We're pandering to the wrong immigrant

[utvolpj]

Why is the US not trying harder to keep real talent in this country? The new "laws" appear to be trying to keep the unskilled workers in place while still making it hard for the best and brightest to remain. Wouldn't we prefer to have it the other way?

Immigrants file most patents at top schools - Jun. 26, 2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A new study shows immigrants file 76% of patents at the nation's top schools. Now, the question is how to keep those bright minds in the country.

The study, released Tuesday, is the second produced by a pro-immigration reform group that claims the United States is falling behind in the race for talent. The Partnership for a New American Economy took a look at the inventors behind patents at the 10 universities producing the most patents in 2011.

That year, 54% of those patents came from students, postdoctoral fellows or staff researchers. That's an issue, because the United States is losing ground against other nations by pushing out immigrant graduates seeking to launch their own businesses.

Few options exist for those who want to stay in the country legally, and the most common route -- finding another company to sponsor your visa -- goes against the entrepreneur's mission.

""Immigrant inventors create patents and patents create jobs. It's as simple as that," Feinblatt said. "We can't afford to send them away, and need Washington to act now."

 

[therealUT]

The truth is, we need both skilled and unskilled labor. Barriers to immigration will not help this country and it is simply exchanging a sense of security for liberty. Even Rousseau, who can easily be interpreted as a totalitarian socialist, understands that trading security for liberty is somewhat absurd when he quotes Palatine of Posen: Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium (Better freedom with danger than peace with slavery).

When America gets rid of its anti-production stance and, at the same time, allows the easy movement of workers in and out of the country, America will prosper as it never has before.

 

[utvolpj]

I understand we need them all but one of our main issues is not creating the jobs necessary. From the looks of it we are actually deporting job creators in favor of more that just add their names to the ever-growing job seeker pool

 

[YorkVol]

We have enough technical expertise to create jobs, but the cost of production in the US is what drives corporations to build factories over seas. Reading the study leads me to think this is about expanding the caps or doing away with the H-1B Visas altogether so universities can bring in more foreign students. In today's global market, any product that would make money by being produced in the US would be produced in the US.

 

[volinbham]

Controlled border and guest worker program with path to citizenship.

 

[utvolpj]

if I'm reading it correctly then that's not entirely true.

Few options exist for those who want to stay in the country legally, and the most common route -- finding another company to sponsor your visa -- goes against the entrepreneur's mission.

how can you start a company when you are required to have another company sponsor your visa? I don't believe the US would allow you to sponsor yourself

 

[lawgator1]

Controlled border and guest worker program with path to citizenship.

[X] Approved.

 

[Velo Vol]

Why is the US not trying harder to keep real talent in this country?

Good question.

 

[YorkVol]

if I'm reading it correctly then that's not entirely true.



how can you start a company when you are required to have another company sponsor your visa? I don't believe the US would allow you to sponsor yourself

There are several budget-neutral steps Congress could take
immediately to remedy the problems outlined in this report.
• First, Congress should provide green cards to STEM grads,
especially those with advanced degrees from US universities, so that they have a clear and viable path to remain in
this country and invent products here.
• Second, Congress should enact a visa for entrepreneurs,
as countries around the world from the UK to Canada to
Chile to Singapore already have done or are doing. This
would allow more of the inventions coming out of our
universities to be translated into US companies and US
jobs.
• Third, Congress should remove, or at least raise, the
caps on temporary high-skilled work visas. Temporary
high-skilled workers fill gaps in our economy and help our
companies grow. The arbitrary caps currently set at 65,000
annually are exhausted almost every year. They caps
should be removed or at least raised to levels that allow
companies to recruit and retain the innovators they need.

Of these three recommendations, I think the first one is legitimate. Earning an advanced degree seems to be a logical way toward earning citizenship.

I have a problem with the second as I think it would be hard to implement. How do you determine that an entrepreneur is legit?

The third one is what I believe is the true goal of this study. Expand the H-1Bs so the universities can bring in more foreign students.

By the way, in the study, the majority of the patents had at least 1 foreign born inventor listed. This means the others listed were not foreign born. In the footnotes they say that if a professor earned his bachelors degree at a foreign university and they had no other background data they considered him to be a native of that country. Is it possible they skewed the data a bit?