The point of points
International business, by definition, requires international travel. International travel, in turn, requires visas, or at least permission to enter a country to do whatever work is needed. Some countries, like the US, have a complicated system of visas which address individual categories of people very specifically. The good side of this is that the country can address particular categories of people who are considered desirable irrespective of their particular skill level. The bad side is that those who don’t fall into a category (or quota) may not have any options at all, no matter how desirable the skill set.
Others, such as Australia and Canada, attempt to quantify the skills and needs of the country in a series of “points” which are then used to determine whether the foreign national should be permitted to enter or not. Obviously, the problems are reversed - falling short by a few points means no visa, but at least the country can be reasonably certain that the individuals have the desired skill levels.
When reforms were recently considered in the US, there was a great deal of consideration given to a possible point system. Of course, those reforms went nowhere, but now we can look to Britain to see what a change from a category-based system to a point-based system might bring. This article from the Financial Times points out the flaws in the new points-based system, although the criticisms may well have applied to the old system as well. The new system has also lead to difficulties between the UK and other countries, particularly India.
There’s no easy way to determine who can enter a country to work, but those of us without a point system may want to wait for the dust to settle before trying it at home.
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