[KorematsuFredt]

To elaborate a bit more:

The points based system is eventually administered by a bunch of government servant and the "points" are subject to the internal politics of the government.

Consider the french and english language proficiency. It is established based on some exam. Now in countries like India there is a vast network of institutes which will help you to beat those tests without having actual proficiency in the language. But what if you fail ? Pretty simple. You find a smart spouse who can crack it for you and then pay her a large money to help you move to Canada and then file for divorce after couple of years.

Same goes for things like job offers in Canada. It can very easily be hacked. You pay a Canadian business owner who happens to be the third cousin of your mother a nice sum to give you an offer. Then when you go to Canada you work for someone else.

The market is much better indicator of a person's worth to society than any points based system. In USA you cross the border and make a living for yourself and you are an American. We do not care what Trump, IRS or CBP have to say in this regard. It attracts hustlers and badass people.

[frfl]

Isn't green card marriage a thing in USA?

There's also visas for international investors - something like invest $1M USD into a business or create 10 jobs and get a visa, or something along those lines. Perhaps more expensive, but not much different fundamentally than paying someone for a job to get a visa.

Every system has it's flaws.

[Kranar]

Not sure how anything you've claimed is terrible. Yes to assess language proficiency people are tested both with a written and verbal exam. How is that terrible? What other means of assessing someone's language proficiency do you have in mind that is better than a written and verbal test?

Also your other points all involve breaking the law, which yes someone can absolutely commit a crime to gain an advantage assuming they don't get caught. I'm not sure how you expect any immigration system to operate other than by having rules and if those rules are broken having penalties for breaking them.

The main criticism I have about the U.S. system of immigration, and why I think Canada does it better is that in the U.S. in the majority of cases your immigration status is often tied to a specific job and if you lose that job you're done. I find that rather disgusting to be honest even if it attracts "hustlers" and "bad asses" as you claim.