Repatriation
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Objective: Repatriation of the Puerto Rican diaspora to address Puerto Rico's (PR) ongoing population loss and aging population
The Puerto Rican diaspora includes people born in PR and people with Puerto Rican heritage that no longer live in PR. This includes but is not limited to the thousands of Puerto Ricans that left PR after Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 and have still not returned.
To help members of the diaspora return to PR, the Puerto Rican government would offer a one-time relocation stipend. Qualified individuals and families will be those born in PR or with at least one grandparent born in PR.
For example, the following set of one-time relocation stipends (adjusted for individuals and families) could be offered to members of the Puerto Rican diaspora:
A base stipend for people at least 18 years old who move to PR as a full-time resident and stay for at least 5 years
A bonus stipend for people aged 18 - 45, to encourage the most active members of the workforce
A bonus stipend for people who have a full-time remote job that they can continue working remotely full-time in PR
A bonus stipend for people who move from outside PR to the urban area/barrio-pueblo of their chosen municipality outside the San Juan metropolitan area. This will include any of the 78 municipalities in PR other than Bayamón, Carolina, Cataño, Guaynabo, Trujillo Alto or San Juan.
A bonus stipend for people who move from outside PR to the urban area/barrio-pueblo of Ponce, Arecibo, Mayagüez o Aguadilla.
A bonus stipend for people with a higher education degree beyond a Bachelor's degree, including a Master's degree, PhD, Law Degree (JD), or Medical degree (MD).
Through the new government revenue gained from local income tax and increased local spending, the benefits to the Puerto Rican economy will make the repatriation stipend program efficient and cost-effective in the long run, while also helping to strengthen local communities. The exact amount of the stipends will be determined by thorough calculations on the scale of economic benefits each returning member of the diaspora will generate.