The [REDACTED] Act

[Ian Plätschisch]

WHEREAS Very few people are technically allowed to submit bills to the Hopper right now, and

WHEREAS I can because the MM Senatorial election is not conducted by the Chancery, so I do not have to wait around for the EC to finish, and

WHEREAS I figured I might as well give people something to look at while they wait, and

WHEREAS Immigration law mandates that the Interior Minister collect the address of all applicants, and

WHEREAS During my tenure as Interior Minister, there have been multiple times when someone under the age of 18 could not apply because they could not share their address, and 

WHEREAS That is a bummer, and

WHEREAS We don't really *need* the addresses of applicants as long as we know which province we should put them in


THEREFORE Lex.E.2, which currently reads:

2. The Minister of Interior shall ascertain to his own satisfaction, through correspondence or conversation, that the prospective immigrant is a real human being with genuine interest in becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The Minister shall be free to inquire of the applicant on any and every subject, and shall be required to collect the name, postal address, telephone number, and e-mail address(es) of the candidate, which information the Minister shall communicate to the Secretary of State. Additionally, the Interior Minister shall be required to collect an essay, written by the applicant, entitled "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan."

shall be amended to read:

2. The Minister of Interior shall ascertain to his own satisfaction, through correspondence or conversation, that the prospective immigrant is a real human being with genuine interest in becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa. The Minister shall be free to inquire of the applicant on any and every subject, and shall be required to collect the name, postal address (optional if the applicant is under 18 years of age, except for information needed to assign the applicant to a province), telephone number, and e-mail address(es) of the candidate, which information the Minister shall communicate to the Secretary of State. Additionally, the Interior Minister shall be required to collect an essay, written by the applicant, entitled "Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan."

Uréu q'estadra så:

Ian Plätschisch (Sen-MM)

[C. Carlüs Xheraltescù]

At the risk of causing the QI claxon to echo through the halls of the Ziu, I’ll ask the obvious question: how will the Interior Minister be able to work out which province to assign someone to in cases where the applicant is under 18?

I think it’s completely right that we ought to safeguard this information and any such applicants, so I’m with you - I’d just like a little detail on the practicality of it.

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

I had the same question (particularly with respect to applicants from Wisconsin, you would need to know at LEAST what county they live in to determine their provincial assignment). Furthermore, if the legal age of majority in Talossa is 14, why should applicants between 14 and 18 have lesser/different obligations than applicants over 18?

[Ian Plätschisch]

Jul 10, 2018 15:41:13 GMT -6 C. Carlüs Xheraltescù said:

At the risk of causing the QI claxon to echo through the halls of the Ziu, I’ll ask the obvious question: how will the Interior Minister be able to work out which province to assign someone to in cases where the applicant is under 18?

I think it’s completely right that we ought to safeguard this information and any such applicants, so I’m with you - I’d just like a little detail on the practicality of it.

First, we wouldn’t necessarily write on the application that the address is optional, do I presume most people under 18 would still provide their address. This law only addresses those cases where the address field is returned blank, the Interior Kinister asks them to fill it in, and the applicant says they can’t (and the applicant is under 18).

That said, I could (and probably will) amend the law to still require the Interior Minister to inquire enough about the address the assign the province. For example, I could imagine a form email that is something like this:

“Azul,

While we do not require your full address, we still need to know the province to which you should be assigned. Based on where you live, I will need you to answer one of these questions:

If you live outside of the US or the claimed land of Talossa: What country do you live in?

If you live in a US State other than Wisconsin: What State do you live in?

If you live in a county of Wisconsin other than Milwaukee County: What county do you live in?

If you live in Milwaukee County or the claimed land of Talossa, let me know and I can ask further questions to determine your provincial assignment.”

[C. Carlüs Xheraltescù]

Jul 11, 2018 15:58:43 GMT -6 Ian Plätschisch said:

Jul 10, 2018 15:41:13 GMT -6 C. Carlüs Xheraltescù said:

At the risk of causing the QI claxon to echo through the halls of the Ziu, I’ll ask the obvious question: how will the Interior Minister be able to work out which province to assign someone to in cases where the applicant is under 18?

I think it’s completely right that we ought to safeguard this information and any such applicants, so I’m with you - I’d just like a little detail on the practicality of it.

First, we wouldn’t necessarily write on the application that the address is optional, do I presume most people under 18 would still provide their address. This law only addresses those cases where the address field is returned blank, the Interior Kinister asks them to fill it in, and the applicant says they can’t (and the applicant is under 18).

That said, I could (and probably will) amend the law to still require the Interior Minister to inquire enough about the address the assign the province. For example, I could imagine a form email that is something like this:

“Azul,

While we do not require your full address, we still need to know the province to which you should be assigned. Based on where you live, I will need you to answer one of these questions:

If you live outside of the US or the claimed land of Talossa: What country do you live in?

If you live in a US State other than Wisconsin: What State do you live in?

If you live in a county of Wisconsin other than Milwaukee County: What county do you live in?

If you live in Milwaukee County or the claimed land of Talossa, let me know and I can ask further questions to determine your provincial assignment.”

On that basis then, it is probably wise to provide some legal backing to this law for the Interior Minister to require from prospective that they provide sufficient information to determine their provincial assignment.

[Ian Plätschisch]

Jul 11, 2018 14:32:00 GMT -6 Sir C. M. Siervicül said:

I had the same question (particularly with respect to applicants from Wisconsin, you would need to know at LEAST what county they live in to determine their provincial assignment). Furthermore, if the legal age of majority in Talossa is 14, why should applicants between 14 and 18 have lesser/different obligations than applicants over 18?

Ideally we would have identical requirements for all applicants, and we still would in every other respect. However, we have to take practical considerations into account, and maintaining an ironclad rule has already lost us at least two potential citizens (although I have informed both of them of this bill).

[Trotxâ]

Jul 11, 2018 16:01:59 GMT -6 Ian Plätschisch said:

"maintaining an ironclad rule has already lost us at least two potential citizens"

What period of time does this cover? Did we lose two in a month, or some other period?

T

EDIT: Fixed quote

[Ian Plätschisch]

Jul 12, 2018 0:59:27 GMT -6 Trotxâ said:

Jul 11, 2018 16:01:59 GMT -6 Ian Plätschisch said:

"maintaining an ironclad rule has already lost us at least two potential citizens"

What period of time does this cover? Did we lose two in a month, or some other period?

T

EDIT: Fixed quote

Two during my time as Interior Minister, which has been since the end of October.

[Ian Plätschisch]

Jul 11, 2018 16:01:42 GMT -6 C. Carlüs Xheraltescù said:

Jul 11, 2018 15:58:43 GMT -6 Ian Plätschisch said:

First, we wouldn’t necessarily write on the application that the address is optional, do I presume most people under 18 would still provide their address. This law only addresses those cases where the address field is returned blank, the Interior Kinister asks them to fill it in, and the applicant says they can’t (and the applicant is under 18).

That said, I could (and probably will) amend the law to still require the Interior Minister to inquire enough about the address the assign the province. For example, I could imagine a form email that is something like this:

“Azul,

While we do not require your full address, we still need to know the province to which you should be assigned. Based on where you live, I will need you to answer one of these questions:

If you live outside of the US or the claimed land of Talossa: What country do you live in?

If you live in a US State other than Wisconsin: What State do you live in?

If you live in a county of Wisconsin other than Milwaukee County: What county do you live in?

If you live in Milwaukee County or the claimed land of Talossa, let me know and I can ask further questions to determine your provincial assignment.”

On that basis then, it is probably wise to provide some legal backing to this law for the Interior Minister to require from prospective that they provide sufficient information to determine their provincial assignment.

Change made.

In fact, can someone tell me why we require addresses at all, beyond what is necessary for provincial assignment? I have never seen them be used for anything.

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

Jul 12, 2018 17:35:58 GMT -6 Ian Plätschisch said:

In fact, can someone tell me why we require addresses at all, beyond what is necessary for provincial assignment? I have never seen them be used for anything.

The short answer is: to prevent anyone pulling an ESB on us again.

Longer answer: when I first became a Talossan, you needed to hand over macronational government-backed ID. I didn't have a passport or a drivers' licence back then, so I had to mail a photocopy of my goddamn birth certificate to the UC. (Imagine anyone being crazy enough to do that now!) I still think Immigration has the duty to make sure all candidates for citizenship are real people and not bots or catfish.