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4 November 2020

Legal Immigration

Immigration is defined as moving from one country to another for the

purpose of living there and acquiring jobs to earn a living. Research shows that the most

explain the different definition used for describing immigration is that immigration is the

international movement of people into a country of which they do not have any

citizenship of nor are they the natives of that country. Immigration is said to be legal

when the person is entering or moving to a new country has followed all the laws and

procedures to gain legal entry in the host country. The status that is given to such

immigrants is called legal immigrant. Such status is granted to immigrants who get

permanent residence status that is they now hold a green card. Most of the green card

holders in the United States of America usually start off with a temporary visa when they

first enter the USA.

How can one get a visa to the United States of America?

There are nine different ways that a person can get a Visa to reside in the US and

in addition to this work for a living. Some of these ways include getting married to a US

citizen with a legal status or provide the United States of America with the skill that is in

short supply in the US for (this purpose a formal college degree is a must). In addition to

this, another way is to get sponsorship from a Native American or a Native American
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business, start a business in the US and get a refugee status or a political asylum in the

US. These ways can get international immigrants entry into the United States of America.

Debate

The discussion that has been going on ever since the immigrants started entering

other countries especially the United States of America in an attempt to have a chance at

a better living or be it a refugee visa is confusing and mind boggling. There are negative

and positive impacts of everything that goes on in an economy. The entrance of foreign

workers is indeed the mobility of labor that is increasing between various countries, and

this is a thing to celebrate. Technology and the world trade has developed such that now

workers from all across the globe are available to every business around the world. There

is no skill shortage anymore, and countries like the United States of America hire

workers with the relevant skill set and education from all over the globe to come work on

projects within the US. However, there always have been a disagreement on the benefits

that the US gets from the immigrants and the losses the US citizens have to suffer due to

the increase in international workers within the country.

A general concept is that the immigrants are responsible for taking over the jobs

that were originally meant for the native born Americans only. In addition to this, there is

a negative impact on the wages that are earned by native population due to the increase in

the supply of less educated workers all over America. However, there are some positive

aspects to the immigrant situation as well. The immigrants bring economic benefits to the

country and help strengthen the American businesses. The consumer market of the

country increased as the population increases due to immigrants’ influx.

Ways that immigrants strengthen the American Economy

There are several ways in which the immigrants strengthen the US economy it is

said that America is a nation of immigrants and the success of America is not complete

without the invoice given by the immigrants coming from other countries. The ways in

which immigrants help evolve and develop the American economy is that when the

immigrants enter America, they usually start small businesses. 18% of the overall small

businesses in America are owned and run by the immigrants.

When the small businesses owned by foreign workers start working, there is a

creation of new jobs available to the need of Americans. Rather than taking up jobs that

were accessible to Americans the immigrants usually create jobs for themselves and are

self-employed. The immigrants who have been invited to America due to the education

that they possess, these immigrants carry out extensive research for the country and

develop cutting-edge technologies that result in higher profits for the American

businesses (Malhotra, Margalit and Hyunjung Mo, 2013). The immigrants work as

American engineers scientists and innovators. In America, currently, 33% of the

engineers are immigrants, while 28% of the mathematicians and 24% of physical

scientists are immigrants.

Research shows that the income of Native Americans who have studied further

than high school has risen due to the increase in the number of immigrants within the

United States of America. The local American businesses make more profits because the

immigrant also uses services like clothing, food and other retail products which they buy

from American companies thus resulting in higher sales revenues and turn higher profits.

Impacts of immigrants on the Economy of America

Research shows that immigration does have an impact on both the economy of the

United States as well as on the business scenario within the country. When the economic

impact is considered, it can be claimed that the entrance of non-natives in America

expands the economy of the country and makes the US economy larger.

The phrase a larger economy means that the gross domestic product GDP

becomes more significant and larger. Research, on the other hand, does not provide a link

between higher GDP and living standards of native Americans. It is quite clear that the

immigrants themselves benefit from the larger economy and growing GDP, but any

research does not substantially prove the rise in per capita income of the native

population.

Leading immigration economist in the United States of America, George

Borjas, claims that the United States indeed benefits from the presence of immigrants

within its economy. The mere presence of legal or illegal immigrants results in a rise of

11 percent in the overall aggregate size of US economy each passing year (Harell et al.,

2012). This increase is around 1.6 trillion dollars’ worth of GDP being created within the

American Economy. There is no denying that fact that increase in the overall economy

size is always the benefit of a country.

But just like other researchers claim, Economist also cautions that there is no link

between the overall size of the economy and the overall net benefit given to the native

Americans because the rising American GDP due to the presence of the immigrants

benefits the immigrants more. Numerically speaking, around 97.8 percent of the rise in

the economy creates by the international workers is given back to them in the form of

wages, salaries, and job benefits.

Fiscal impact

Not only do the immigrants get you out jobs that Americans hire them to do so,

but they are also a source of tax revenues for the US government. Every immigrant

working a job has to experience a deduction in the pay slip which is the income tax

(Androff, 2011). The taxes act as a source of revenue for the country as it is accumulated

and spend on the development of the country and the welfare of its citizens (including the

immigrants with legal status).

However, the debate of low-skilled and highly-skilled immigrant workers is also

very fascinating. Interesting is the fact that high-skilled labor is paid higher salaries and

therefore the amount of taxes that high-skilled immigrants create for the government is

higher as compared to a low skilled worker who gets paid less. The immigrants who are

more qualified, educated and have a higher level of skills are a fiscal benefit while the

low-skilled, less educated and low tax generating immigrants are classified as a fiscal

drain.

The National Research Council estimated that in the 1990s the immigrants were

resulting in a net fiscal loss or burden for the country because the tax paid by immigrants

was little in comparison to the services that they used. The council also emphasized on

the level of education that immigrants have. The highly educated immigrants not only

have the skills required to generate higher profits for the American businesses but they

also earn more salaries and therefore can pay more in taxes as compared to the less

education holding immigrants (Peri, 2010). An immigrant without a high school diploma

is usually a next fiscal dream of the around 89,000 US dollars in 1996, and with a high

school diploma, the immigrants are a net fiscal burden of worth 31,000 dollars to the
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United States of America. And to prove the educated workers' theory correct, the national

research council claims that an educated immigrant results in a net fiscal gain of 105,000

dollars in a lifetime in the United States.

Workers who are less educated and have a limited amount to skills to provide to

the employer can apply for jobs that are labor-oriented in nature. These jobs are less

paying and result in a modest income for the workers. When the income they earn is

small, the immigrants of Native Americans can only make a minuscule or limited

contribution to the overall tax income of the government. In addition to this, the families

earning less but having a legal status within the United States not only give less in taxes

but are also eligible for a number of welfare programs that result in expenditure on the

end of government. Rather than being a benefit to the economy, such immigrant families

turn into fiscal drains.

The household headed by an immigrant who is less educated and has not

graduated from high school accesses more than one welfare programs run by the

government and also have no federal income tax liability due to having no tax paying

jobs (Kerr, 2011). Illegal immigrants with less education are a fiscal drain on the country,

but the major fiscal burdens and drains are the legal immigrants because even if they are

less educated, they still have access to more services and programs run by the

government for the betterment of its legal residents.

Effect on wages and job opportunities for the natives

It can be easily seen that there is effect of international immigration in the US on

wages and job opportunities that are available for native-born population. The theoretical

aspect of economy States and predicts that the immigration should be able to result in
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increased net gains for the native born Americans. But for the purpose of creating more

benefits for the citizens, the income generated by the immigrants shall have to be fairly

distributed among the workers that are in competition and also those who are not as well

as the to the investors who invested the capital. As the number of workers in competition

and non-competition increases, the net gain available to each will decline. The

redistribution of the income is, however, another story.

The Native Americans who are less-educated and low-skilled are usually in

competition with the immigrants; therefore, these are the group of people who suffer

from the entrance of immigrants from America. As the number of immigrants in the US

rises, the number of jobs available to the Native Americans declines and the wages levels

also drop. This is one of the most negatives impacts of low-skilled immigrants entering

the US borders. Due to this negative consequences, often the low skilled workers are not

happy about the laws and policies that give access to international workers to the jobs in

the United States of America.

Research proves the above-mentioned theory correct because the net gain that is

given to the Native Americans, as well as the legal or illegal immigrants, is just 0.2

percent of the overall GDP in the country. The gain is termed as "immigration Surplus."

The alarming situation is created for the low-skilled American workers when to generate

a small immigrant surplus of just 35 billion dollars, the number of wages lost by the low-

skilled

American workers who are in competition with the immigrants is about 402

billion US dollars each year. The good news is that the profits earned by the businesses

hiring the immigrants rise by 437 billion dollars. The benefits of the companies who have
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hired the immigrants continue to rise at an exceptionally well rate, the presence of low-

skilled, less educated immigrants within the US is not good news for the low-tech Native

Americans.

However, the redistribution of the money, even if the economic gain is small,

continues to rise. The research shows that the most disadvantaged local population are

those who do not have any high school education and this group makes up the majority of

the working class poor of America. Then the immigrants into the United States of

America the supply of the workers available for work phrases and generally speaking this

reduces the wages and salaries for the Native Americans who are in competition for the

low skill requirement jobs. In addition to this, the search for new immigrants increases

the options available to the American businesses and therefore the number of

employment opportunities available to the less educated Americans and minorities'

declines substantially.

Conclusion

The immigrant situation within the United States is under debate from all across

the world. The workers are coming from other countries to work in America more often

than not result in economic growth because the GDP of the country rises with increased

productivity and spending. At the same time, the immigrants also result in a fiscal drain

for the country because they are less educated and work at minimal wages and therefore

give too little in taxes to the government but due to their legal status within the country,

they are eligible to all sorts of welfare programs. In addition to this, the rising supply of

workers within the country limits the job opportunities available to the native workers
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and also lowers the wages being paid to them. Conclusively, it cannot be claimed whether

the immigrants are a bigger cost or a benefit for the country.

Work Cited

Androff, David K., et al. "US immigration policy and immigrant children's well-being:

The impact of policy shifts." J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 38 (2011): 77.

Kerr, Sari Pekkala, and William R. Kerr. Economic impacts of immigration: A survey.

No. w16736. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011.

Harell, Allison, et al. "The impact of economic and cultural cues on support for

immigration in Canada and the United States." Canadian Journal of Political

Science 45.03 (2012): 499-530.

Malhotra, Neil, Yotam Margalit, and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo. "Economic explanations for

opposition to immigration: Distinguishing between prevalence and conditional

impact." American Journal of Political Science 57.2 (2013): 391-410.

Peri, Giovanni. The impact of immigrants in recession and economic expansion.

Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2010.