from the May 24, 2007 edition

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After that, only the minor children and spouses of legal immigrants would be able to apply for family visas. Adult children, siblings, parents, and other relatives would have to apply in the general queue.

Currently about 160,000 green cards are awarded on the basis of employer sponsorship. By contrast, after the current backlog is cleared up, the bill would institute a merit-based system with an allocation of 380,000 visas.

This system would use a 100-point scale. According to a draft of the legislation, merit applicants could be awarded up to 47 points for employment-related criteria, such as occupation, or years of work for a US firm. They could earn up to 28 points for their level of education, 15 points for their knowledge of English and US civics, and ten points for family ties.

Workers in jobs judged fast-growing by the Bureau of Labor Statistics would be particularly favored. But as critics point out, not all those jobs require high levels of education.

"What they are looking for are doctors and engineers, but the way this is drawn up they might be getting drywall hangers and landscape workers," says Robert Rector, a domestic policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

The current kinship-based system is an economic drag on the US, says Mr. Rector, as it attracts low-skill workers who consume more public services than they pay back in taxes.

Thus Rector believes it is important to change the underpinnings of the immigration system. But he is critical of the way the current proposal is drawn up – particularly its eight-year lag time before full implementation.

"I've been in Washington a quarter century, and I think anybody who takes that bargain is a fool," he says. "The change [to a merit-based system] would never occur."

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