High Skilled Immigration

[ravi98]

The No-Brainer Issue of the Year: Let High-Skill Immigrants Stay - Alex Tabarrok - Business - The Atlantic

The No-Brainer Issue of the Year: Let High-Skill Immigrants Stay
By Alex Tabarrok
Dec 20 2011, 9:00 AM ET 3

Our policy toward the world's best and brightest is currently: "Welcome! Enjoy this expensive education. Now go home!" Does that make any sense?

Behind Door #1 are people of extraordinary ability: scientists, artists, educators, business people and athletes. Behind Door #2 stand a random assortment of people. Which door should the United States open?

In 2010, the United States more often chose Door #2, setting aside about 40,000 visas for people of extraordinary ability and 55,000 for people randomly chosen by lottery.

It's just one small example of our bizarre U.S. policy toward high-skill immigrants. Every year, we allow approximately 140,000 employment visas, which cover people of extraordinary ability, professionals with advanced degrees, and other skilled workers. The number is absurdly low for a country with a workforce of 150 million. As a result, it can be years, even decades, before a high-skilled individual is granted a U.S. visa. Moreover, these 140,000 visas must also cover the spouse and unmarried children of the high-skilled worker, so the actual number of high-skilled workers admitted under these programs is less than half of the total. Perhaps most bizarrely there is a cap on the number of visas allowed per country regardless of population size. How many visas are allocated to people of extraordinary ability from China, a country of over 1 billion people? Exactly 2,803. The same number as are allocated to Greenland.

A rational immigration policy would open the United States to many more high-skill immigrants. High-skill immigrants innovate, patent, and start new firms at higher rates than natives. At least one-quarter of the new firms in technology and science fields, from software and semiconductors to biotech, are founded by immigrants. In Silicon Valley, more than half of the high-tech start-ups were founded by immigrants. High skill immigrants especially with degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (aka: STEM) create more jobs and higher wages for Americans. Increasing high-skill immigration is such a win-win policy for increasing innovation that it's tempting to call it a no-brainer. Instead, "no-brainer" turns out to be a better description of our current policy.

At a minimum, we should shift from family-based immigration to work-based immigration, using a point system for skills, such as used by Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. At the same time as we limit skill-based visas to 140,000, we have over 1.1 million legal immigrants per year, most based on family immigration. Even the harshest critics of immigration cannot fault a policy that keeps the number of immigrants constant while shifting toward more high-skill immigrants.

We also should create a straightforward route to permanent residency for foreign-born students who graduate with advance degrees from American universities, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We educate some of the best and brightest students in the world in our universities and then on graduation day we tell them, "Thanks for visiting. Now go home!" It's hard to imagine a more short-sighted policy to reduce America's capacity for innovation.

In an election year, no one expects any major action on immigration reform. But support for fixing our high-skill immigration system is widespread and bipartisan. A bill to lift the country cap on employment visas ("Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act" (H.R. 3012)) sailed through the U.S. House in November on a 389-to-15 vote, although it was later blocked in the Senate for tactical reasons by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) have both put forward proposals to "staple" a green card to the diplomas of foreign students graduating from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in STEM fields, an idea that also been endorsed Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and President Obama. Few people defend the current system.

We should debate the issues on which we do not agree. But shouldn't we also agree to act on the issues over which there is no debate? The time to increase high-skill immigration is now.

[Suva]

It's old news. It was first reported by Chikna. Here is the link

http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/fo...ml#post3064952 (HR 3012 kickstarted in Senate)

[Nikith77]

where did you see it. Any link

[digital2k]

Pls act now

1) Daily - All Action Items
2) Contribute - Contribute
3) Reach to more people

NOW is the Time ...

Thank You, hope it inspires more

Quote:
Originally Posted by gcnov2002 (Report your action items here)
Contributed $200 more.. In addition to $500 before..

Transaction ID: 84X5286790928894R
Transaction ID: 59339155CX238984Y

Thank You, hope it inspires more

Quote:
Originally Posted by Qualifiedfor2butinEB3 (Report your action items here)
Donated another $200 to make my contribution $700 so far. (Receipt number 5236-2791-3094-6374.)

[smuggymba]

Originally Posted by TO BE OR NO TO BE

He is referring to House of Representative passing the bill on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011.....what a news ;-)

If u look at the singnature of the post...u will see that it's spam attack.

[honest123]

US immigration system is very weird and not reasonable----foreign students who have advanced degrees need to leave due to difficulty to get working visa or green card but people who are illiterate in English and without high education and money such as family-based immigrants are encouraged to stay and later apply social security benefits to live.

Also, some foreign students they have money to open companies but they don't want to hire ten persons at one time (too many for them) and they can't stay due to lack of appropriate visa.

Also, some of my friends who are in MD, Pharm.D program and they haven't finished the internship for licensing exam in US and then leave US which is due to they don't have green card and the internship is given to citizens/green card holders in priority and they need to wait. Then after waiting and waiting and they get the internship, OPT is nearly expired and need to back home or H-1B visa was processed on the day the quota was full. Then they get stuck in their career.

It is ridiculous that Canada ONLY allow Canadian green card people to study pharmacy and medicine and in US it is ONLY allow people who have US drivers' licenses to take the licensing exam----so if that is the case, is it implied that people who study pharmacy and medicine must be either green card holders or US citizens??????????
If that is the case, so why US accepts foreign students to study pharmacy & medicine??? If foreign students are admitted to study pharmacy & medicine in US, is there any way to let those students extend their OPT to finish internship and then licensing exam before they leave US or grant them green cards or totally NOT admit foreign students to study pharmacy & medicine?

Overall, US immigration system is very weird---knowledgeable and wealthy foreign students need to wait for many years to get green card from employers' sponsorhsip for immigration but some non-educated family based immigrants are more easy to get green card to stay and live in US.

Will this immigration system be fixed very very soon??????????????

[honest123]

Clarification: "In US it is ONLY allow people who have US drivers' licenses to take the licensing exam----so if that is the case, is it implied that people who study pharmacy and medicine must be either green card holders or US citizens??????????"-----I understand foreign students can have drivers' licenses but if those foreign students does NOT have any visa to stay in US legally, his or her drivers' licenses CANNOT be RENEWED by DMV and without drivers' licenses, he or she cannot take the license exam on any type of visa including tourist visa. Also, tourist visa CANNOT allow anyone to do any types of internship. Besides US drivers license, US green card and US passports are recongized ID to take those licensing exams----so those foreign students will get stuck in their career if they haven't finished the US licensing exam and transfer those US licenses back to their home countries for their home countries' licensing exam.

[DallasBlue]

President’s Jobs Council: Prepare the American Workforce to Compete in the Global Economy – “In order to stay competitive in a global age, we must invest in our future by ensuring Americans have the right education and skills to realize their full potential and drive our nation’s economic success.”
House GOP Solutions:

Remove barriers to building a first class workforce so that the United States can compete in the global marketplace and lead the way in technological development and growth (GOP Plan for America’s Job Creators)
Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, H.R. 3012 (Passed the House, Senate has taken no action to date)
Veterans Opportunity to Work Act, H.R. 2433 (Signed into law by the President on November 21, 2011)


President’s Jobs Council to President Obama: Adopt GOP Bills, Approach to Job Creation | Speaker of the House John Boehner | speaker.gov