This interesting flowchart of US immigration procedure has been making the blog rounds lately.

When I sent it to one of my physician friends who was born in Canada but is now a US citizen, he replied (quoted with his permission):

Thank you for sending this. The entire process took me nine years and about $15k. The time, energy and money spent on becoming an American citizen was the best investment by far that I ever made. I have far more freedom to pursue my intellectual and career goals in the USA compared to any other country.

Also our [child] would likely not have survived if [my wife and I] had not had access to the home fetal monitoring technology developed by Michael Katz in San Francisco. The home fetal monitoring picked up premature labor several times including the preterm labor before delivery. The doctors were able to give steroids to improve lung maturity and delay the Caesarian section. This technology would never have available in Canada.

I shudder at how our life might have turned out if we stayed in Canada.

I think the USA has a moral obligation to liberalize immigration. If someone wants to work and someone wants to hire him and they are not shmucks or scoundrels we should allow them to make their own choice.

I completely agree.

For those who are interested in a more detailed discussion of this topic, I highly recommend Craig Biddle’s article in the Spring 2008 issue of The Objective Standard entitled, “Immigration and Individual Rights“.