I wrote an essay on this topic at my Business and Tech blog:
Here in the U.S., we do not tend to view immigration as a privilege – instead, much of it is tied up in “Build the Wall” nonsense (the majority of those who immigrate to the U.S. illegally, enter legally, and then just stay). Instead, immigration is viewed as a problem.
But in the 21st century of below replacement fertility rates and declining populations, every country is saying they intend to address their labor shortage by importing more workers.
This means those who can legally immigrate, often easily, will have more opportunities than those who cannot.
This means those with the right ancestry, those you have the right skills, those who are young, and those who are elite will have an immigration privilege.
It is estimated that up to 40% of the U.S. population can qualify for EU citizenship by virtue of ancestry and “right of descent” residency and citizenship programs[1] Those who choose to pursue this can then have dual residency or dual citizenship – and can be freely employed in the U.S. or the EU without needing to apply for other visas. This becomes a privilege and a status symbol more valuable than a Twitter Blue Check.
(If that percent seems surprising, a Gallup survey 20 years ago found that an overwhelming majority of Americans have close immigrant ties among parents and grandparents – perhaps 2 out of 3 Americans.)
Update – an example of immigration privilege
I visited a blog and web site of a young “20 something” couple who travel the world. Most recently they were living in New Zealand. At first I thought they were from NZ, but one of them is Australian and the other is Canadian. Australians can move to NZ automatically; Canadians under age 35 can get a residency/work visa for up to 23 months.
AGE and SKILLS
Young adult Americans can apply for a work visa if they have skills in certain in demand categories but: “Please be aware that the right to moving from US to New Zealand under this visa is limited only to persons who have an age of at least 18 years old and maximum 55.”
WEALTH
Up to a total of 400 Americans per year aged 56 to 64 can obtain residency through a minimum NZ$3 million investment.
Many of us will not be eligible for immigration privileges. Many of the people online promoting becoming an expat, moving abroad and so forth have actual privileges that made their move possible. They often neglect to mention that. Many of these expats fail to mention their unique privileges – and make online posts and videos akin to the Instagram “vanlife” phenomena, or the Youtube “cottage core” videos – much of which are faked for the cameras.
Update: Note also that those living in some countries have passport privilege and can travel to many countries without applying for a visa. It can take up to 18 months for a citizen of India to get a visa to travel to the United States. Those who lack visa-free travel privileges have a very tough time traveling throughout the world. See more here: The hassles of traveling with a “weak” passport – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
Footnote [1]
The study that estimated 40% of Americans could immigrate to Europe based on ancestry is misleading. The largest subgroup are those from the Philippines, Central and South America – or who have ancestry from those countries. Spain extends an accelerated immigration program to persons with the correct ancestry – but it is not a guarantee of citizenship. It primarily accelerates citizenship from a 5-year process to a two-year process. That study looked only at those who have immigration privileges to Europe – and did not look at immigration privileges to other countries. For example, my wife’s father was from Canada, which entitles her to a “right of descent” ancestry citizenship in Canada if she wished to pursue that. But this group, nor the group of Americans with a Mexican heritage, were considered in the 40% estimate – so the actual percentage is higher.
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