A New Immigration Bill
The US Senate is considering a new immigration bill．It will value the economic promise of immigrants over family ties when considering US residency and citizenship．The legislation, which was proposed by President Bush and a group of senators, contains a point system．The proposal aims to increase the number of immigrants with graduate degrees, earnings or job skills.
The proposed point system would use a 100-point scale．According to a draft of the law, merit applicants could earn up to 47 points for things like occupation, or years of work for a US firm．They could earn up to 28 points for their education, 15 points for English and US civics (公民学), and 10 points for family ties．The system has stirred up debate．Critics on the left say it opposes family unity and American values．Critics on the right complain that it does not reflect the needs of high-tech employers.
The current kinship (血缘关系)-based system puts pressure on the US, as it attracts low-skill workers who consume more public services than they pay back in taxes．It allows a variety of uneducated people in from Mexico and Central America.
The immigration bill would allow eight years to clear the current backlog (积压) of application for a permanent resident card, or green card．After that, only the children and spouses (配偶) of legal immigrants would be able to apply for family visas． children, siblings (兄弟姐妹), parents, and other relatives would have to apply in the general queue (排队)．Under the proposal, immigrants from Asian countries would likely fare well (很有利)．For instance, over half of recent immigrants from China and India have a bachelor's (学士的) or higher degree．Immigrants from Latin American countries would likely face more difficulties.
Immigration point systems have been in use in Canada, Australia and New Zealand for years．The UK adopted a similar approach in 2001．One thing that Canada and other nations have discovered is that their system needs to fit the needs of their economy．Too often they find that they attract highly-educated people who end up finding work that doesn't use their skills．Some end up driving a taxi.
One of the reasons for proposing the point system is