Washington: In far-reaching immigration reform proposals that were relayed to the Congress, US President Donald Trump proposed ending extended-family chain migration by limiting family-based green cards to spouses and minor children, while replacing it with a “merit-based system that prioritises skills and economic contributions over family connections.”
Trump also called for establishing a new, points-based system for awarding of Green Cards (lawful permanent residents) that takes into consideration factors that allow individuals to successfully assimilate and support themselves financially, while eliminating the “Diversity Visa Lottery,” which limited Indian immigration.
Diversity visa lottery broadly makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually and aims to diversify the immigrant population in the United States, by selecting applicants from countries with low rates of immigration in the five years prior. This favours smaller countries vis-à-vis countries with large pool of immigrant hopefuls such as India, China, and Mexico.
The new proposals are broadly favourable to Indian immigrant hopefuls who are young, academically well-qualified, highly-skilled, fluent in English etc., although they will have to jump through many hoops involving due diligence and meeting several criteria, including wage requirements, before snagging the Green Card.
But the “bad news”: The move will virtually eliminate any prospect of ageing parents and extended family immigrating to the US. Whether the proposals, which have to be codified into law by Congress, will be favourable to India or not is a matter of where you stand. It could facilitate high-skilled, youthful immigration to the US resulting in what some might see as a brain-drain.
A counterview is the Indian-American constituency in the US will grow, possibly giving New Delhi greater diplomatic and economic heft, although that is a matter of conjecture and how US-India relations pan out.
In any case, the Trump administration wants countries of the world to keep their aged, infirm, and unskilled at home. It wants the world's young, skilled, and healthy so that the healthcare and social security costs of its own aged and infirm can be subsidized.
The Trump proposals were immediately trashed by Democrats, whose political support base is also new-immigrant and minority-based, compared to the nativist support for Trump and his Republican constituency.
Liberal Democrats were particularly incensed that Trump was reneging on tentative proposals to protect younger immigrants, known as “dreamers,” who were brought to the US illegally as children.
White House officials described the proposals as necessary to protect public safety and jobs for American-born workers, which was a centrepiece of Trump's campaign. “Without these reforms, illegal immigration and chain migration, which severely and unfairly burden American workers and taxpayers, will continue without end,” Trump said in his letter to the Congress.
The proposals also include punishing visa overstays, beefing up border patrol and financial squeeze on sanctuary cities. Although the proposals do not mention the H1-B visa programme, it calls for stricter verification of legal workers to ensure they are keeping to terms of their visa.
