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This is a first draft, but I think I got everything.  The general idea here is to clean up a section of the law that's been cobbled at without structural changes for a really long time, and resolve some contradictions and confusing language.  I got rid of the immigration report thing, though, and I want to add it back in -- I think a comprehensive report generally, maybe?

Whereas the current laws are contradictory, with an application process that doesn't require an essay but also does require an essay for an application to be posted, and

Whereas provisions are all over the place in the current law and it's confusing, so let's have E.2 be about the application and E.3 be about processing it,

THEREFORE the second, third, fourth, and fifth sections of Title E of el Lexhatx, which currently read

Quote2.1 The 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.[r 11], that this information is accurate, and shall provide documentary evidence of the same if the Minister thinks it appropriate.[367]

2.2 All Immigration applications shall be written in one of the official languages of the Kingdom.[367]
2.3 The Immigration Minister shall also allow every applicant to indicate what part or parts of Talossan life are the Special Interests of the applicant. These may include Politics, Language, Culture, Heraldry, or any other categories as the Minister may see fit or that may be suggested by the applicant.[367]
2.4 If an application for immigration does not meet the requirements of this section, the Immigration Minister shall communicate this fact to the prospective citizen and explain how to remedy the problems with their application. Should the applicant not do so to the Minister's satisfaction, the Minister may at their discretion not proceed to the next stages of the immigration process.[367]
2.5. The Immigration Minister shall report, at least monthly, to the Ziu the number of any immigration applications received since the last report which did not proceed because failing to fulfil the requirements of this section. For each failed application the Minister shall note which part or part of the requirements of this section were lacking in the application.[367]
3. The Minister of Immigration, working with the Seneschal[368] and the responsible authorities for administering Wittenberg,[369] shall cause the prospective immigrant to be granted an account on Wittenberg, allowing said prospective immigrant to converse with the subjects of the Kingdom gathered there. The Immigration Minister shall verify that the said account is fully-enabled, and that the candidate is able to communicate using this forum with the citizens of the Kingdom. The Immigration Minister shall then begin a single thread on Wittenberg introducing the prospective immigrant to the nation. The "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan" essay shall be published by the Immigration Minister in this introduction. The Immigration Minister is further directed to remind his fellow citizens from time to time that the initiation of new citizens into Talossa is a serious matter and that questioning a prospective citizen is a patriotic obligation of all who love their King and Country.[370]

3.1 The Ministry of Immigration shall note the prospective immigrant's future provincial assignment in the introducing thread.[371]
3.2 The Ministry of Immigration shall also publish any Special Interests identified by the prospective citizen in the application, and put them in touch with Talossan citizens who are identified by the Ministry as being able and willing to help them pursue those interests. In doing so the Ministry shall not promote any particular political party to the exclusion of any other.[372]
4. An examination period shall begin with the prospective citizen's first posting to Wittenberg after an introduction by the Immigration Minister. At any time at least fifteen days after the beginning of the examination period, any current citizen of Talossa may petition the Secretary of State requesting that a Royal Grant of Citizenship be issued to the prospective citizen. If no such petition is laid before the Secretary of State within the first sixty days of the examination period, the examination period shall end, the immigration process for the prospective citizen shall be terminated, and their Wittenberg account shall be disabled. In addition, if a prospective citizen fails to ever make a first posting to Wittenberg within thirty days of their introduction by the Immigration Minister then the immigration process for the prospective citizen shall be terminated, and his Wittenberg account shall be disabled. Furthermore, whenever an immigration process is terminated then the Immigration Minister shall notify the nation and the prospective citizen of the termination, and shall post a notification to the effect on Wittenberg. [373]

5. 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.[374]

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. [375]

shall be replaced with the following text

Quote2. The Minister of Immigration shall publish an application form available to the public.

2.1. For each prospective immigrant, the Minister shall be required to collect the following information:

2.1.1. Legal name
2.1.2. Name used in daily life (if different)
2.1.3. Email address
2.1.4  Country of residence
2.1.5. What part or parts of Talossan life are of interest to the applicant
2.1.6. If the prospective immigrant is a resident of the United States: State of residence
2.1.7. If the prospective immigrant is a resident of Wisconsin: County of residence
2.1.8. If the prospective immigrant is 18 years of age or older: Postal address
2.1.9. If the prospective immigrant is 18 years of age or older: Telephone number
2.1.10.  Any other information that the Minister deems necessary to collect

2.2. The Minister shall also be required to collect such information that will allow them to 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.

2.3. The prospective immigrant shall affirm or swear, under penalty of perjury and under the provisions of Lexh.A.16.1, that the information they have provided is accurate, and shall provide documentary evidence of the same if the Minister thinks it appropriate.

2.4. 2.6. Immigration applications shall all be automatically forwarded to an email address that is under the control of His Majesty the King and that is not accessible to any member of His Majesty's Government, and His Majesty will give access to this email address to the Leader of the Opposition.

3. The Minister shall process applications in a timely fashion.  The Minister shall be free to inquire of the prospective immigrant on any and every subject.

3.1. If an application lacks any required information, the Minister shall notify the applicant of how this might be remedied, but shall not further act on the application.

3.2. If the Immigration Minister, supported by a Member of the Ziu associated with the Opposition, jointly decide that the prospective immigrant's entrance into the Kingdom would not be in the nation's best interest, then the prospective immigrant shall not be considered further.

3.2.1. In this event, the prospective immigrant shall be informed of this decision, and shall be made aware that a Grant of Citizenship may yet be obtained if an act of the Ziu be passed directing that such a grant be issued.

3.2.2. In this event, any account created for the applicant on Wittenberg shall be terminated.

3.2.3. This decision may only be made after the application has been processed and posted, and the public must be informed of the decision and the justification for the decision.

3.2.4. The applicant or prospective may reapply without prejudice following the next general election.

3.3 The Minister of Immigration, working with the Seneschal and the responsible authorities for administering Wittenberg, shall cause the prospective immigrant to be granted an account on Wittenberg, allowing said prospective immigrant to converse with the subjects of the Kingdom gathered there.

3.3.1. The Immigration Minister shall verify that the said account is fully-enabled, and that the candidate is able to communicate using this forum with the citizens of the Kingdom.

3.3.2. The Immigration Minister shall then begin a single thread on Wittenberg introducing the prospective immigrant to the nation, including on this thread such information from the prospective immigrant's application as seems helpful, including their future provincial assignment and any special interests.

3.3.3. The Immigration Minister is further directed to remind his fellow citizens from time to time that the initiation of new citizens into Talossa is a serious matter and that questioning a prospective citizen is a patriotic obligation of all who love their King and Country.

3.4. An examination period shall begin with the prospective citizen's first posting to Wittenberg after an introduction by the Immigration Minister.

3.4.1. At any time at least fifteen days after the beginning of the examination period, any current citizen of Talossa may petition the Secretary of State requesting that a Royal Grant of Citizenship be issued to the prospective citizen.

3.4.2. If no such petition is laid before the Secretary of State within the first sixty days of the examination period, the examination period shall end, the immigration process for the prospective citizen shall be terminated, and their Wittenberg account shall be disabled.

3.4.3. If a prospective citizen fails to ever make a first posting to Wittenberg within thirty days of their introduction by the Immigration Minister then the immigration process for the prospective citizen shall be terminated, and their Wittenberg account shall be disabled.

3.4.4. Whenever an immigration process is terminated, the Immigration Minister shall notify the nation and the prospective citizen of the termination, and shall post a notification to the effect on Wittenberg.

with no replacement for sections 4 and 5.

FURTHERMORE, section 6 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 4,

FURTHERMORE, section 7 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 5,

FURTHERMORE, section 8 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 6,

FURTHERMORE, section 9 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 7,

FURTHERMORE, section 10 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 8,

FURTHERMORE, section 11 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 9,

FURTHERMORE, section 12 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 10,

FURTHERMORE, section 13 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 11,

FURTHERMORE, section 14 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 12,

FURTHERMORE, section 15 of Title E and all of its subsections shall be renumbered as section 13,

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be on Yesterday at 10:49:44 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on Yesterday at 04:42:48 PMI think it should also be viewed with an eye towards activity on Wittenberg and a holistic sense about how things are going.  I'm not quite sure how to quantify the latter, though.  It might just be impossible, unless we do regular surveys (which I still think would be a good idea, just maybe a little much right now).

One would think the de facto Minister of Public Records might recall the "Wittenberg Usage" tab on Infotecă? That seems a good a place as any to gauge activity, at least in terms of the nation overall. It would be a good first step.

I mean, yes, I do think it's useful to track Wittenberg usage.  That's why I built Infotecă.

When I was talking about stuff that's hard to track, I meant the holistic sense of how things are going :)

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be on Yesterday at 10:49:44 PMIt is interesting to see the Seneschal reverse his "low immigration = house on fire = Government's fault" stance from the previous term. One wonders what caused him to change his mind.

Immigration levels increased!  That's a good thing!

But don't forget: from April through July, there were zero immigrants!  That's very alarming, and it makes sense to be alarmed when alarming things are happening.

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be on Yesterday at 10:49:44 PMa chart

I wrote a whole reply, but then I remembered that no one is interested in this fight (least of all me).  I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in like a big argument about credit or whatever. 

I am trying to build some stuff and get things done.  To improve things for the people, building stuff like Infotecă that will help folks.

If neither URL leader wants to be in a promotional video, that's fine.  I hope you change your mind, since I think you both are an amazing part of Talossa and it would be good to help put our best foot forward.  Just let me know if you're interested.

Also let me know if you have any better suggestions for a reasonable target for naturalization, even if you don't think it's particularly important.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on Yesterday at 04:42:48 PMI think it should also be viewed with an eye towards activity on Wittenberg and a holistic sense about how things are going.  I'm not quite sure how to quantify the latter, though.  It might just be impossible, unless we do regular surveys (which I still think would be a good idea, just maybe a little much right now).

One would think the de facto Minister of Public Records might recall the "Wittenberg Usage" tab on Infotecă? That seems a good a place as any to gauge activity, at least in terms of the nation overall. It would be a good first step.

It is interesting to see the Seneschal reverse his "low immigration = house on fire = Government's fault" stance from the previous term. One wonders what caused him to change his mind.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC on Yesterday at 04:22:47 PMI am also of the opinion that the Seneschal's artificial carve-up of the immigration stats of my last Government because "it doesn't count because of external factors" is deeply politically dishonest. The Seneschal cannot be shaken from his belief that immigration rates are a function of Government policy; that if immigration is low it's because the Government doesn't care about immigration, and that when he's in power, he can make immigration flick up with his policy choices. But this is simply proven wrong, if he has to falsify the immigration stats from the previous government, to eliminate the impact of something out of the Government's control (without doing the same to all previous governments).

This smacks of the same sort of "just asking questions" rhetoric he has employed before ("I promise I'm not saying Miestră is abusing her authority -- I'm just bringing it up so I can insinuate really hard!") but if he wants to be honest and exclude all outlying months:

- Every term's immigration average sits between 0 and 2, so we'll exclude any month over 2 new citizens as outliers.
- In the time period we're examining, the other months we'd exclude are April 2022, October 2023, and March 2024.

In other words, the table above would look like this:

Seneschal	Cosa	Months	Nats	Nats/Mo
T. Davinescu	56th	10	6	0.60
T. Davinescu (excl. Apr. '22)	56th	9	3	0.33
Plätschisch	57th	9	4	0.44
Tzaracomprada	58th	8	11	1.38
Tzaracomprada (excl. Oct. '23)	58th	7	8	1.14
Excelsio/Sant-Enogat	59th	9	9	1.00
Excelsio/Sant-Enogat (excl. Mar. '24)	59th	8	5	0.63
Schivă	60th	9	6	0.67
Schivă	61st	8	13	1.62
Schivă 61st (excl. Oct-Nov)	61st	6	4	0.67
A. Davinescu	62nd	1	0	0.00

If we exclude "outlier" months, the first term of the Avant! coalition improved on the final term of TNC government, and held the line in their second term. While I still think it's dishonest to carve out any months, I find it a little amusing that doing either option honestly puts the Avant! terms in a good light.

The other metric that would be useful -- especially if we're looking at activity -- is the attrition rate. How many citizens from each term have already lost their citizenship?

- 56th Cosă: 1/6 (17 %)
- 57th Cosă: 1/4 (25 %)
- 58th Cosă: 7/11 (64 %)
- 59th Cosă: 1/9 (11 %)
- 60th Cosă onward: 0's all around, though no one here has been a citizen long enough to lapse anyway. Thankfully, no renunciations either.

Simply padding the rolls does us no favors.

Quote from: Mximo Malt on Yesterday at 07:06:26 PMHow does one be a citizen of two provinces simultaneously?

They can't. The custom is for a Cunstaval to be a citizen of a different province than the one they reside in.

-Txec R

Quote from: Antaglha Xhenerös Somelieir on Yesterday at 06:06:22 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on Yesterday at 03:59:46 PMOkay.  Well, your suggested language doesn't quite work.  But how about

"2. The King may appoint a Cunstaval (or Constable) for any Province to exercise these powers on his behalf.  A province may pass laws setting a term of office for its Cunstaval, specifying who is disqualified from the role, and assigning the Cunstaval a role in their government.  Unless otherwise fixed by national or provincial statute, the term of office shall be three years.  No person shall be at the same time Cunstaval of one province and the leader of the provincial government of that same province."

Ok with the same province that should same/another province.
Or just "no person shall at the same time be a Cunstaval of one province and the head/leader of provincial government of any province"

How does one be a citizen of two provinces simultaneously?

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on Yesterday at 03:59:46 PMOkay.  Well, your suggested language doesn't quite work.  But how about

"2. The King may appoint a Cunstaval (or Constable) for any Province to exercise these powers on his behalf.  A province may pass laws setting a term of office for its Cunstaval, specifying who is disqualified from the role, and assigning the Cunstaval a role in their government.  Unless otherwise fixed by national or provincial statute, the term of office shall be three years.  No person shall be at the same time Cunstaval of one province and the leader of the provincial government of that same province."

Ok with the same province that should same/another province.
Or just "no person shall at the same time be a Cunstaval of one province and the head/leader of provincial government of any province"

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC on Yesterday at 04:22:47 PMI am of the opinion that a target immigration rate makes as much sense as a target fertility rate would in a larger country. It is a disturbing misdirection of resources which doesn't deal with *why* we want immigration.

The Seneschal has talked in the past about maintaining levels of activity - fine, but new citizens <> active citizens. Given this, surely citizen activity is what we should be targeting. Of course, that's harder to quantify in a number. But targeting something because it's easier to quantify, even though it's not the right target, is like the old story of a drunk looking for his keys under a streetlight because it's easier to see, even though he dropped them somewhere else. I have suggested in the past that the Seneschal has a fascination with metrics out of keeping with their actual relevance.

Just because a statistic doesn't reveal the entire picture doesn't mean it's useless.  Clearly, it's a relevant number, it's just not the only number that matters.  I think it should also be viewed with an eye towards activity on Wittenberg and a holistic sense about how things are going.  I'm not quite sure how to quantify the latter, though.  It might just be impossible, unless we do regular surveys (which I still think would be a good idea, just maybe a little much right now).

Really, as I've said many times, I don't think you can ever sum up the health of a country or group this size with any set of numbers at all. That doesn't mean they're meaningless, it just means that things are a lot more complex than that.

Our immigration rate is a pretty important thing to keep an eye on, and I do think that policy can affect it. I don't think it's an easy nut to crack, or like there's only one way to do it. But I do think that our choices matter. You have expressed the same thing many times in the past!

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC on Yesterday at 04:22:47 PMI am also of the opinion that the Seneschal's artificial carve-up of the immigration stats of my last Government because "it doesn't count because of external factors" is deeply politically dishonest. The Seneschal cannot be shaken from his belief that immigration rates are a function of Government policy; that if immigration is low it's because the Government doesn't care about immigration, and that when he's in power, he can make immigration flick up with his policy choices. But this is simply proven wrong, if he has to falsify the immigration stats from the previous government, to eliminate the impact of something out of the Government's control (without doing the same to all previous governments).

I guess you can seek out offense if you want, but not only did I not say that those two months "don't count," I actually went to some pains to say the opposite!  "This isn't intended to be negative in any way, and all credit is due to them for those numbers," to quote myself.  But if we're thinking about targets, I think it's helpful to break out those extreme outliers.  If there are other outlier months, we should also do that when we're thinking about a baseline.  This is a pretty common way to approach things like this: looking at the general trend.

In case it needs repetition: I think you absolutely deserve credit for creating an environment that took some advantage of the viral moments. Being willing to do things like update the form definitely made a difference. I just don't think that considering those months is helpful when we're thinking about setting a goal, unless we're also looking at the bigger picture.

I am of the opinion that a target immigration rate makes as much sense as a target fertility rate would in a larger country. It is a disturbing misdirection of resources which doesn't deal with *why* we want immigration.

The Seneschal has talked in the past about maintaining levels of activity - fine, but new citizens <> active citizens. Given this, surely citizen activity is what we should be targeting. Of course, that's harder to quantify in a number. But targeting something because it's easier to quantify, even though it's not the right target, is like the old story of a drunk looking for his keys under a streetlight because it's easier to see, even though he dropped them somewhere else. I have suggested in the past that the Seneschal has a fascination with metrics out of keeping with their actual relevance.

I am also of the opinion that Campbell's Law applies to Talossan immigration stats. Any policy which aims to "up the immigration rate" will render the immigration rate even less of an indicator of the actual health of Talossan society.

I am also of the opinion that the Seneschal's artificial carve-up of the immigration stats of my last Government because "it doesn't count because of external factors" is deeply politically dishonest. The Seneschal cannot be shaken from his belief that immigration rates are a function of Government policy; that if immigration is low it's because the Government doesn't care about immigration, and that when he's in power, he can make immigration flick up with his policy choices. But this is simply proven wrong, if he has to falsify the immigration stats from the previous government, to eliminate the impact of something out of the Government's control (without doing the same to all previous governments).