The Economic Innovation Group’s case for place-based “Heartland Visas”

John Lattieri, the president of the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), is up at The Washington Post with a provocative op-ed pushing the concept of place-based visas — an idea that would empower struggling rural communities to sponsor immigrants with certain skills to relocate to their communities.

Given the political and cultural realities of the areas of rural Georgia that would benefit most from such a program, I’m skeptical it’ll get much support here — but it’s a fine idea and one the House Rural Development Council would do well to consider.

You can read the entire op-ed at the link above, but here’s a nut graf:

The idea of “place-based” — rather than employer-based — visas has been already implemented in countries such as Canada and Australia. Recently, the Economic Innovation Group released a paper calling for a specific place-based visa program — a “heartland visa” — aimed directly at helping struggling regions break the economic and demographic declines they are experiencing. Such a program would open a new door — without reducing the slots available through other programs — for skilled workers who could meet a range of local needs, from helping grow a local robotics hub, to filling small-town physician shortages. But instead of relying on employer sponsorship, heartland visas would be tied to communities — ones that qualify based on a stagnant or shrinking local workforce, or other economic criteria. The draw could be considerable. Many demographically stagnant U.S. communities offer an enormously attractive chance for a better life for would-be immigrants.

As background, the Economic Innovation Group is a Washington-based think tank whose work I’ve cited several times, including here and here.