Insider’s view: The Coronavirus Permanent residency visa suggestion

A historical visa, the first international visa, specifically designed to lower the spread of COVID19 now and in the near future.

A free visa that grants anyone that is legally in a foreign country on a temporary visa, a permanent resident status in order not to worry about expiring visa’s and grant people the opportunity to look for jobs in order to avoid people taking transport such as flights to return to their home country, which increases the risk of catching the virus and / or bringing it to another country based on the principal that many governments has locked their borders and urge people to stay indoors at all time.

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Available to anyone that was legally in a country on the 20th of April and still reside there (just because 20th of April is the day of the suggestion, so we avoid anyone having gone to a country to try and obtain a free visa)

The visa will grant, to anyone holding the COVID19 Permanent Residency visa:

• Access to ALL jobs available in the country for indefinite employment
• Access to public registrations – e.g. social security number, tax file number, bank accounts etc. without saying “oh you can only get a bank account if you have X documents first” the only documents you should need, should be: Passport and the COVID19 Permanent Residency visa
• Access to all education. Where education is free, a (reasonable) fee should be charged to the visa holder. Where education cost money, cost of education should not exceed that of citizens (or only marginal)
• Global prosecution rights for banks and companies alike, in the unlikely event that the person holding the visa should take advantage of the situation and return to their home country having coursed damage / debt to the COVID19 Permanent Residency visa holding country. (We will all need a certain trust on both governments and people here and trust that the people that are legally in a foreign country, will do whatever they can to obey by the law of the country to the benefit of them and the world.)
• Access to any language program a country runs for newcomers free of charge if a country has such available
• Ability to start a company, any company

The limitations of the visa:

• Valid for 2 years with possibility for extensions if the individual has shown to contribute to the country through either a job, volunteer work or simply spending money in the country and can prove they still have the means to provide for themselves (and whoever is with them). There will need to be a certainty on the extension, so that companies will be sure their employee can remain in the country after the pandemic subsides.
• Limits on free healthcare (if in a country where there is such a thing) – for instance no free healthcare the first 1 year in the country, yet access to signing the same insurances as a citizen.
• Limits on government support in term of finances (e.g. no government support, here the government where the person is citizen should go in and help if such would be needed, all in an effort to limit the spread of COVID19).
• Limits on free education, where countries provide free education, but yet still grant them a discount to what international students would normally pay, simply because the people will be able to contribute to the country afterwards as well.

For more limits, my suggestion is to look at countries where governments pay for largely everything (e.g. Denmark), as such limitations will be largely transferable to countries that does not pay for largely everything.

I have largely avoided thinking about any negative aspects of what the COVID19 Permanent Residence visa may course to a country as well as any of the POSITIVE effects the COVID19 Permanent Residence visa will have on a country.

The idea is mostly to spark a debate amongst the global nations, for them to collectively help prevent further spread of the COVID19 virus.

Now, you are all thinking, WHY should this visa come into existence?

In short, the COVID19 Permanent Residency visa should be developed:

To avoid people having to travel because their visa expires and / or having to leave in order to try to find a job in their home country.

Think of the likes of long-term travelers, digital nomads and tourists that was placed comfortably in a country before the shut downs and had a relatively long expiration on their visa, yet if the virus continues they may non the less be forced to leave for one or another reason.

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Myself, I am from Denmark and came to Canada on the 8th of January 2020 with a return flight on the 21st of June 2020 (legal ETA visa duration / touristy visa).

As I was in Canada when everything shut down in March and had been for two months and with my flight out in June, I found (and still find) that it would be irresponsible for me to return home to Denmark, as I would only add to the risk of catching the virus and spreading it within Denmark, as oppose to staying in Canada. (Denmark actually shut down before Canada, so even more reasons to stay in Canada to avoid catching the virus in Denmark, adding to the strain of the health care products globally).

If people, like me, are only on a tourist visa they will not be able to get a job in a foreign country, yet it may not be responsible to leave the country either based on above consideration or they may not have a choice if the situation continues for many more months.

If people, like me, are only on a tourist visa they will not be able to get a job in a foreign country, yet it may not be responsible to leave the country either based on above consideration or they may not have a choice if the situation continues for many more months.

Newspapers continue to talk about stranded people in foreign countries and governments have shut down boarders to prevent anyone from entering their countries and advising people to stay indoors. And if people are advised to stay indoors, it must be assumed that it is far from safe to take a flight anywhere in the world.

With the COVID19 Permanent Residency visa, no person will have to worry about extending visas in the near future and people will have an option to settle in a new country and possibly find a job. Nor does any nation have to worry about visa extensions in their governments and can thus focus their agendas elsewhere while it is also a hope that people will find less of a desire / need for repatriation so the government has more time to focus on their battle against the spread.

Two assumptions might be made, for nations to be less afraid of a continuous strain on society if people stay in their country.

1. We might consider, that the majority of people in any given country did not come there seeking immigration in the first place, as such, it should be assumed that the majority of people obtaining the COVID19 will not want to use it for longer than needed and return to their home country when it is deemed safe to travel.
2. In term of countries having considerations as to rather foreigners will take their citizens job, it might be assumed, for simplicity, that equally many people from each country is stranded abroad, so that nations essential swap their workforces.

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Words by Phillip A. W. Olsen| The opinions expressed here are his own. The Vietnam Insider is not responsible for the opinions, facts or any media content presented by contributors