[noonespecial]

That's a fascinating idea I've been kicking around for a while now. What if a country recruited citizens?

The US almost did in a way at the end of WW2 and we more or less got a space program out of it.

[micahgoulart]

Canada does that. They actively seek out highly skilled foreigners and offer them opportunity to immigrate to Canada. It's out of necessity since there is a shortage of highly skilled professionals in Canada.

Here's a recent article about new initiatives the Canadian government is taking: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Feds+plan+hand+pick+ski...

[trustfundbaby]

They've scaled back the Federal program drastically, there are only very few skills which are eligible for immigration and IT/software dev is not one of them

[pyre]

Doesn't it qualify under NAFTA at least (granted this only applies to US/Mexico)?

[jacques_chester]

Immigration to Australia is based on a points system. Your chances are substantially improved if you have certain qualifications or experience.

[Volpe]

One type of immigration (aka Student/Skilled migration) is based on points.

The rest are a mixture of bribery, and racism. (See parent-contributory, english requirements, etc).

All of the above only get you Permanent residency (You can't vote, or receive non-health related welfare).

Once you can speak and read english fluently you can apply for citizenship.

Hardly a 'points based system'.

[jacques_chester]

Granted; but skilled migration is still an excellent pathway to Australian citizenship via permanent residency if you've got desirable skills.

That said, Australians in turn have access to the E-3 visa in the USA, which is a pretty sweet ticket.

[Volpe]

> skilled migration is still an excellent pathway to Australian citizenship via permanent residency if you've got desirable skills.

and fluency in English.

[demallien]

Of course. Do you really think that it is unreasonable to expect citizens of a democracy to be able to speak the language fluently? I'm an Australian living in France, and I have to demonstrate fluency in French, and I don't see this as unreasonable. If you have been living in a country long enough to be applying for citizenship, you damn well ought to be able to speak the language - if you can't it is because you have made no attempt to integrate into your host community, and I fully get a country not wanting to embrace you in that case.

[quadhome]

No.

But, I'm bias in the opposite way.

The US doesn't have an official language. There is a free press with publications in almost every language. And, at least in the states I'm from (California and Washington), voting materials are translated into all the statistically significant languages found during the census. [1][2] (The Federal Government helps too. [3])

I live in Australia now. It's made very clear that English is the official language here. Different strokes for different folks.

[1] See: Voting Rights Language Assistance Act

[2] http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_203/activ_203.php

[3] http://www.eac.gov/voter_resources/voting_accessibility.aspx

[wassem]

I am Engineer Arch.

[gaius]

Consider the case that rich country A recruits all the, say, nurses from poor country B. Or any other skill that B is short of itself.