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Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

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Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#81

Post by nobody314159 »

nobody314159 wrote: post #34
IgorPartola wrote: post #30

Instead, they should automatically offer work visas to college graduates. It is such a pain to have to get a work visa after you graduate if you were on an F1 before then. And most people that come all the way to the US to go to college are top notch professionals by the time they graduate.

But many of those graduates will be in law or medicine so having more of them in the country will lower the wages in those professions And many of the others are scientists and engineers - people who often believe in evolution.

Tell me - does Irony just mean "made of Iron" here?

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#82

Post by temphn »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #74
temphn wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America is broke. If you want to tax the rich you need to let them into the country. And people buying a house aren't that rich anyway. Besides, this is very similar to the immigration policy of Canada or Singapore, which also give points if you buy property and start a business in the country. Their economies are vastly outperforming ours and it might be worth emulating them.

Although Singapore is outperforming our economy (on a per-capita basis), Canada is not. Why do you believe emulating them will get us Singapore-like benefits rather than Canada-like harms? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_...

yummy: good question, and let me preface by saying I'm generally sympathetic to your worldview.

I think the answer is that this policy is pretty much directly guaranteed to increase the human capital and GDP-per-capita of the receiving country. Canada does plenty of other stuff badly, but if you've seen the latest Heritage ranking they actually exceed the US in economic freedom for the first time ever. With the exception of an enlightened, merit-based immigration policy Canada isn't doing many things right...but it is doing far less that is grievously wrong than the US.

I'd take even odds that once the pending true economic collapse happens (including devaluation of the dollar, tuition bubble pop, Euro breakup, et alia), that Canada will have a higher GDP-per-capita than the US within 5 years and certainly within 10. But this takes us far afield.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#83

Post by amritsharma »

IgorPartola wrote: post #30

Instead, they should automatically offer work visas to college graduates. It is such a pain to have to get a work visa after you graduate if you were on an F1 before then. And most people that come all the way to the US to go to college are top notch professionals by the time they graduate.

I was on F1. I think offering work visa to all graduates could not be justified for the US economy. This would just increase the number of applicants for all the jobs. Even as of now, there's more supply than demand for jobs. Although, you're right it would make life so much easier for the international students.

They could offer fast green card processing to those already working (H1B) in this country who buy a house worth $150k+.

Good luck.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#84

Post by hugh3 »

jellicle wrote: post #14

The only beneficiaries I can think of for this program would be rich capitalists from China and the Middle East who are exporting their gains and sinking them into foreign property already, and who would now get a fast-track for immigration as well. I guess Congress would like to get campaign contributions from these people (once you have a green card, you can legally make political contributions to U.S. politicians)…

They're not the only beneficiaries. I can think of a few moderately-wealthy foreign-born H1Bs (and equivalent) living in Northern California who might have half a million spare and wouldn't mind buying a $500K house and getting a free greencard if it'd save them the trouble of going through the usual immigration process. Picking, just as a random example, say, me.

I'm not even sure whether I want to remain in the US long term, but if offered a free greencard I'd say yes.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#85

Post by hugh3 »

rhizome wrote: post #60
jellicle wrote: post #14

The only beneficiaries I can think of for this program would be rich capitalists from China and the Middle East who are exporting their gains and sinking them into foreign property already, and who would now get a fast-track for immigration as well. I guess Congress would like to get campaign contributions from these people (once you have a green card, you can legally make political contributions to U.S. politicians)…

Think of it this way: Schumer is (partially) owned by the finance industry.

This doesn't do that much for the finance industry since it has to be a cash purchase.

Still, I guess it'd drive prices up somewhat. The effect couldn't be huge, though... there's not that many foreigners with half a million bucks cash who want to leave their home countries and reside in the US.

On the other hand, given a choice of all possible immigrants, I don't think there's any problem with the US moving "those with half a million bucks" to the top of the list.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#86

Post by hugh3 »

sliverstorm wrote: post #76
mbreese wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure that they can (or will) buy a house... Maybe not on the coasts, but as a grad student, I could buy a house in Indiana.

Well, not the ones planning to go home. But perhaps a more welcoming route to becoming a citizen would help keep some of the ones leaving upon completing their degree.

The only thing that bothers me about this proposal is that it might attract too many people doing PhDs for the wrong reason.

And people doing PhDs for the wrong reason usually wind up doing bad research.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#87

Post by hugh3 »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #8

I don't understand - what problem is this supposed to solve?

America has too many poor people, and not enough rich people.

And it's easier (and more legal) to import rich people than to kick the poor people out.

It makes sense that the countries of the world should be competing for the most talented people. And being rich is the best proxy for being talented that we have.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#88

Post by geebee »

Another terrible idea, in my opinion.

When an employee interviews with a company, the company should decide if the employee gets a job, not a visa.

When a PhD candidate defends a dissertation, the university should decide if the student gets a degree, not a visa.

When an entrepreneur applies for venture capital, the investor should decide if the entrepreneur gets money, not a visa.

And yes, when a buyer makes an offer on a house, the seller should decide whether the buyer will get the house, not a visa

None of these people should control whether a person gets to reside in the united states, and giving them this power is an invitation to government sponsored abuse.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#89

Post by littlegiantcap »

brudgers wrote: post #75
OstiaAntica wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misread, it is only $250,000 for the first home, and the rest can be investment.

I didn't realize there was a slumlord shortage.

Try coming to the midwest. That buys a pretty good size house.

Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

#90

Post by [deleted] »

OstiaAntica wrote: post #68

This is the type of unserious, policy-by-press release we've come to expect from the micromanagers in the U.S. Congress. First of all, housing is still overpriced, in terms of historic trends, in many markets. Second, this is yet another program for ICE, which cannot manage its current immigration visa portfolio. This idea seems particularly open to abuse, since the home could be bought with borrowed money. (Sure it…

[deleted]
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