A world of absolutely unrestricted immigration

In My Humble Opinion
1

In today’s absurd thought-experiment hypothetical:

Suppose that tomorrow, all countries in the world agreed to open up their borders to anyone and everyone - for residency, refugees, employment, anything. The borders still exist, but everyone and anyone can cross them and stay anywhere they please.
And then let’s think about the year 2026, ten years from now - what would the world look like.
Would developed countries have doubled in population due to immigration?

Would developing nations suffer brain drain as talent fled to wealthier countries?

There would probably be a sizable increase in terrorist attacks.

Intelligence agencies around the world would have a field day, getting thousands of spies - HUMINT assets - into rival countries.

What else?

2

I think the world would be a better place. Free movement of people works just like free movement of capital. Places where things are free work well, and places where things are restricted do not.

I think you could do this tomorrow among the 30 or do very developed countries, but I don’t think doing it everywhere would be a bad thing. You are not going to have everyone in Rwanda moving to Colorado because they still need to get there somehow and most can’t afford it.

3

The EU experience seems to suggest that their will be an initial large scale movement of people’s from poor to rich countries, however in the medium term, there will also be substantial movements from richer places to poorer ones as more and more businesses and persons find niches in operations and business there. Like the huge amount of UK immigration to Spain, you might see heavy US immigration to say Sri Lanka or Canadian to the Sudan.

4

Knowing nothing whatsoever about international politics/foreign policy, ISTM, if you were to say ‘okay all y’all, it’s a free for all’ it would all balance out given enough time. Sure, there would be an inrush of people from poorer countries to wealthier ones taking mostly unwanted jobs at a lower pay, but with that, it would leave a huge void in those countries creating a buyers market with cheap real estate.

To use the obvious (to me) example, instead of a few Mexicans sneaking across the boarder and working illegally, you’d get a ton of them coming over, working legally for a good wage, but US citizens, at the same time, could move down there since all the empty properties would create either cheap housing that they could buy (and do what they want with) and business would have less resistance moving there, and would probably, I’d guesses, almost be forced to pay a better wage since there’d be less available workers since there’s be less people, in general.
Of course, at the same time, business might not outsource or move due not only to that fact but also because the laborers that they would have otherwise hired are now here (and no longer cheaper).

Something that would need to happen along with this is updated tax/export/import laws to deal with all this. It would probably be time to take a more serious look at tax breaks/credits for major business that move out of the country just because they can save more money operating outside the US and importing their goods.

But, like I said, politics is way, way our of my wheelhouse, so this is just a guess. I could be way off base here.

Basically, it’s kind of like the (theory behind) legalizing drugs. They’re illegal, so there’s a black market, also, part of the reason people use them is because they’re illegal and they cause a burden/expense on the tax payers because they’re illegal. If they’re legalized, the theory is that the tax burden for dealing with the ‘criminals’ is nearly gone, the black market all but goes away and instead of costing the tax payers money, the profit from it.

5

The disappearance of borders better come with the disappearance of job permits. Jobs requiring licenses or degrees still would, and some sort of international framework of equivalences would ideally be put in place in a somewhat reasonable time. I think Commonwealth countries already have that, although I don’t know if it’s official; the EU has Bologna, which among other things took care to come up with something that would translate easily to the USA’s system. Those alone already cover a large amount of countries but ideally we’d include every one rather than have most people need to recertify individually. A dentist from Mexico should be able to work in Sweden so long as she can communicate, rather than be rejected because “you’re missing your certification exam!” (Mexico does not have one, if you get your degree from a certified college you’re certified; Sweden does, but she wasn’t eligible to take it because her degree wasn’t from a Swedish college).

The initial rush might cause the apparition of huge favelas in the rich countries… or maybe not, because one of the places where such structures appear now is at “desirable” borders (Melilla line, Channel crossing), which would by definition disappear. Many people would be using contacts to find a sofa to sleep in for a few days, same as they do now.

For many, it would mean being able to go home. Not just those who are undocumented, but people who are waiting for immigration to process their paperwork. For others, family reunification.

The first few months couple of years would be a mess, but things would eventually reach a dynamic equilibrium.

6

Israel would cease to exist…

7

Would the persons new country then be required to give all the benefits such as free healthcare, education, and housing to the new persons?

Would they have to build them new houses?

8

I don’t see why not, provided they are paying taxes like everyone else. Permanent Residents already have such entitlements in most countries and they usually kick in after sometime.

9

“Have to”? Spanish construction businesses would be rubbing their hands in glee!

10

Yes - and Russia would probably intentionally flood Crimea and eastern Ukraine with Russian ‘migrants’ - and China would intentionally flood Taiwan with Chinese ‘migrants.’

11

It’s a disaster in the EU at a much smaller scale. I can’t see how increasing it would be anything less than a global catastrophe.

Edit: Note to a point above. Immigrants don’t take UNWANTED jobs, they take wanted jobs ans squeeze out the indigenous workers.

12

In “a world of absolutely unrestricted migration” governments couldn’t do this, since people who didn’t wish to live in whatever country was being targetted could simply return home.

Plus, I’m pretty sure that everyone born in mainland China is already a citizen of the Republic of China (Taiwan), since it regards the entire country as part of its national territory. Presumably if people from mainland China wish to migrate to Taiwan, they already can. No?

13

You’re not talking about allowing outsiders to enter, you’re talking about forcing insiders to admit them. People who call themselves liberals think that is such an easy and praiseworthy thing to force people to do against their natural will…

14

So your driver’s license isn’t allowing you to drive, it’s forcing me to let you use the road? Damn the liberals, get off my road!

15

Yes, that is exactly what it does. I’m going 20 mph below the speed limit, blinkers in for five miles, and you are forced to look up from your texting to make sure I’m not blocking your entitlement.

16

Newsflash: you don’t have a damn say in who your neighbors are. Deal with it.

17

Yes I do, I and my neighbors collectively have a right, through the electoral process, to restrict who can enter the USA. We can, if we wish, elect a government that enacts any immigration policy we want. Similarly, every country in the world (with no exceptions that I know of) can and does have a damn say about whether I can become their people’s neighbor or not.

Under the present interpretation of the US Constitution, I/we cannot restrict the right of another US citizen or legal immigrant to become my neighbor. But a constitutional amendment can change that, too.

We do have a damn say, and this thread is about what would happen if we didn’t.

18

I guess you’ve never heard of neighborhood associations or zoning laws.

19

These affect the “how”, not the “who”. A neighborhood association cannot block a sale to anyone ( far as I know ), they can only compel the new owner to comply with the association bylaws.

20

Probably a general increase in worldwide prosperity, after a period of instability. Several nations are saved from demographic collapse, like Japan.

Unlikely, since immigration controls have never hampered such people in the first place.