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Contact: Eric Thomas, 202-822-9491

March 31, 2011

U.S. Job Creation, Economic Growth and Competitiveness Must Be Top Goals of Employment-based Immigration Reform

Compete America Policy Counsel Testifies on H-1B Visa as Part of Larger High-skilled Immigration Ecosystem that Grows American Brain Power and Innovation

Washington, D.C. – Compete America, a coalition dedicated to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce it needs to continue to lead in innovation, today urged Congress to make U.S. job creation, economic growth and competitiveness the top priorities when considering employment-based immigration reform.

Highly educated, foreign-born professionals have always been key to those priorities, as Policy Counsel to Compete America, Bo Cooper, explained at a hearing today on H-1B visas held by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement: “Throughout our history, our country has operated on the principle that the more brain power we can attract from around the world, the more creativity, invention, and growth we can achieve here at home.”

He also made it clear that the H-1B visa is only one tool among many that U.S. employers use for economic growth and job creation. 

“To be sure, the H-1B program is only a part of a larger high-skilled immigration ecosystem.  Student visa policies, intracompany transfer polices, and business visitor policies must also be smart and robust.  And, of course, the system cannot work without smarter policies toward permanent residence.  Without the ability to bring high-skilled foreign professionals permanently into the U.S. workforce, our employers face recruiting disadvantages and lose smart people who will join other economies to compete against us.”

Cooper countered the common myths about the H-1B visa system, explaining that it is far from a source of cheap labor for employers, and argued that the policy approach to the H-1B program should be governed fundamentally by the physician’s oath: First do no harm. 

Compete America remains focused on bipartisan reforms that will create an employment-based immigration system that allows employers to keep creating U.S. jobs, growing the economy and innovating.  This includes a permanent fix to the arbitrarily low quotas and massive backlogs that currently plague the U.S. employment-based visa and green card systems, a point on which labor and business agree, as evidenced by a letter released this morning, for a third year, from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA).

Reform also means allowing U.S. employers to retain for the American workforce foreign-born students graduating with advanced STEM degrees from U.S. universities.  Additionally, the United States must grow domestic sources of talent by improving U.S. STEM education and encouraging more young Americans to choose careers in key technical fields.

Compete America also supports strong, smart enforcement to protect American and foreign-born workers.  Laws should punish bad actors and recognize that most employers who hire foreign-born professionals follow the rules scrupulously.

“Let’s stay focused on our future and on creating an employment-based immigration system that will work for our future,” said Scott Corley, Compete America Executive Director.  “We thank Chairman Smith for holding the hearing today and keeping the dialogue open and alive on common sense reforms.  We look forward to working with him and all members of the House and Senate on reforms this year.”

To learn more about the benefits of highly educated foreign-born professionals to the U.S. economy, visit www.competeamerica.org.

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Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of corporations, educators, research institutions and trade associations concerned about legal, employment-based immigration and committed to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce necessary to ensure continued innovation, job creation and leadership in a worldwide economy.