The hardest thing if you want to move abroad is the VISA issue. Some people have to jump hurdles for years before becoming legal immigrant in Italy. 90% of the illegal immigrants aren't shipped back home, so it is not such a big deal. But when I think to go to the US I explicitly remember the green VISA waiver you have to sign at the airport where you declare that you are not entering the Country to work or seek for a job, because in that case you would need a VISA. And you don't want to mess with INS because the US is a serious Country.
Do you think the people should be let free to move wherever they want?
Do you think that if the barriers were taken down there would be more immigration?
Do you think that barriers are useful to set a certain balance between territory, resources and population?
Interesting issue.
RispondiEliminaI do believe in immigration rules/walls that should be enforced as strictly and seriously as US INS does.
We might want to understand the issue behind immigration flows and help stopping them but we cannot allow people moving freely around the world.
As per your call
Talk to people who have lived there, visit those places for a while and yes, look for a job even if you sign the green card...
Absolutely people should be allowed to move freely, but I also understand why different countries place certain restrictions on those who seek permanent residence.
RispondiEliminaPrior to 9/11, I could go from the US to Canada and back without any restrictions, or from the US to Mexico and back. Now? Now, I have to have a passport to do this. To me, this makes very little sense. The Patriot Act has done nothing to stop those who are intent on doing harm to others. All it has really done is to remove freedoms that we used to have here in the US.
Many countries have certain stipulations that they impose on those who seek to become residents, and I think some of these are understandable. Australia, for example, requires that those not from Australia who seek permanent residence there to: 1) have a college degree, and 2) $100,000 Australian dollars. The reason for the degree is to show that you have a skill and are therefore employable. The reason for the money is for you to be able to support yourself (without the aid of the Australian government or others) until you can find work, a place to live, and establish yourself in their country. Another reason for such stipulations is similar to what's going on here in the US with the debate over illegal immigration: to restrict the influx of illegal aliens. I'm not so sure that such measures actually work, though, since those that seek to immigrate illegally have no interest in obeying the law. (Australia and New Zealand have their own illegal immigrant problems, only instead of being Hispanic, their illegal aliens are Asian.) Each country is different in their requirements and in how they handle these issues.
Portugal, for example, requires that you be able to speak Portuguese. This is very understandable, even though a large number of people there do know and speak English. Portuguese, obviously, is the primary language of that country. This, too, is part of the immigration debate going on in the US, because of the growing number of people who speak Spanish.
I'm of the opinion that because so many people already speak Spanish, and because they are growing in number, whether we acknowledge it or not, Spanish is already the "unofficial" second language the of the US. I don't know why some don't like the idea of having a second official language. There are several countries around the world that are like this, including some that have more than two official languages. In the Chinese S.A.R. of Macau, for example, there are three official languages: Portuguese, Chinese, and Cantonese.
Technically, the USA has NO official language. Rather, English is the de facto national language. When the US was first formed, we came very close to having German as our national language.
Barriers and borders drive me insane. It's as if people really believe that just by virtue of being born in a country, they own all rights to that land ...
RispondiEliminaI'm a New Zealander and NZ makes it incredibly difficult for people to enter and live there. I worked in Turkey for a couple of years, that was lovely although I never tried to actually move there.
Now I'm in Belgium and it took 9 months just to get permission to live with my man.
I have this idea that if we allowed freedom of movement, people would all just shift around, looking for something different.