Resist Xenophobia Despite 9/11, Continue Talent Pipeline

Editorial
The Sacramento Bee
 July 30, 2004

Pressure to restrict immigration after the 9/11 attacks is undermining the U.S. tradition of attracting, educating and retaining talent globally.

This country has been a magnet for talented foreign students who attend U.S. universities and then stay to become integral players in the U.S. science and technology marketplace. For example, "stay rates" of foreign students between 1994 and 1999 were 63 percent overall - 73 percent in the physical sciences, 66 percent in mathematics and 81 percent in computers and electrical engineering.

Those who stay make their contribution here; those who return to their home countries become "good-will ambassadors" for the United States.

Now all that is threatened.

Since 9/11, talented students from abroad have found it more difficult to get visas to attend universities in the United States, causing abrupt declines in foreign enrollments. That talent now is being siphoned off to other places such as Canada, Australia, Europe, Russia and Asia.

For those who do manage to get student visas, it's now more difficult to get H-1B visas to work and then to get a green card for residency. The six-year limit of the H-1B visa used to be plenty of time to acquire permanent residence. No more. Delays and backlogs are rampant. So we lose talent to other countries.

Originally, there were no limits on the number of H-1 visas for educated professionals. In 1990, however, Congress established a cap of 65,000 a year on the H-1B visa. A key measure protected existing American wages by requiring that holders of H-1B visas have to be paid the prevailing wage within the industry, or the prevailing company wage if it's higher than the prevailing wage in the industry. The cap expanded to 195,000 for 2001, 2002 and 2003 - but returned to 65,000 this year. The visas ran out by mid-February. The United States needs a more realistic cap.

A bill before Congress (HR 4166) would exempt from the 65,000 cap up to 20,000 foreign graduates of U.S. universities with a master's degree or higher. That way, California, for example, could hold onto foreign nationals who account for more than 47 percent of engineering masters' degrees and 55 percent of engineering PhDs from California universities. While not ideal, this is better than the current 65,000 cap. Congress should reject bills that eliminate all H-1B visas.

Even as we battle terrorism, do we want to continue to draw talented people to the United States for education, work and residency? Or do we want to retreat to a fortress America? The latter only sends talent and jobs overseas. Congress should support legislation, including HR 4166, that allows foreign professionals educated in the United States to work and establish residency.