Trump’s criteria for immigrants: Skills, talent and spoken English
If the policy is adopted, it may benefit Indians, most of whom meet US president’s yardstick
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration wants to admit immigrants who have skills, talent and can speak English, a top official has said, giving insight into the proposed merit-based system that may benefit individuals from countries like India.
President Donald Trump has been pushing for the merit- based immigration system to reduce overall immigration to the US.
A merit-based immigration system, the Trump administration feels, would admit the best and the brightest around the world while making it harder for people to come to the country illegally.
Trump also wants to scrap diversity lottery visa and chain migration to reform the current system.
“Our position is that a system that prioritise individuals based on their individual skills and merit will certainly produce better results than the system we have now,” the senior administration official said.
“We want to bring in individuals, wherever they may be from, who love this country, who love its people, who have skills, who have talent, who have -- who speak English, who are committed to supporting our values and our very way of life,” said the official.
Such individuals could be from any part of the world given that they fulfil the requirements, the official said.
If such a policy is developed and implemented, it could benefit individuals from countries like India, the majority of whom meet the criterion.
The Trump administration wants to reform the immigration system to serve the US’ national interest, the official said.
The official said some of the existing programmes for immigrants ignored such requirements which are important for individuals to succeed in the US.
“We would like to admit individuals from all backgrounds or any place in the world, based on their own individual merit and their likelihood of success, into the US,” the official said.
The admission of any foreign national who goes on to commit a terrorism-related offence or who conspires to support terrorists is simply an unacceptable outcome for the US, the official said.
“Our goal is to eliminate terrorism in all of its forms, wherever it may emanate from,” the official said.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Trump is pushing for a meritbased system irrespective of the country, religion and ethnicity of an applicant.
“By definition a merit based system is colour blind. It’s not basing it on any of that criteria.It’s not based on race, religion or country of origin. It’s actually based on the merits of whether or not this person’s going to be contributing to society,” she said.