The countries of the World ought to let any two people voluntarily exchange their citizenships.

If this scheme were adopted, citizenships would become a tradeable commodity.

Both parties freely enter into this trade and therefore benefit from it. Furthermore, the rich country benefits in that it gains an enterprising new citizen; the poor country benefits in that the person who left will presumably continue to support his or her relatives and friends from abroad.

Some retirees from rich countries may prefer to live out their final years in inexpensive and sun-rich countries; they can easily do so by exchanging their citizenships, thereby giving a young person an opportunity in a strong economy. These retirees could either sell their citizenships, or they could opt for a more charitable approach, for instance offering their citizenship as a reward to promising students. In this scenario, poor countries benefit enormously from the spending power and experience of the retirees.

To ensure that the citizenship trade always occurs on a strict one-to-one basis, one rule has to be added: a citizen who gained his or her status by trade loses the right to claim citizenship for his or her immediate family.

[Summarised from an posted on the Global Ideas Bank]

CATEGORY: CITIZENSHIP