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If it were personal wealth it might be a reasonable proxy, though in much of the world weath and corruption often go hand in hand.

Do you really want to allow in every rich kid in the world that thinks it'd be cool to screw off in the US for a few years at the expense of someone who's distinguished themselves in their field?

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Said rich kids have no need to change their citizenship; they can already spend as much time as they want in any country they want.

Why would a lot of corrupt, rich foreigners want to leave the place where they have a proven ability to profit in order to go to a place where the cost of living is higher and with which they are unfamiliar?

Also there would be some sort of screening for criminals.

For fun. That's the problem. Not all people with weath are goal-driven. I'm not so much picturing Pinochet as the Paris Hiltons of the world.

So it's primarily an aesthetic issue? Shouldn't your argument be that paying to immigrate would not let enough productive immigrants in? You seem to be saying that the problem is it will also allow a few other undesirables to attend the cocktail party.

Being able to travel to rich countries is a strong status symbol in poor countries, and corrupt rich foreigners risk not being welcome in their country at some point.

But in a sense you are right, such a scheme would lock out the foreigners who have most to gain from immigration.

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