I think every country should do this. What I am seeing these days is that people who deserve visas are struggling with visa issues, while untalented people are getting visas easily

I agree too. And before the pearl clutching starts, I’m very much practicing what I preach as an American seriously considering retiring to a Spanish speaking country and who just came back from the target country after spending six weeks there - and planning on returning once or twice a year.

I’m learning Spanish and find it disheartening that many of the ex-pats [1] I hung out with don’t even attempt to learn Spanish. I’m currently somewhere around an A2/low B1.

[1] yes I also am against people calling themselves “ex-pats” instead of “immigrants”