The Immigration Reform (Quality over Quantity) Bill

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

OKAY YOU GUYS. In accordance with the Government's programmatic commitments and with public feedback, here is our immigration reform bill. The significant changes are as follows:

    * the "What Talossa Means To Me" essay will be required to demonstrate an understanding of what Talossa is and what citizenship means (if it doesn't, the application doesn't get rejected but the ImmMin can require rewriting before publication);
    * citizenship applications will include a checkbox section on "what parts of Talossa most appeal to you", and the ImmMin will give guidance on who to approach to help with that (this fills the New Citizen's Committee gap)
    * citizenship can be granted on the petition of two citizens and on "certification from the Ministry of Immigration that the prospective citizen has sufficient understanding of Talossan life and culture for full participation" (which would, at least in the short term, meaning passing the Civics Test and consequently getting an ID card);
    * provision that if the ImmMin misuses their new powers to deep-six applications without a good reason, the applicant can appeal to the SoS.

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WHEREAS the Government of Talossa desires that frivolous applications for Talossan citizenship be discouraged, but serious applications get all the help that they need;

BE IT ENACTED by the King, Senäts and Cosă of Talossa in Ziu assembled as follows:

1. That El Lexhatx E.2 be amended by addition of the bolded text as follows:

2.1 The Minister of Immigration shall ascertain to his own satisfaction, through correspondence or conversation, 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.

2.2 Additionally, the Immigration Minister shall be required to collect an essay, written by the applicant, entitled "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan." If the Immigration Minister considers that this essay shows an insufficient understanding of what Talossa is, they may require the applicant to submit a rewritten essay that shows sufficient understanding before proceeding to the next stage. When doing so, the Immigration Minister shall provide the applicant with sufficient information to do so successfully, or indicate where to find such information.

2.3 The Immigration Minister shall also allow every applicant to indicate, whether in the essay described elsewhere in this section or otherwise, 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.

2. That El Lexhatx E.3 be amended by addition of the bolded text and deletion of struck-through text as follows:

3. The Minister of Immigration, working with the Seneschal, the Minister of Stuff, The Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Technology and/or the nation's Wittmeister 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.

    3.1 The Ministry of Immigration shall note the prospective immigrant's future provincial assignment in the introducing thread.

   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.

3. That El Lexhatx E.5 be amended by addition of the bolded text as follows:

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.

     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.

4. That El Lexhatx E.7 be amended by addition of the bolded text as follows:

7. The Secretary of State shall, on a date of his choosing, but within a period of ten days after receiving a petition from at least two citizens to issue a Grant of Citizenship as described in clause 4, and upon certification from the Ministry of Immigration that the prospective citizen has sufficient understanding of Talossan life and culture for full participation, determine the provincial assignment of the prospective immigrant and issue a Royal Grant of Citizenship to the immigrant. This Grant shall be issued under the Royal Seal, either as applied by the Chancery, or, should the Majesty request, by the Sovereign under his or her own hand. If requested by the Government, the Grant may also bear the signatures of the Seneschal and/or Immigration Minister. The Royal Grant shall be promptly issued coincident with the candidate affirming his fealty to the Royal House and his allegiance to the Kingdom by taking any Oath of Talossan Citizenship specified by law. At the time this Royal Grant is issued, and from that point forward, the applicant shall be a full citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The fact of the issuance of this Grant shall be posted on Wittenberg by the Secretary of State, that the new citizen may be welcomed by his compatriots. Any and all objections raised to the immigration made after this Royal Grant will be moot.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Considering some of the discussion in the other thread I am surprised to not see additional language concerning the explaining of what broosking is and why it is discouraged. I'd recommend putting it in there if it is not there already or strengthening the language. This could include who the prospective citizen should notify should they believe they've encountered broosking.

Would it be more appropriate for the appeal to go to the Corts rather than the SoS if the MinImm misuses their powers?

I still think that a civil servant is better suited to perform many of these new duties rather than the MinImm if we want to make the process less prone to politicization. Civil servant for administration, MinImm for policy direction.

[Munditenens Tresplet]

Would it be better to move the requirement for "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan" to after the prospective applicant has access to Witt, rather than deny them for insufficiency before they have the ability to interact on Witt? Or grant them prospective access contingent upon them writing an addendum to their original essay prior to citizenship?

[Ian Plätschisch]

Would it be better to move the requirement for "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan" to after the prospective applicant has access to Witt, rather than deny them for insufficiency before they have the ability to interact on Witt? Or grant them prospective access contingent upon them writing an addendum to their original essay prior to citizenship?

The issue this is meant to address is that too many unserious applications are posted, which makes it hard to know which ones are worthwhile to interact with.

[Munditenens Tresplet]

Would it be better to move the requirement for "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan" to after the prospective applicant has access to Witt, rather than deny them for insufficiency before they have the ability to interact on Witt? Or grant them prospective access contingent upon them writing an addendum to their original essay prior to citizenship?

The issue this is meant to address is that too many unserious applications are posted, which makes it hard to know which ones are worthwhile to interact with.

But then the concern becomes, should we allow a single individual to judge the qualities of an applicant in this manner? Such that it would deny the applicant the ability to participte on Witt and be judged by a larger body of Talossans who could make their own determinations as whether they are a serious applicant?

I understand a concern about unserious applicants, but we should let Talossans be the judge of whether an applicant is serious or not. More importantly though, it may difficult for an applicant to truly ascertain why they want to be Talossan without first interacting with and learning about Talossa first hand--and to deny an applicant prior to this stage could be preventing curious, but serious applicants from proceeding.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

it may difficult for an applicant to truly ascertain why they want to be Talossan without first interacting with and learning about Talossa first hand--and to deny an applicant prior to this stage could be preventing curious, but serious applicants from proceeding.

Then why would such a person be applying for citizenship in the first place? As opposed to, say, reading the Wiki and the website and watching Witt?

The problem is that at the moment, there is an incentive for the Immigration Minister to conduct absolutely zero basic screening. The incentive is for every application to just be slapped up on the Immigration Board, to which 90% of them are replied only to by Zilect Wombat yelling "AZUL!" and maybe someone asking questions on the basis of the very weak information usually supplied.

Talossans can simply not judge new applicants unless those applicants offer an account of themselves and why they want to be Talossans up front. It is also a waste of the Immigration Ministry's time to have to post applications from people who just want an ID card or think that Talossan citizenship will get them a passport they can use for international travel.

Two further points:
a) The bill offers a method by which prospectives who are not happy with the Immigration Minister's decisions can appeal them.
b) I have argued for years for a board on Witt called "the Landing Pier" where non-citizens can freely engage without having to take out a citizenship application (but at the peril of being moderated with a blow-torch).