FYC: A New Approach To Modernizing Immigration--A New Look At The 2007 Forbes Proposal

Back in 2007, an editorial in Forbes Magazine titled "Your Bond, Please" was published.  It was an excellent suggestion for an innovation to modernize the antiquated system for people who want to legally immigrate to the US.  Recently I was asked to research ways for someone's nephew to immigrate to Texas and came across several roadblocks.   Basically the only ways you can legally immigrate to the US are as follows: 

  1. You can marry or get engaged to marry a US Citizen.
  2. You can be sponsored by a US Citizen who is an immediate family member, whose relationship is defined as follows:  Spouse, Parent, Child, or Sibling of said citizen.
  3. Be sponsored for employment by a US Company with a work Visa.
  4. Apply for political asylum.
  5. Enter the green card lottery.
There is a little tiny blurb on the State Department website that talks about a "Family Preference" visa which it says is for distant family members of a citizen and that there are a limited number of those issued every fiscal year, but all of the information on family preference that is available says it has to be a son, daughter, the spouse of a son or daughter, or a sibling, which is *NOT* a distant family member, so I write this off as just being a lie.  

What if there was one additional way?  One in which the visa is issued based on the issue of a Bond or Insurance policy to make sure that immigrants aren't a drain on the economy and cover the cost of detaining and deporting them should they become deadbeats would be a better additional option.    

The Forbes proposal goes as follows.  

  1. The prospective immigrant applies for a bonded visa, which requires that you purchase a bond or insurance policy good for 3 years that would make payments to the government in the event that you lose your job, or for some other reason won't pull your weight.  This option could also be utilized by people who have been in the US for more than a year illegally or are here on some sort of temporary visa as well.
  2. After obtaining the Bond or Insurance Policy, that person is authorized to remain in the US and be employed as well for the term of the policy, with the option for one renewal to the policy.
  3. After the second term, that person automatically qualifies for a green card and can legally pursue a path to full citizenship.

This is a lovely concept, and I think it should be implemented, but it makes several assumptions that I believe should be modified.  

The first is that it should be based on ten percent of an average annual tax bill of $30,000 a year.   This is nice, but if you're talking a non-skilled person, the amount should be adjusted realistically to the skill level of the person seeking to come to the US and upon renewal can be adjusted upward should that person gain additional skills or move to a higher income bracket. 

Some combination of a bond and insurance should be implemented in some cases that way say a bond could cover either the full cost or there could be an entrance bond to cover the detaining and deporting cost and an ongoing payment to the insurance company for the support costs perhaps?  

Those who are in the country illegally already should have a process instated where they are required to voluntarily surrender and register their presence with ICE, be fingerprinted and have a DNA sample taken, be released on a PR bond with some sort of tracking system in place with a provisional work status  while they are waiting for a criminal and background check to be done, and if that all comes back clean they should have to pay a personal fine and the cost of the related checks in addition to the Bonding/Insurance process, (that part of which could be paid by an prospective employer or family member.)  But those individuals should also have to report in regularly to a caseworker similar to a probation officer for a short period of time also as they shouldn't get off basically scott free.  

For family members, there should be an ability to do family sponsorship for any blood relative & their spouse/minor children via this method with additional insurance options and requirements in place to ensure that any non-working family members that enter the country also won't become a drain on the already stressed welfare system. 

I'm open to any additional comments/input on this matter and will follow up in the future should someone have ideas to better the system.  

Location: Temple, TX, USA

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