It certainly makes sense to have some-reform of the familial-ties aspect of immigration. Does it really serve the public good that once one member of a family getts residency-status or citizenship that the ENTIRE CLAN gets first-dibs on the limited number of legal slots. I can understand spouses and children, and parents where the children are native-born; but why grandparents and aunts, uncles and fourth-cousins and THEIR children....over meritorious candidates with needed skills and/or capital. As long as it doesn't turn into a education-derby. If we needed murses we allow more nurses, if we need more field-laborers allow more field-laborers. But just because the applicant has a Ph.D. in Compartive Literature or Bio-Sciences does mean he gets in line-first....especially if we need construction workers, etc...
And frankly, most "professional" credentials from foreign countries at face-value are NOT comparible to US credentials and work experience. In my own profession, there are maybe 5 or 10 international schools who's graduates are one-to-one with those of our graduate schools....and we in-the-profession still requier years of apprenticeship and testing before licensure. Our major "immigration" problem is getting/incouraging the international students in our graduate programs to return home afterwards...like they agreed-to in their visa-applications. Too-many just stay afterwards, work here, then claim "irreplaceable skillls" after-the-fact.
I'm not sure I fully-understand the part where they have to return to their country-of-origin to fill-out their paperwork. If they will already have probationary-status here, and they don't have to permanently go home and wait; why go home to do the application? I could understand if they had to go to their consulate; that would make the home-country feel some of our pain as they attempt to cope with the flood at their consulates' gates demanding consular-services help with the forms.
