In his testimony to the Congress in Capitol Hill on 7 March 2007, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates suggested a massive increase in H-1B visas saying,
“It makes no sense to tell well-trained, highly skilled individuals – many of whom are educated at our top colleges and universities – that the United States does not welcome or value them. For too many foreign students and professionals, however, our immigration policies send precisely this message.”
I don’t completely agree with Mr. Gates. I am of the opinion that students graduating from accredited US Universities be automatically qualified for Permanent Residency status (Green Card).
H-1B visas allow US Corporations and Universities to temporarily employ foreign workers who have a the equivalent to a US Bachelor’s Degree. Corporations argue that these visas provide a steady flow of highly skilled professionals who are in short supply, and reduce the need for them to move their operations abroad. However, it should also be noted that the H-1B system is widely abused.
The H-1B system is itself tied up in knots. Firstly, international students who apply for a F-1 student visa to the US must convince the authorities that they do NOT intend to remain in the US after they graduate from school. At the same time, there exists a quota of 20,000 visas to be issued to candidates who have graduated with a Masters’ degree from a US University. It seems the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is contradicting itself here.
From a student / immigrant perspective, the H-1B system is nothing but a bundle of inconvenience. The H-1B visa has has a six- year time limit, putting immigrants and their families at the risk of being forced to return to their home country, if their Green Card application is not approved before this 6-year deadline. H-1B holders must leave the US if they are laid off or if the sponsoring company goes out of business. Spouses of H-1B holders need a separate sponsor in order to be able to work or to even obtain a Social Security Number. An H-1B holder can only work for their sponsoring employer and cannot start a new business.
A 2006 study conducted by a team of students researchers from the Master of Engineering Management (MEM) Program at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering revealed that these skilled immigrants provide the US a great global edge by contributing to the economy, creating jobs, and leading innovation. Immigrants are fueling the creation of hi-tech businesses across the US and creating a wealth of intellectual property. The team made thousands of phone calls and received responses from 2054 engineering and technology companies founded in the US from 1995 to 2005.
- In 25.3% of these companies, at least one key founder was foreign-born. Immigrants were most highly represented as founders in the semiconductor, computer, communications, and software fields. Of all immigrant-founded companies, 26% have Indian founders.
- In the fields of engineering and technology, over half (52.4%) of Silicon Valley start-ups and 18.7% of Research Triangle Park start-ups had one or more immigrants as a key founder.
- Nationwide, these immigrant-founded companies produced $52 billion in revenues
and employed 450,000 workers in 2005.
The team’s analysis of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) patent databases revealed that immigrants were named as inventors or co-inventors in 24.2% of international patent applications filed from the U.S. in 2006, majority of who are Chinese and Indians. Clearly, skilled immigrants have become a significant driving force in the creation of new businesses and intellectual property in the U.S. — and these contributions have significantly increased over the past decade.
Presently, the wait time for skilled immigrants from India and China to be granted Permanent Resident status (Green Card) stands at nearly six years because the US Citizenship and Immigration Services is backlogged. There is yearly limit of around 140,000 Green Cards for skilled workers and no more than 9,800 (7%) of the visas are allowed to be allocated to immigrants from any one country. Thus, the proportion of skilled immigrants allowed into the US from India and China is the same as that for immigrants from Iceland and Senegal. This obviously puts Indian and Chinese immigrants at a disadvantage.
Thus, the present immigration policy does no good for America. Immigrants educated in US Universities and trained in US Corporations are forced to return home, to become competitors. We believe that a more practical solution would be to automatically grant Green Cards to international students completing degrees in mathematics, engineering and sciences from accredited institutions of higher learning. By carefully screening and being highly selective about the quality of students being admitted into the US would help the country maintain its competitive edge.
