Trouble is, way too many people (as evidenced in Helaine's post), do not want to take the rough part of it, regardless of how many people it hurts.
Is that how it is? If it's "people like me" who's hurting, then we're just... don't want to take the rough part of it, but if it's "people like you" hurting, then that's REAL HURT and everybody else is so cruel?
Do you really not consider anybody else in your equation?
Are you really aware of the bad part of it or are you just pretending? I have lived most of my adult life as an immigrant. Everywhere I go, the immigration rules actually get stricter as time goes by. I have lived in Indonesia, Korea, and China now. The immigration rules are pretty basic, so I don't get why people really hate it. If you're only talking about gulf countries, then maybe state it in your post. Gulf countries are one of those countries that require exit visa (like, Indonesia). Exit Visa is bullshit.
It used to be, any native English speakers can just go in and teach English. Now, every country I know require actual teaching license. Another example, Indonesia is really against foreign companies going in and "stealing" resources.
Here is the requirement for immigrants to work:
1. Criminal background check
2. Endorsement from the company you work for (you must have a job).
3. Health inspection... You can't get in if you have SARS, obviously. Possibly no health insurance if you're already seriously ill.
4. If you bring spouse/children, then family+marriage certificate, birth certificate for your children, etc. They must pass all the previous checks.
Can you state if any of this is unfair? The requirements will vary depending on where you go, because some countries will probably cap off the amount of immigrant workers depending on the unemployment rates in their country. Part of the host country's concern is to keep their own people employed, and that takes priorities over immigrants.
Some countries are very discriminating. In Indonesia and China, immigrant rights are almost non-existent. But of course, in these countries it's not like human rights are any better, so... Gulf states also have exit visa and they commonly take your passport so you can't get out, that's horrifying. However, many countries do have fair immigration system.
I thought Helaine expressed a perfectly decent concern. Nothing in her (his? I don't know) post showed ignorance of absurdist's previous post. I don't know why you would act incredulous that Helaine might respond that way.
This seems like a dismissive attempt to brand any practical objections to such idealism as heartless and not coming from a place of genuine concern.
When it comes to floods of people migrating with vastly different values, beliefs, and levels of education, this can cause some serious problems. Seems to me Britain is having a hard enough time already integrating its migrants in with the rest of society. Now does not seem the time to throw open the gates.
The way I take it, is that the host' values are not important. None of the host countries' concern are valid and regulations are heartless.
I mean, immigrant integration is one of the concern most people have when it comes to accepting immigrants.