The citizenship level system
Introduced in 2014, the system gives each Elanian citizen over the age of 18 a tier or level based on its “contribution to the Elanian society and his track record as a citizen of the Republic”. The system factors in over 200 elements including but not limited to: the nominal (not percentage) of amount of money the citizen pays in taxes, the number of people employed by the companies an individual owns (adjusted for the percentage the citizen owns in the said company), the number of patents registered, number of hours of voluntary work, amount donated to charity, marital status (married is awarded extra points, divorcees are penalized), number of children, the health and habits ( ex: obesity is penalized as is smoking), criminal record, anti-patriotic activity etc. The citizenship tier of each citizen is revaluated each year and the results are made public on the 1st of July. Citizens who have had their citizenship tier changed have a 10 day period to change their mandatory national ID card (which feature the citizenship level).
Based on the citizenship there are four categories of citizens:
Levels: 1-3 officially designed as basic levels they also called “Takers” or “Drainers”, they are generally people who do not work (sometimes by choice other times because of health issues or disability) and have not reached their retirement age or have reached retirement age but did not contribute the minimum number of years (35 years) to get the minimum government pension. Those with criminal records are also basic citizens, generally level 1.
Government benefits: 300 rubles/usd guaranteed income per month, most of it is designated (can only be used for food, accommodation etc), basic public healthcare (all costs are paid by the government but waiting times are long). Persons with disabilities get extra help from the government depending on the disability but the amount of help cannot exceed 100 rubles/usd per month, free basic medicine (only with prescription, only generic drugs), free public transportation.
Levels: 4-6 officially designated as standard levels also called “Normies” or “Middle class”. They comprise the majority of the population. They are people without criminal record that have jobs or have complimented the minimum number of years (35) to get the government pension.
Government benefits: free standard public healthcare (average waiting times, access to most public hospitals) and free drugs (with prescription only). If the costs exceed a certain amount per year the citizen is penalized (and can have his citizenship tier lowered).
Levels: 7-9 officially designated as premium levels also called “Elites” or “Upper class”. They are generally people with high paying jobs or/and that have some extraordinary achievement (like an important patent) or small business owners. Like the standard levels they also have no criminal record.
Government benefits: free premium public healthcare (low waiting times, cosmetic surgery is also included), free drugs (with prescription only). If the costs exceed a certain amount per year the citizen is penalized (and can have his citizenship tier lowered).
Level: 10 officially designated as top end also called “Top” or the “Best”. They are extremely wealthy individuals that pay lots of taxes (nominal not percentage), are shareholders in companies that employ dozens of people or more etc. Because they score so well in their contribution to society (pay taxes) they can still have a criminal record (depends on the crime) and maintain their citizenship level.
Government benefits: free exclusive public healthcare (priority in all operations, no waiting time), free drugs (with prescription only), free extra police security on demand, priority on all government services, harsher sentencing for crimes committed against them ( ex: rape of a level 10 citizen by a level 6 citizen or lower usually results in the death penalty for the convicted person).
General observations: government considers citizenship level when receiving complaints (ex: repeated complaints regarding noise by a level 10 citizen could lead to the arrest of level 6 or below), determining sentencing etc. Since the citizenship is relatively recently implemented in Elania the government benefits awarded to each tier is being tweaked and debated periodically.
All citizens regardless of level have access to free public education in Elania up and including college. Public colleges can and do make selections based on academic achievement and testing but are forbidden to consider the citizenship level of the candidates or their family members when making evaluation for admission or grading.