US policy on immigration - Essay Example

Despite the fact that the USA is widely regarded as the country of immigrants, few people would disagree that its immigration system is not cumbersome. Currently immigration to the USA is regulated by number of legislative acts. In my opinion it would be better if the USA implemented more simplified and transparent immigration points system, similar to the systems established in Canada and Australia. As far as labor migration of low skilled workers is concerned, the USA might implement its own Sector Based Scheme (as the United Kingdom has already done in order to alleviate the shortage of low skilled workers in various industries of the United Kingdom).

Many scholars and immigration specialists advocated implementation of points based immigration system in the USA, however so far few steps have been taken in this direction. In order to answer this question, one has to study first of all whether this type of immigration system is needed and whether several elements of points system are already present in current American legislation. Many experts claim that this kind of points system implemented by American legislators will benefit economy as it will boost economic growth, create more positive image of immigrants in the society as well as bring huge benefits to immigrants.

1According to the views expressed by proponents of points based system, similar immigration system has been very successful in Australia where it was introduced in 1979. 2 Apart from Australia one of the largest groups of immigrants- independent immigrants- is selected by points system.3 Moreover in the last year of Reagan administration new Kennedy-Simpson bill was introduced that had many similar features with existing immigration system of Australia and Canada (according to this Bill educated and highly experienced persons would be especially targeted), yet however that Bill was not passed due to opposition from several representatives of Asian and Latin American communities.

4 Despite the fact that Australian and Canadian immigrations systems have many similarities, they have many differences as well. One should study these differences and the outcomes of these programs to understand how to develop American immigration program and what features this program must comprise. Whereas Canadian immigration system stress more on education, Australian immigration system emphasizes experience and profession of potential candidates; on the whole it looks like Australian immigration system is more flexible and various researches conducted both by OECD and immigration department of Australia indicate that labor outcome of immigrants in Australia is much better than in Canada.

In my opinion the USA should create points system for independent immigrants as it would eliminate current quite cumbersome legislation and make our immigrations system more transparent and resolve the problem of backlog of H1V visas that are accorded to highly skilled individuals if the employers are not able to find local workers on their positions. However, some doubts persist whether there are enough numbers of current H1V visas to fill all vacancies. In my opinion points system will eliminate controversies that surround this issue as the number of independent immigrants will be defined more clearly and current situation in the labor market will be taken into account before independent immigrants are admitted.

Moreover, this will make process of family reunification more efficient as some vital factors such as language, age as well as their qualifications will be considered before reunification visas are issued. My research will be based on the following books and articles: Margaret Phelan, James Gillespie, Immigration Law Handbook, Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition (January 1, 2004; Thomas Alexander Aleinikoff, David A. Martin, Hiroshi Motomura, Immigration and Nationality Laws of the United States: Selected Statutes, Regulations and Forms as Amended to May 16, 2005, Publisher: West; Thomas Alexander Aleinikoff, David A.

Martin, Hiroshi Motomura, Immigration and Citizenship: Process and Policy (American Casebook Series), West Group; 5th edition (November 2003), A Comparison of Australian and Canadian Migration Policies and Labour Market Outcomes: Works cited: 1) House Hearing on Skilled Immigrants 2) James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration, Cambridge University Press, 2002. 3) Peter I. Rose, Tempest-tost: Race, Immigration, and the Dilemmas of Diversity, Oxford University Press, 1997. 4) Debra L.

Delaet, U.S. Immigration Policy in an Age of Rights, Praeger, 2000.