Conflicts between United States Immigration Law and the General Agreement on Trade in Services: Most-Favored-Nation Obligation

63 Pages Posted: 29 Nov 2008

See all articles by William Thomas Worster

William Thomas Worster

The Hague University of Applied Sciences - International Law; University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Law, Amsterdam Center for International Law; University of Missouri at Kansas City - School of Law

Date Written: December 1, 2006

Abstract

United States laws establishing qualifications for temporary, nonimmigrant classifications are potentially in violation of the United States' obligations under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). These violations, if ever the subject of a WTO dispute, may force the United States to choose between accepting trade sanctions and changing existing immigration policy under external pressure. In either case, by consenting to the GATS at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (Uruguay Round) and not necessarily complying with it, the United States has incurred potential WTO liabilities. If a dispute over immigration law was successful, the United States would be forced by the coercive trade power of its international obligations to change what is normally considered one of the most sovereign of attributes of statehood, the very power to determine which aliens are qualified to enter and remain in the country.

Keywords: United States, law, immigration, nonimmigrant, World Trade Organization, WTO, General Agreement on Trade in Services, GATS, dispute settlement

JEL Classification: K33

Suggested Citation

Worster, William Thomas, Conflicts between United States Immigration Law and the General Agreement on Trade in Services: Most-Favored-Nation Obligation (December 1, 2006). Texas International Law Journal, Vol. 42, 2006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1308155

William Thomas Worster (Contact Author)

The Hague University of Applied Sciences - International Law ( email )

Stamkartplein 40
Hague
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.hhs.nl

University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Law, Amsterdam Center for International Law ( email )

P.O. Box 1030
Amsterdam, 1000BA
Netherlands

University of Missouri at Kansas City - School of Law ( email )

5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499
United States

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