Statement for the House Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee on “How Outdated U.S. Immigration Policies Push Top Talent to Other Countries”

The American Immigration Council submitted a written statement to the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship for a June 24, 2021, hearing on “How Outdated U.S. Immigration Policies Push Top Talent to Other Countries.” The statement shares our analysis of the archaic U.S. immigration policies which are making the United States a less attractive destination for highly skilled workers from other countries. Nations compete with one another to attract qualified professionals from around the world to fill available jobs in key economic sectors. Unfortunately, the competitiveness of the United States in this global marketplace is being undermined by outdated rules and arbitrary numerical caps which have not been updated in decades. These self-imposed limitations have caused the backlog of applications for employment-based visas to grow rapidly, which forces applicants to wait longer and longer for visas to actually become available.