Merit Based Immigration Law

Australia and Canada both use point-based systems to determine if someone qualifies to enter the country as a skilled worker.

In Canada, the immigration attorneys say that, applicants earn points based on language skills, education, work experience age, adaptability and whether they have a job waiting for them.

The merit system principles are the public's expectations of a system that is efficient, effective, fair, open to all, free from political interference, and staffed by honest, competent, and dedicated employees.



Before COVID-19 and the resulting economic calamity and border closings, U.S. employers were hiring about 450,000 new immigrant workers per year. These workers fill a wide range of jobs, from farmwork, food processing and construction to research science and medicine. The response to the coronavirus has brought into stark relief how essential many of these occupations are.

Whatever the coming economic recovery looks like, employers will rely on immigration for needed workers. Indeed, given the aging of the U.S. population and declining birthrate, immigrants and their U.S.-born children are projected to drive all growth in the working-age population through 2035.

Most foreign workers arrive outside of official employment-based channels. The current employer-sponsored immigration system brings in only 140,000 long-term, employment-based immigrants each year, and about half of those are the spouses and children of selected workers. The current system is also strongly skewed toward higher-skilled immigrants: Most employment-based green cards require a college education or advanced degree; only 5,000 are available for employers that want to sponsor low-skilled workers.