I find myself wondering if, in some areas, the Empire would set up pre-entry tests for non-resident people wishing to travel within the Empire, so they could check if they’d be welcome before going to the expense.
Because someone can certainly say they’re willing to uphold the required standards of behaviour, without meaning it - that’s what althoemeters are for - but I’m wondering how frequent it is for someone to think they are willing to uphold it, but not quite being able to manage. “I don’t know if I know my own mind well enough to reach your standards” is… probably something the majority of citizen-shareholders wouldn’t grok, but it comes with an implicit “at least they recognise there is a problem and apparently want to do something about it?” that some may respect. First step in fixing things being to know there’s something to fix and all that.
Admittedly that could also fall under “these outlanders have some very strange hang-ups, but since they want to come visit for the purposes of psych design then someone should probably help sort them out”.
It sounds like the “easy” solution to that is to have the Empire mail what’s effectively a test kit to the prospective immigrant, and/or provide the services necessary to meet qualifications outside the Empire. That’s leaving aside the fact that the Empire is an ideostate and so you can be in the territory and using a service (as a foreigner) before you are technically part of the Empire.
That’s what the I-series visa is for. (Technically, no visa is ever required for travel to the Empire, but there are a couple which exist to simplify the process.)
I-class visas are issued to people who complete pre-inplacement - security checks, interview, signing the I-180 - at an Imperial consulate or IGBV facility at their port of departure, in the form of a cryptographic token locked to them. Presenting that at the port of entry lets them bypass the inplacement procedure there, having already done it.
It is often preferred, both by individuals who don’t want to spend the money getting there, and by those organizations who don’t want to spend the money repatriating entry-denied’s.
And, of course, you can download all the prep material and a test-check program (if you have the hardware to run it) from the State & Outlands 'weave site.
If you pass the inplacement test. Remember, it’s not a citizenship test - it’s an immigration test. You need to pass it to be allowed in, period.
(Because they don’t want a bunch of uncivilized asshats wandering around shitting up the place, basically. You don’t have to join up or be perfect citizen candidate material to be allowed in, but they do insist that you pass Core Ethicality 101.)
Most polities require you to actually, y’know, be in their territory in order to naturalize. The Empire (and a few other not-quite-so-awesome citizenship brands imitating its example with their own PNRC programs) is not one of them. You can, after obtaining your I-class visa, go right ahead and become a citizen-shareholder right there in the embassy. Sign the charter in front of the ambassador, receive your citizen-share, all of that.
Depending on where you are, this may be of limited utility as the Empire does not recognize dual citizenship and will notify your previous governance of your renunciation accordingly, so if your previous government is feeling pissy, you may find yourself having to go straight from the embassy to the starport. On the other hand, many will grudgingly accept the situation as at least they still get to screw ex-citizen-permanent-residents for tax revenue.
So there are a few citizen-shareholders who went straight from “foreigner” to “Imperial expatriate” without getting closer to the Empire proper than His Excellency’s office.
On the one hand, this does have the disadvantage that you will find yourself paying the Empire Services Fee and subject to Imperial law and custom without the many comforts of Home. But on the other hand, it also has the advantage that you can take advantage of its legal jurisdiction and its many, many gunboats.
(If your local governance has a tendency to be a bag of dicks, it’s awfully nice to have a civis Romanus sum card in your back pocket, after all.)
“I would like to speak to my lawyer, my ambassador, and the commander of the gunboat approaching even now to explain the niceties of civilized warrant service.”