It is unfortunate that the rules have changed conveniently for him - but they did for Graham Hick. Problem is the over expectations that might be on him (or he might put on himself). Personally, I feel 3 years is too short but then again plenty of foreign born players have played for England. No one complains about Douglas Jardine or Colin Cowdrey after all.
However, I prefer to see players that learnt the game here - by which I mean schools cricket. Others, like Archer, should have to play county cricket for 5 seasons before turning out for the full team. Just feels that we are a 'flag of convenience' for Archer and it's a snub for the country that he started his first class career with. But he is better than those who've been complaining.