Monday, February 28, 2011

Immigration Reform

Congressman Issa has introduced a bill, HR 43, which is stated to (see Open Congress):

Eliminates the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, a.k.a. the Green Card Lottery, which gives out 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. These visas would instead be given to foreign-born individuals who have obtained a graduate degree in science or engineering from a U.S. university and whose employment is sought by a U.S. employer. 

This means that the visas which have been given on a politically correct basis are now given on a rational basis to benefit the economy. Sounds like a good idea. The Government tracking site states its function as:

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the diversity immigrant program and provide an equal number of annual immigrant visas (55,000) to certain employment-based aliens who obtain an advanced degree in the United States.

This is a positive move and perhaps the number of 55,000 may also be changed. There of course is always the issue of admitting non-threatening persons.