Most of us (meaning people that aren't European) would be willing to move anywhere in the EU, at least for a while. I lived and worked in France for some time. My family came from Germany and Switzerland 150 years ago, and my wife's great grandmother came from Spain only 100 years ago (she's Mexican and now also American). It's a really neat thing to be over there and feel that connection to an ancestral homeland that we still have family stories about.
Close to where I grew up was a town called Swedesburg, they fly the Swedish flag there to this day. Lots of Germans and Swedes. One would think Europe would change immigration law to encourage people who would naturally have some affinity or ties to the region. But that doesn't seem to be a popular idea. I think my wife and I would be able to integrate anywhere over there, northern or southern Europe, with zeal. We both speak English, Spanish, we can already communicate with Italians as a result of Spanish, and are enthusiastic about cultures and languages. I've lived in the US, France, Mexico and visited ~10 nations including Russia. My wife has visited equally as many and studied in Valencia. I've been to Finland- it has less snow than the part of the US I'm from (though my wife would probably not be thrilled).
I've always gotten the feeling Europe prefers its former African and mideast colonies to immigrate north, rather than American hordes with their money and talents (which may be more offputting to the natives than a more desperate immigrant).
I don't think that there's any evidence that there are hordes of Americans just waiting to move on over.
In the UK immigration from former colonies is no longer treated any more preferentially than immigrants from non-EU countries who aren't former colonies (youth mobility visa excepted).
After WW2 and Britains labour shortage, full rights of settlement were granted to everyone in the commonwealth, hundreds of thousands came and settled from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Why should an american have preference when their family left 5 generations ago over someone who arrived 2 generations ago?
Many Africans and Asians come to university in the UK and decide to stay here, not so many Americans do - they have prestigious universities of their own. These people are not desperate and are talented.
Britain imports lots of doctors & nurses from commonwealth countries, these people are talented.
British Asians contribute something like 6% of UK GDP, despite making up 4% of the population. These people have money.
> One would think Europe would change immigration law to encourage people who would naturally have some affinity or ties to the region.
No offense but this affinity people especially from the US seem to have appears from this side like nothing more than a weird fetish driven by nothing more than fantasy. Especially for Germany this is incredibly weird because there is often a certain pride associated with being "German" that would get you considered a nazi in Germany.
If you're well educated and can get a job in Europe, immigrating should be quite easy already. I see no reason to make it easy for people just because some ancestor happened to be from Europe.
> No offense but this affinity people especially from the US seem to have appears from this side like nothing more than a weird fetish driven by nothing more than fantasy
How do you figure? My grandmother sang in German to me as a child. Fantasy? Her husband defeated Germany in WW2 and his father defeated Germany in the trenches of France.
It's perhaps time that Germans got a little bit of pride, and it's ironic that to revitalize Germany (and Europe as a whole to former greatness) it would require bringing back your best and most ambitious.
Instead, as I said, I've lived in France- the people will never admit but fear being swarmed by people just as arrogant as the average European. Europe prefers the chaos and civil disruption of mideast immigration because these people are easy to look down upon and pity. Chaos is preferred over having ones mental and financial equal or superior arrive.
It doesn't matter to us, we're doing fine over here. I'm just suggesting the fix to all of Europe's problems of no birthrate and a cloudy future with none of the problems being invited with the current ethnic disruption. One would think a more desirable migrant would be preferable rather than a victim of poor circumstance.
Many European countries extend citizenship to distant descendants like Hungary and Italy.
Spain naturalizes nationals of Iberoamerica, Philippines, and Equatorial Guinea after only two years residence rather than ten for nationals of other countries.
> One would think Europe would change immigration law to encourage people who would naturally have some affinity or ties to the region.
Is this a roundabout way of saying that European countries ought to prefer white immigrants? Europe has a little bit of history with regard to governments making laws that discriminate on the basis of race. Might not be such a great idea to turn back the clock on that one.
Close to where I grew up was a town called Swedesburg, they fly the Swedish flag there to this day. Lots of Germans and Swedes. One would think Europe would change immigration law to encourage people who would naturally have some affinity or ties to the region. But that doesn't seem to be a popular idea. I think my wife and I would be able to integrate anywhere over there, northern or southern Europe, with zeal. We both speak English, Spanish, we can already communicate with Italians as a result of Spanish, and are enthusiastic about cultures and languages. I've lived in the US, France, Mexico and visited ~10 nations including Russia. My wife has visited equally as many and studied in Valencia. I've been to Finland- it has less snow than the part of the US I'm from (though my wife would probably not be thrilled).
I've always gotten the feeling Europe prefers its former African and mideast colonies to immigrate north, rather than American hordes with their money and talents (which may be more offputting to the natives than a more desperate immigrant).