Posted on 02/06/2013 3:26:52 PM PST by Jyotishi
Wahington - As the US Congress kicked off hearings on comprehensive immigration reforms, two well-known Indian-American experts made a compelling case for urgent steps to reverse its existing policies that “chase away” foreign talents graduating from American universities instead of capitalising on them.
“We need the world’s best and brightest more than ever before. Yet, as the research of my team at Stanford, Duke and UC-Berkeley has shown, our visa policies are doing the opposite: chasing away this talent,” said Vivek Wadhwa, Director of Research at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering.
While Wadhwa and Puneet Arora, Vice-President of Immigration Voice, testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, President Barack Obama was slated to hold consultations with a number of immigrant leaders and top CEOs as part of his push for an immigration overhaul that drives US economic growth and competitiveness.
Deepa Iyer of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and Deepak Bhargava of the Centre for Community Change were among the invitees as President Obama holds dialogue with leaders from outside his administration on immigration reform and his broader economic agenda.
In his testimony before the House panel, Wadhwa laid out what he called “seven fixes to stem the tide and attract the world’s best and brightest to America” — essentially measures he has dwelt at length in his acclaimed book, titled “The Immigrant Exodus”.
His prescription for the US authorities include increasing the numbers of green cards available to holders of H-1B visas for foreign professionals, allowing their spouses to work, targeting immigration based on required skills, allowing H-1B visa holders to change jobs without requiring sponsorship renewal, extending the term of OPT (Optional Practical Training) for foreign students from one to four years, instituting the Startup Visa for foreign entrepreneurs, and removing the per-country caps on green-card applications.
“The bottom line is that Congress needs to double down and pass legislation which ensures that the supply of employment-based green cards matches the demands of a knowledge economy,” Wadhwa said, adding: “Needless to say that at the same time, we need to improve US education and ensure US workers have the right skills and experience for the new era of technology and rapidly changing and competitive global economy.”
A vibrant United States that opens its doors to skilled immigrants will provide a greater benefit to the rest of the world than a closed, shriveling United States because the rules by which the US practices the game of economic development, job formation and intellectual capital formation grow the global economic pie, Wadhwa noted.
Arora made a pointed reference to the plight of Indian professionals, who have to wait inordinately for green cards because of the current per-country restrictions that also affect skilled immigrants from China, South Korea, the Philippines and Mexico.
“If per country limits are left in place, highly skilled immigrants from India will quite literally wait decades, most on temporary visas that limit their job mobility and prevent them from starting businesses, buying homes, and earning two incomes,” Arora said, pointing out that it is “an extremely demoralising prospect for men and women who come to America believing their skills are valued and welcomed”.
public schools forbid domestic talent
Are you kidding? We've got the world's largest army of home grown psychology majors.
The policy that repels foreign talent is that the U.S. is no longer the “Land of Opportunity” (thanks mainly to elected Democrats and mostly unopposed by Republicans).
‘foreign talent’ = Future democrat voters
What makes you say that? The H1-B’s I’ve known were all stark, raving, free-market capitalists. And why wouldn’t they be? They came to make some money.
>> public schools forbid domestic talent
> Are you kidding? We’ve got the world’s largest army of home grown psychology majors.
And their potential patients.
Psychology majors make absolutely fantastic stackers in any grocery store.
We used to breed and educate the world's best and brightest until the libs took over the culture and the schools. Of all the arguments for unfettered immigration, this is the most annoying. It's like "We totally screwed up our kids, now give us a chance to drag the rest of the world down".
Republicans need to find a way to open the immigration doors wide to those in the world fleeing religious persecution and those who are able to bring wealth-creation with them.
This is the only way to cancel the effect of immigration of government-dependent types.
Just more catering to the fortune 1000 that refuse to deal with the issues we have here and demand more h1b’s in exchange for campaign donations...
Correct and excellent policy.
Actually current policy repels any kind of talent both foreign and homegrown. Neither correct nor excellent....even by democrat standards.
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