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Crazy new bill to scrap the DV lottery and sell greencards for $1Mio instead.

They already sell green cards for $500k-$1m.
That's a completely different thing, under the EB-5 visa category. THIS proposal will literally sell greencards for a payment of $1Mio to the Government that would then go towards border security - it doesn't sound as if the payment would ever be returned, unlike the investment of $500k to $1Mio under the mentioned investor visa category.

BTW, there are also proposals to increase these minimum investment levels, to $1.35Mio from $500k, and to $1.8Mio from $1Mio.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellens...inimum-investment-for-eb-5-visa/#234615b22ee1
 
That's a completely different thing, under the EB-5 visa category. THIS proposal will literally sell greencards for a payment of $1Mio to the Government that would then go towards border security - it doesn't sound as if the payment would ever be returned, unlike the investment of $500k to $1Mio under the mentioned investor visa category.

BTW, there are also proposals to increase these minimum investment levels, to $1.35Mio from $500k, and to $1.8Mio from $1Mio.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellens...inimum-investment-for-eb-5-visa/#234615b22ee1

With all the outcry about people (sometimes with shady money) already buying green cards, I just can't see this flying.
 
The thing that i do not understand is this, while i know DV lottery is a bit of an odd thing to have for any countries (suddenly giving away 55k Green Card to applicants per year), but 55k of VETTED potential migrants (who would most likely not be a burden to the public once they arrive in the USA) is just a tiny portion of the current US population (google says 321.4 million in 2015).

So it is

55,000

out of

321,000,000 .

You know, if you have $321 million in your account, taking away $55k per year would not fell anything at all!

I feel like this is just finding a scapegoat to show that one is "protecting american jobs for americans" something along that line.
 
It's not just an odd thing. It's a unique thing. I don't know of another country that offers the Diversity Lottery or something like it.
 
The thing that i do not understand is this, while i know DV lottery is a bit of an odd thing to have for any countries (suddenly giving away 55k Green Card to applicants per year), but 55k of VETTED potential migrants (who would most likely not be a burden to the public once they arrive in the USA) is just a tiny portion of the current US population (google says 321.4 million in 2015).

So it is

55,000

out of

321,000,000 .

You know, if you have $321 million in your account, taking away $55k per year would not fell anything at all!

I feel like this is just finding a scapegoat to show that one is "protecting american jobs for americans" something along that line.

Because the logical replacement for DV is some kind of skills based visa, which not only doesnt become a public charge but helps grow the economy. Some DV winners would easily fall into this category. It's not about protecting American jobs, it's about finding the right type of green card holders for the long term. The current family issuances are far more of a problem than DV for this but tbh neither makes logical sense for the long term.
 
Because the logical replacement for DV is some kind of skills based visa, which not only doesnt become a public charge but helps grow the economy. Some DV winners would easily fall into this category. It's not about protecting American jobs, it's about finding the right type of green card holders for the long term. The current family issuances are far more of a problem than DV for this but tbh neither makes logical sense for the long term.

yeah i agree with your PoV.

It's not just an odd thing. It's a unique thing. I don't know of another country that offers the Diversity Lottery or something like it.

well unique can be an odd thing in my opinion - not that i am complaining about it since i had participated in it. I still considered it as an odd thing for a country to have when i heard about the lottery. I thought it was a hoax initially as it seems so arbitrary :D
 
well unique can be an odd thing in my opinion - not that i am complaining about it since i had participated in it. I still considered it as an odd thing for a country to have when i heard about the lottery. I thought it was a hoax initially as it seems so arbitrary :D

It actually has its roots in an attempt to increase Irish immigration into the US afaik.
 
The very reason to have this Diversity visa lottery is to have another way to contribute to diversity in people, since only applicants from countries with rather low immigration are eligible to participate. This is different from merit based (skill based) or family based visa programs - the skills in demand are vastly fulfilled by certain countries overrepresented (i.e. IT workers from India etc), and family members joining families already living in the US will not really diversify society, just add to the existing ethnicities.

So therefore, the DV lottery does in fact make a whole lot of sense to me.
 
The very reason to have this Diversity visa lottery is to have another way to contribute to diversity in people, since only applicants from countries with rather low immigration are eligible to participate. This is different from merit based (skill based) or family based visa programs - the skills in demand are vastly fulfilled by certain countries overrepresented (i.e. IT workers from India etc), and family members joining families already living in the US will not really diversify society, just add to the existing ethnicities.

So therefore, the DV lottery does in fact make a whole lot of sense to me.

The problem is more that the vast majority of green cards go to family visas. This should be changed in favor of skills. The fact that DV green cards on average are more highly educated and have better jobs than family visas just underscores this. And as you've indicated there is a problem with the way the existing skills visas are allocated. Skills visas should be more akin to the way the old HSMP worked in the U.K, or proper skills visas rather than the way H1 largely works in practice . The US does indeed need a wholesale immigration reform.
 
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