WHEREAS, the current immigration process is noted for several shortcomings, and
WHEREAS, several different bills were proposed in the last Cosa term to address them, and
WHEREAS, these bills largely focused on different aspects of the process, and each had bill had its positives and negatives, and
WHEREAS, a compromise bill focused on a "carrot and stick" approach seems the most likely method to ensure the process is improved as much as possible; then
BE IT RESOLVED by the Ziu that the following changes be made to El Lexhatx:- Title E, Section 2.1, which currently reads:
QuoteThe Minister of Immigration shall ascertain to their own satisfaction that the prospective immigrant is a real human being with genuine interest in becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The Minister shall be free to inquire of the applicant on any and every subject, and shall be required to collect the legal name or name used in daily life, postal address (optional if the applicant is under 18 years of age, except for information needed to assign the applicant to a province), telephone number, and e-mail address(es) of the candidate, which information the Minister shall communicate to the Secretary of State. The applicant shall affirm or swear, under penalty of perjury and under the provisions of Lexh.A.16.1., that this information is accurate, and shall provide documentary evidence of the same if the Minister thinks it appropriate.
shall be amended by deletion of the text "telephone number, ". - Title E, Section 2.6 shall be created to read:
QuoteAll immigration applications shall be automatically forwarded to an email address under the control of the Crown. This email address shall not be accessible to any member of His Majesty's Government, but the King shall give access to this email address to the Leader of the Opposition or their designee.
- Title E, Section 5, which currently reads:
Quote5. If, at any point during the process, either before or after creation of the Wittenberg account, the Immigration Minister determines that the prospective immigrant shall not be considered further, the prospective immigrant shall be informed of this decision, and shall be made aware that a Grant of Citizenship may yet be obtained by the disappointed applicant if an act of the Ziu be passed directing that such a grant be issued. Any account created for the applicant on Wittenberg shall then be terminated.
5.1 Any person, whose citizenship is denied, may in the first case appeal this decision by application to the Secretary of State, and be given the Chancery's contact details to enable them to do so. The Secretary of State may, if they believe the Ministry of Immigration has misused their discretion under Talossan law, report to the Ziu with their reasons for so deciding and recommend that the applicant or prospective citizen be given citizenship by act of the Ziu. Alternatively, the applicant or prospective may reapply by undergoing the entire procedure (minus any successfully completed portions) following the next general election.
shall be replaced in its entirety with:Quote5. If, at any point during the process, either before or after creation of the Wittenberg account, the Immigration Minister and any member of the Opposition determine that the prospective immigrant shall not be considered further, the prospective immigrant shall be informed of this decision, and shall be made aware that a Grant of Citizenship may yet be obtained by the disappointed applicant if an act of the Ziu be passed directing that such a grant be issued. Any account created for the applicant on Wittenberg shall then be terminated.
5.1. This decision may only be made after the application has been processed and posted, and the public must be informed of the minister's decision and the justification for the decision. The public need not be informed if an insufficient application is being returned to the applicant under the terms of Lexh.E.2.4.
5.2. Any person, whose citizenship is denied, may in the first case appeal this decision by application to the Secretary of State, and be given the Chancery's contact details to enable them to do so. The Secretary of State may, if they believe the Ministry of Immigration has misused their discretion under Talossan law, report to the Ziu with their reasons for so deciding and recommend that the applicant or prospective citizen be given citizenship by act of the Ziu. Alternatively, the applicant or prospective may reapply by undergoing the entire procedure (minus any successfully completed portions) following the next general election.
FURTHERMORE, nothing in this bill shall be construed as an
ex post facto attempt to criminalize any associated behavior performed in any ministerial duties of the past, nor shall any such behavior be grounds for prosecution.
Ureu q'estadra så,
Mic'haglh Autófil (MC - URL)
As the title implies, this is meant to be a good-faith compromise between the Public Process Act and the Immigration Process Reform Act that improves upon both.
- The PPA was criticized for doing nothing to actually prevent abuses of the law and requiring the Immigration Minister to "tell on themselves", so to speak. The re-introduced version, to its credit, addresses the latter more effectively, at least.
- The IPRA's dilution of power was well-received, but some criticized the introduction of a new bureaucracy needed to do so. This bill still dilutes ministerial power, but does so without the creation of new bureaucracy, so hopefully the IPRA's critics will look upon this new bill more favorably.
At a first glance, this looks extremely similar to the Public Process Act, except that we would no longer be asking for phone numbers? But that's not really mentioned in the explanation. Could you unpack that for us and explain any other differences that might exist?