19. Foreign Worker Time Limits & Fees
Time Limits for All Except Citizens
Every non-citizen, including every form of legal resident, would face a time limit on their stay within the country. Options would exist to request extensions, but permanent residency should not be an option. Only when people become citizens can they permanently reside in the country.
Normal Income Tax
Foreign workers would be subject to the same income tax rates to which the rest of the population is subjected.
Foreign Worker Fee
In addition, foreign workers should be charged a yearly fee for permission to work in the US. This fee should generally be set at 5% of their gross income. This fee could be raised or lowered depending on the supply and demand of domestic workers: the greater the deficit of domestic supply, the higher the fee on foreign workers (so as to encourage an increase in the domestic supply). These foreign worker fees would be independently calculated for each field, skill, or area of work in order to adequately reflect the supply and demand forces for each market.
Yearly Increase of Foreign Worker Fee
Foreign immigrant workers should generally be allowed to work and stay in this country for up to a maximum of one year at a time. Special permits may be granted to allow longer stays, especially for people with special skills, but for each additional year or part thereof, the foreign worker fee charged as a percentage of their income would increase by 5%, to 10% in the second year, 15% in the third year, etc. However, once the foreign worker leaves for the required time, their income tax rate would be reset to 5% upon their return.
Foreign Worker Residency should Not Exceed 50%
Foreign immigrant workers should not be allowed to reenter the country until the amount of time they have spent in the country, calculated from their first entrance, is 50% or less. Thus after their first and subsequent stays, foreign immigrant workers would be required to remain outside of the country for a period of time at least equal to the amount of time they have spent in the country.
Return Procedure for Early Termination of Work Contracts
Foreign workers who have been fired for just cause should be required to return to their country of origin within three months of their dismissal. Workers who have been laid off should be required, within 12 months, to either return to their country of origin or find another job, preferably in the same or related field in order to complete the time period allowed by their visa.
Foreign Workers Earning Money Without Valid Visa
Visa holders who earn wages at any time without a valid visa, would have those wages treated as theft and should be required to pay restitution, albeit at a lower multiple because this was not a forced crime. The proceeds would not go back to the company that hired such a person, but would go towards the law enforcement agency that is responsible for enforcing these laws.