Points of Entry: An Immigration Challenge

## Description

In this educational newsgame presented in the editorial section of the _New
York Times_ website, players assume the role of a US immigration officer
handing out worker visas.

Immigrants are given a point value according to the Merit-Based Evaluation
System (the Kennedy System) introduced to the US Congress in 2007; details
such as occupation, education, language skills, and family status all
contribute to how much a particular immigrant is worth. The player must
process each immigrant within the time limit, adjusting their details so that
each person “qualifies” for a worker visa. Occupations such as doctor and
software engineer are worth more under the System, while other jobs like food
service worker are worth much less. A native speaker of English is more
desirable than someone with limited English skills, and someone with a parent
or sibling who is a US citizen receives more points than someone with no close
family in the US.

The player competes against another immigration employee controlled by the
computer; this employee sets the baseline that the player must meet with each
immigrant. Players themselves are scored by how quickly they process each
immigrant, and by how close they come to the computer opponent’s score in each
round.

Points of Entry: An Immigration Challenge