Global Competitiveness
The United States has long been the destination for the world’s most talented immigrants. Despite the last 50 years of technological advancement, American immigration policy has remained virtually unchanged, putting in danger America's global competitiveness. Yesterday's immigration policy no longer meets today’s economic needs. Only about 14 percent of all U.S. green cards are given for economic reasons, compared to more than 60 percent in Canada and Australia. With no dedicated visa for entrepreneurs and numerous barriers to residency in place for international students to stay after graduation, America's outdated immigration policy could allow other countries to out-compete us by attracting and keeping the best and brightest there and not here.
A Meatpacker’s Son Now Helps Other Nebraska Youth Succeed
Growing up in Lexington, Nebraska, in the 1990s, Luis Sotelo witnessed a cultural transition when Latin American workers arrived to fill a demand for labor in a new meatpacking plant. “And today we are seeing a new wave of immigrants in Lexington,” says Sotelo, who serves as chief diversity officer… Read More
Rather Than Innovate in U.S., Foreign Students Now Consider Leaving
Like many international students, Qiao Zhang had hoped to stay in the United States after receiving his master’s degree in quantitative finance from Rutgers Business School. Now, with the future of immigration policy so uncertain, he may go back to China. It’s something a lot of his fellow international students… Read More
A Career Economist Makes the Case for Immigrants
Economist Ann Markusen has spent three decades studying what makes the U.S. economy tick. And a recent teaching post in Canada re-affirmed her view that a welcome approach to immigrants is good for a nation’s bottom line. “Canada’s liberal immigration policies and the nonprofit sector’s efforts to find housing… Read More
An Open Letter from 1,470 Economists on Immigration
p.article__date { display:none; } Dear Mr. President, Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, and Minority Leader Pelosi: The undersigned economists represent a broad swath of political and economic views. Among us are Republicans and Democrats alike. Some of us favor free markets while others have championed… Read More
Smuggled Across the Border, Mexican Entrepreneur a Testament to Hard Work
When Jorge Peralta was 9 years old, his mother flew him and his brother from Peru to Mexico, bundled them into the back of someone’s car in Tijuana, and told them to pretend to be asleep. Peralta remembers a border officer shining a flashlight in his face before waving the… Read More
Travel Site Founder: America Must Remain Place People ‘Aspire to Come to’
For Ahmed Bhuiyan, starting YourTripGuru, an online travel-planning site, was just the latest of his adventures since moving to the Bronx from Bangladesh at the age of 8. The startup also makes him part of a proud tradition of U.S. immigrants. In the United States, immigrants are… Read More
Think Policy Not Politics for Smart Immigration Reform, Says Professor
University of Houston political science professor Jeronimo Cortina is very optimistic about the future of race relations in this country — an outlook he says was inspired by his students. “Everyone sees themselves as equals,” says Cortina, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 2001. “They are used… Read More
New Jersey Union Boss: America Doesn’t Function Without Immigrants
Walk through any Atlantic City casino and you’ll see immigrant dealers, bartenders, waiters, and more, says Bob McDevitt, president of UNITE HERE Local 54. The city’s largest union for casino workers. Local 54 has 10,000 members, two-thirds of whom are either Hispanic or Asian Americans. “If you take away immigrant… Read More
International Students Generate Millions for Oklahoma University — and Town
Kyle McMichael is the international student advisor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, located in the small town of Durant, 150 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. The mere presence of foreign students not only guarantees his job, it also represents roughly $3 million for the university in out-of-state tuition revenue. “They… Read More
Politicians, Not People, Divide Us, Says Lebanese-American Dentist
When Omar Mahmassani arrived in the United States from Lebanon to begin studying dentistry at Georgetown University, he felt positively awed. “I felt so lucky,” he says of that day in 1984. “A degree from the United States is the gold standard. People look up to the United States as… Read More
Impending Labor Challenges
The United States is facing demographic challenges that endanger its preeminent economic position in the world. An aging workforce threatens the vitality of the labor force. At the same time, the supply of U.S.-trained engineers is lagging behind nearly all other industrialized economies. At a time when tech-heavy and innovation driven industries are driving economic growth, the United States faces the prospect of being left behind.
Table 1: Share of Population Age 65+, 1996, 2006, 2016 and projected 2030
Table 2: Share of Undergrads Studying Engineering
Prioritizing Economic Needs
Many countries have identified the link between immigration and economic growth. For many, such moves are a matter of necessity–the domestic labor force is not sufficient for an expanding economy, and aging populations and declining fertility rates are creating labor shortages. Despite facing some of the same challenges, U.S. immigration policy has not changed to reflect our economy’s evolving needs.
Table 3: Percentage of All Permanent Residency Visas Given for Economic Reasons*
Need for a Start-Up Visa
Countries around the world, from France, to Chile, to Singapore have created visas aimed at attracting promising entrepreneurs and job creators. Despite concerns about meager job creation and business growth, however, the United States has not taken a similar step, endangering our position in the global race for talent. This situation was made worse in 2017 when the administration took the first steps to kill the International Entrepreneur Rule, a measure that would have allowed entrepreneurs with outside funding to remain in the country for 2.5 years to establish their businesses.
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