Special trust accounts set up in participating U.S. banks could be used to facilitate and document the application process through our embassies abroad.

To later convert a resulting temporary Green Card to a United States Permanent Resident Card, the applicant would need to own their new home for at least five or six years. This would deter those who might buy a home on short-term credit in hopes of securing U.S. residence and then disposing of the home soon afterward to pay back the loan. The longer participants in fact keep their new homes, the more solid would be the resulting housing market recovery.

After receiving permanent residence the applicant would have the choice of applying for United States citizenship after five years, as is current practice. According to immigration rules, an individual must reside in the U.S. for half of this five-year term before applying for citizenship. In practice, not all new home buyers would be able to do this due to family or other considerations, of course. And likewise, because many foreign participants would choose not to live in their new American homes immediately, they wouldn't immediately compete with U.S. citizens for scarce jobs.

To maintain their new homes the foreign owners could rent them out, or use them as vacation homes or second homes where relatives, grandparents or children reside. All these would then become additional buyers of local consumer goods, services and utilities further benefitting our economy.

But of special note is the likelihood that, as soon as any such proposed immigration reform was announced, it would provide our economy with immediate benefits:

● As a million or more people from all over the world applied for U.S. residence with the intention of buying a home in the U.S., home prices would quickly rise as sellers took advantage of the new market demand. Even houses now selling for under $100,000 would be renovated to qualify for the program - thus creating jobs.

● The rising values of these lower-priced homes would tend to boost the prices of all others, bringing housing prices closer to their pre-crisis levels. That would simultaneously reduce the number of "underwater" mortgages.

● Increased home prices would improve the stock market and overall investment returns. Consumers would recover confidence and start spending again - helping reduce the current shortfall in consumer demand.

● Companies would begin to hire again, and unemployment would drop. New houses would be built and old houses remodeled, with all that implies for related businesses.

● The U.S. economy would improve and the dollar would stay strong. Investment in our economy would increase.

With perhaps a million or more people taking advantage of just this one new immigration opportunity within its first few years, and each investing in a new American home while bringing an additional $200,000 into the US economy, the total new wealth imported could reach $200 trillion - many times the entire 2012 federal budget.

In previous eras, in order to develop our territory, resources and economy United States welcomed immigrants who could help with their hands and hearts; now it is time to also consider those who can help with their wealth.

For many people living abroad, United States is still a famously great nation, with less crime and corruption, clean streets and neat houses, very good medical and social services, and the best opportunities for investment. A place where people can live free, raise children, and look forward to a secure retirement.

Why not harvest this goodwill now, when it can help us to avoid a very different future?

Currently our State Department issues 50,000 Diversity Immigrant Visas per year for those from specific countries, through a "Green Card lottery" geared toward those who do not necessarily have needed skills, education or assets. Meanwhile, over 13 million non-residents send in applications each year in hopes of getting a Green Card. Giving preference to those who can afford to buy a home for cash could meet diversity goals while also doing something vital for our American economy.

Our American future deserves this rethink of our immigration priorities.