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and numerous barriers to residency in place for international students to stay after graduation, America's outdated immigration policy could allow other countries to out-compete us by attracting and keeping the best and brightest there and not here.

Bipartisan Senate bill eyes immigration reform for tech workers

Bipartisan Senate bill eyes immigration reform for tech workers

A bipartisan team of senators lent a helping hand to the tech sector on Tuesday by introducing legislation to reform the immigration system for high-skilled workers. The bill, which was first introduced in 2013 but failed to move in Congress, would address a major demand of… Read More

The Most Entrepreneurial Group in America Wasn't Born in America

The Most Entrepreneurial Group in America Wasn’t Born in America

Derek Cha arrived in America as a 12-year-old with his parents and three siblings. They came for familiar reasons: “In 1977, South Korea was a poor country,” Cha says. “My parents were looking for better opportunities and education for us.” After the family settled in California, his mother worked as… Read More

Other voices: Immigration fix should address vacant tech jobs in U.S.

Other voices: Immigration fix should address vacant tech jobs in U.S.

When the topic is immigration, Democrats and Republicans alike continue to focus almost entirely on a single question: what to do about the millions of low-skill immigrants – mostly from Latin America – who are in the U.S. illegally. While this certainly needs to be addressed, the… Read More

Reddit cofounder: The next Google is one visa away from leaving U.S.

Reddit cofounder: The next Google is one visa away from leaving U.S.

Antiquated visa policies could be the downfall of the U.S. tech boom. That’s the warning that Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian is sounding.   “Although America leads the world right now, we’ve led the world in plenty of other industries before and seen that evaporate,” said Ohanian, who recently… Read More

Myrtle Beach chamber backs expansion of Visa Waiver Program

Myrtle Beach chamber backs expansion of Visa Waiver Program

Expansion of a program that allows citizens of some countries to visit the U.S. without tourism visas could increase the state’s and the Grand Strand’s chances of capturing part of a rapidly expanding market, according to some of the state’s travel leaders. “International tourism is growing faster than domestic tourism,”… Read More

Study: improved tourist visa laws would add billions in revenue and thousands of jobs within five years

Study: improved tourist visa laws would add billions in revenue and thousands of jobs within five years

Improved tourist visa laws would add more than $7.5 billion in U.S. revenue and create 50,000 U.S. jobs within five years, according to a report released Monday by The Partnership for a New American Economy. The report, “Passport to Future Economic Growth: How Expanding the Visa… Read More

Group Touts Immigration Reform As Good For Oklahoma Tourism

Group Touts Immigration Reform As Good For Oklahoma Tourism

The Partnership for a New American Economy today released a new study showing how expanding the Visa Waiver Program to six new countries – Brazil, Hong Kong, Israel, Poland, South Africa, and Turkey – would result in $7.66 billion additional spending and 50,000 American jobs within five years. Read More

Study Shows Smarter Tourist Visa Laws Would Add More Than $7.5 Billion in Revenue and 50,000 Jobs within Five Years

Study Shows Smarter Tourist Visa Laws Would Add More Than $7.5 Billion in Revenue and 50,000 Jobs within Five Years

  CONTACT Ryan Williams, New American Economy, [email protected] Tourism ad to air in airports, taxicabs, movie theaters, on Facebook and Twitter Watch the ad here. New York, NY — The New American Economy (NAE) today released a new study showing how expanding… Read More

An opportunity to lead for new GOP Congress

An opportunity to lead for new GOP Congress

The president’s executive action on immigration reform should be instructive for the GOP as the leadership enacts a governing agenda in the new Congress. The lesson here is the president’s “go it alone” immigration actions do little to… Read More

Viewpoint: Immigration reform in essence an economic issue

Viewpoint: Immigration reform in essence an economic issue

If every time you tried to follow a process you came out with a terrible result, you’d probably figure that there was something wrong with the process. It doesn’t matter whether that process is a recipe for making chili, a set of instructions for assembling a piece of furniture, or… 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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No one should face the immigration system alone

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