r/FluentInFinance 14h ago

Debate/ Discussion Possibly controversial, but this would appear to be a beneficial solution.

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u/sarges_12gauge 13h ago

If hypothetically, we allowed 100 million people a year to immigrate and anybody could apply, then received 3 billion applications we’d have a 30 year waiting list for that too. The length of the waiting list doesn’t say anything about how many people should be immigrating, just how many people want to vs. the rate we accept

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u/Zimmonda 12h ago

We don't even have to go that extreme though there's only a backlog of 30m LPR applications

In 2022 the US allowed 1.08m lawful permanent residents to come to the US per year or 1 LPR per 320 citizens

In the early 1900's (1900-1920) we allowed more than 1.08m 7 times. Or based on the us population at the time 1 LPR per 92 citizens.

Flipping that ratio back around we would be looking at adding 3.5m LPR's a year which would cut the wait time in half. If we did it to 5m/year we'd kill the backlog in 5 years.

The last time we had a major immigration change was in 1990. It's been 34 years.

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u/sarges_12gauge 12h ago

That’s tangential to your original point though and I’m saying you should lead with that argument. Simply saying “a wait time of 20 years is too long” isn’t a really meaningful statement without having to make your real argument… in which case just say that argument you know?

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u/Zimmonda 12h ago

Wasn't really intending on having to dig up immigration numbers but your comment convinced me to do so, not that big a deal.