Category Archives: Immigration Blog

Immigration Blog

New Research Reveals Benefits of High Skill Immigration

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The main argument made against providing more green cards or temporary visas for high skilled immigrants is that it would mean fewer jobs for U.S. workers. Such concern is based on the mistaken impression that there is only a fixed number of jobs and the entry of any newcomer to the labor market must mean bad news for an incumbent jobholder. Of course, that concern does not reflect how a market economy functions.

Now there is new evidence from a respected economist that high skilled foreign nationals create more jobs for Americans. The report from American Enterprise Institute and the Partnership for a New American Economy – a copy of the study can be found here – was conducted by Madeline Zavodny, a professor of economics at Agnes Scott College and former research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

The report carried four main conclusions. First, that immigrants with advanced degrees, particularly in STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) fields create more jobs for U.S.-born workers. According to Zavodny, “The data comparing employment among the fifty states and the District of Columbia show that from 2000 to 2007, an additional 100 foreign-born workers in STEM fields with advanced degrees from U.S. universities is associated with an additional 262 jobs among U.S. natives.”

Second, the study found positive employment benefits from both low skill (H-2B) and high skill (H-1B) temporary visas. “The data show that states with greater numbers of temporary workers in the H-1B program for skilled workers and H-2B program for less-skilled nonagricultural workers had higher employment among U.S. natives. Specifically, adding 100 H-1B workers results in an additional 183 jobs among U.S. natives. Adding 100 H-2B workers results in an additional 464 jobs for U.S. natives,” according to the analysis.

Third, the research addresses concerns that more immigrants entering the labor force hurt U.S. workers. The study concluded, “The analysis yields no evidence that foreign-born workers, taken in the aggregate, hurt U.S. employment.”

Fourth, immigrants with a high education level are major fiscal contributors to the United States. Zavodny writes, “In 2009, the average foreign-born adult with an advanced degree paid over $22,500 in federal, state, and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA, or Social Security and Medicare) taxes, while their families received benefits one-tenth that size through government transfer programs like cash welfare, unemployment benefits, and Medicaid.”

Zavodny believes it’s possible the research underestimated the benefits of high skill immigration. “There are two reasons to think that this study, which uses annual, state-level data over a ten-year period, may actually underestimate the job-creating effects of highly skilled immigrants. First, it does not capture long-run effects if the economy benefits more from immigrants in the long run than in the short run (as suggested by other recent research). Second, it does not capture ‘spillover effects’ if immigrants create jobs in states other than the one where they work (for example, more immigration in California leads businesses to also create new jobs at a subsidiary in Indiana).”

The study was praised by elected officials who favor more liberalized immigration policies. “At a time when job creation should be our highest priority, the study released today casts light on some of the greatest potential areas for growth, at no cost to taxpayers,” said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, co-chair of the Partnership for a New American Economy. “It’s time for Washington to restart the conversation on immigration reform – and to center it on our economic needs.”

While the research is not likely to cause critics of immigration to throw up their hands and concede defeat, the study represents important evidence that America and Americans gain from being open to immigrants.

Immigration Blog

Per Country Limit Bill Continues to Attract Attention

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H.R. 3012, “The Fairness to High-Skilled Immigrants Act,” is a small bill, anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 pages shorter than the bills that normally attract a good deal of media attention. Yet H.R. 3012 continues to attract major editorial and news attention.

The bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives 389 to 15, would eliminate the per country limit for employment-based immigrants. That would especially help highly skilled individuals from India and China waiting a long time for green cards. The bill would also raise the per country limit from family-sponsored immigrants from 7 to 15 percent.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page used its powerful voice to call for Senate passage of the bill. “For businesses looking to hire advanced-degree candidates or skilled workers, the end of the cap is a good thing,” argued the editorial. “The 7% solution sought to make the American dream accessible to people from every nation. But today’s reality is that American universities are graduating a high number of foreign-born engineers, computer geeks, scientists, mathematicians and nurses that come from a narrow list of countries. The U.S. will be more prosperous by letting graduates who land jobs stay permanently.” (Find the editorial here, registration may be required.)

But the Wall Street Journal noted the legislation is not the ultimate solution to the employment-based green card problem: “The trouble is that the House bill does nothing to address the real problem: 140,000 green cards a year for advanced-degree and skilled workers is far too few. By refusing to increase the number, or to make a special category of green cards automatically available for American university graduates in science, technology, engineering and math, Congress is again delaying reform that could help the lackluster U.S. economy.”

In an editorial titled “Tinkering at Immigration’s Margins,” the Washington Post also weighed in on the bill, but not as favorably as the Wall Street Journal. “A bill passed by the House of Representatives last month would grant a few thousand more green cards annually to Indian and Chinese engineers, software designers and scientists, mostly at the expense of Korean, Filipino and Mexican engineers, software designers and scientists,” wrote the Washington Post. “Since the legislation makes no overall change in the paltry number of green cards available, hundreds of thousands of highly skilled employees already working in the United States on short-term visas will remain backlogged in the system, in many cases waiting for more than a decade to become legal, permanent residents. That’s what passes for immigration reform in Congress these days.”

Not surprisingly, the legislation has also made news in India. The Economic Times of India took a different tact from its American counterparts, focusing on the impact of current U.S. immigration law on the lives of individuals. (Find article here.) It cited the example of an Indian IT (information technology) specialist who came to the United States in 2003 on an H-1B visa. His employer filed for his green card in 2004 in the third preference and he is still waiting. “He is living in the U.S. under annual extensions of H1B, and every time he leaves the US, he has to apply for advance parole with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, so that he is not stopped from re-entering,” reports the newspaper. “Kumar doesn’t know when his application for green card will become current.”

The article notes it could take another 10 years or more. “Living in such uncertainty is tough. He had started toying with the idea of giving up the green card dream and returning to India. But that was till last week when the U.S. House of Representatives passed ‘The Fairness to High-Skilled Immigrants Act.’”

As of this writing, H.R. 3012 remains held up in the Senate by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). No one can be certain whether he intends simply to slow down the bill, force it through the committee process, or see that it never comes up for a vote.

Immigration Blog

The Prospects Look Good for Bill to Eliminate Per Country Limit

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Legislation that will have a positive direct impact on Indian nationals passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, November 29. The vote was an overwhelming 389 to 15.

HR 3012, “The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act,” would eliminate the per country limit for employment-based immigrants in a transition over a four-year period. The primary effect of the bill would be to shorten the wait times substantially for highly educated foreign nationals from India and China. The part of the Immigration and Nationality Act that limits nationals of any one country to 7 percent of the total employment-based immigrants in a year will be removed the law books. In addition, by raising the family per country limit from 7 percent to 15 percent it would also help long-waiting family-sponsored immigrants from Mexico and the Philippines.

The House Floor

Speaking in favor of the bill on the House floor, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), the chief sponsor of the bill, emphasized that the legislation provided no new green cards. He said the measure was necessary to have the law match the way employers in America hire – based on merit, not country of origin.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) also spoke in favor of the bill. He emphasized the long wait times, pointing out that some nationals from India in the employment-based third preference (EB-3) had been waiting since 2002 for green cards. In support of the bill, Rep. Smith asked: “Why should American employers who seek green cards for skilled foreign workers have to wait longer just because the workers are from India or China?”

On the Democratic side, Representatives Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Jim Moran of Virginia spoke in favor of the bill. (No one spoke against the bill.) Rep. Moran talked about the importance of skilled immigration generally to jobs and business development in Northern Virginia.

Prospects in the Senate

The passage of the bill in the House gave bill supporters new information about the chances for the legislation to move in the Senate. The New York Times reported, “The bill seemed likely to pass easily in the Senate, said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, a leading Democrat on immigration.”

Explaining the implications of the bill, The New York Times noted, “By far, the main beneficiaries will be highly skilled immigrants from India and China, including many with master’s degrees and doctorates in science and engineering. Because they come from populous countries that send many people to work here who have advanced science and technology skills, immigrants from those two nations had been forced by the country limits into lines that were many years long and growing much longer.”

An Associated Press article also quoted Senator Schumer, the chair of subcommittee that handles immigration in the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is favorably disposed toward the bill: “Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who heads the Senate Judiciary panel on immigration, said he planned to move the bill as quickly as possible in the Senate, ‘where we expect it to find overwhelming support.’ He said the legislation would ‘remove outdated constraints that prevent us from attracting the kind of innovators who can create job growth in America.’”

An analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy concluded that passing H.R. 3012 would reduce the wait for a newly sponsored foreign national from India in the employment-based third preference (EB-3) to 12 years, far less than the potential wait of several decades under current law. In the employment-based second preference (EB-2), the wait would drop to two or three years, rather than the current 6 years or more for a newly sponsored Indian-born scientist, researcher or engineer sponsored in that category.

Immigration Blog

Small House Bill on Per Country Limits Could Mean Big Changes

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Out of the more than 300 million people residing in the United States, it is likely fewer than 1 percent realize highly skilled foreign nationals endure long waits for green cards. On the other hand, those aware of the long waits likely are personally affected, either because they or a family member are the ones waiting. For those waiting the longest for green cards, on a scale of 1 to 10 the issue is an off the charts “50.”

Sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), HR 3012, “The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act,” is a small bill by any standards. In recent years, various bills to change U.S. health care or immigration policy have reached lengths of 500 to 1,000 pages. In contrast, H.R. 3012 is barely 6 pages in length. Yet since it may have a legitimate chance of becoming law, it could have a bigger impact on people’s lives than bills 100 times greater in length. (A copy of H.R. 3012 can be found here.)

What Would the Bill Do?

After a transition lasting three years, HR 3012 would eliminate the per country limit for employment-based immigrants. Under the law, employment-based immigration is limited annually to 140,000. In addition, per country caps generally limit the number of employment-based immigrants to 7 percent of the total (except if immigrant visas would otherwise go unused). Because of their large populations, India and China are most negatively affected by these limits. As a result, highly educated Indian and Chinese nationals wait longer for employment-based green cards than their peers from other countries.

Under H.R. 3012, in fiscal years 2012, 2013 and 2014, no more than 85 percent of employment-based immigrant visas could go to nationals of one country. That was designed to prevent Indian nationals, who as a group have been waiting the longest, from potentially using up all the employment-based green cards. Still, Indian and Chinese nationals will be the greatest beneficiaries of the legislation.

The legislation would also increase the per country limit for family-sponsored immigrants to 15 percent (from the current 7 percent). That will primarily benefit nationals from Mexico and the Philippines, many waiting more than a decade in the sibling and adult children categories.

Likely Impact

The bill is likely to shorten the wait times for Indians and Chinese in both the employment-based second preference (EB-2) and employment-based third preference (EB-3). A recent analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy (found here) concluded: “A key part of any solution to reducing wait times is to eliminate the per country limit for employment-based immigrants . . . Eliminating the per country limit would reduce the typical wait for Indians applying today in the EB-3 category from 70 to 12 years. While 12 years is still too long, it would be a welcome reform that would provide green cards for Indian and Chinese professionals waiting the longest in the EB-3 and EB-2 (employment second preference) categories and equalize the wait times in the EB-2 category at about two to three years without regard to country of origin (as opposed to potential waits of 6 years or more for Chinese and Indian nationals in the EB-2 category).”

The House Markup

For a bill to move forward in the legislative process it usually must be “marked up” in committee. In an October 27, 2011 House Judiciary Committee mark-up, H.R. 3012 passed by a voice vote. (That means it had sufficient support that no registered vote was deemed necessary.) Some amendments were ruled out of order and no significant amendments passed to change the core of the bill. The full transcript of the House markup can be found here.

Next Steps

The next step for the legislation is to be voted on by the entire House of Representatives. If the bill passes the House, it would then go to the US Senate. If H.R. 3012 passes the Senate, it would be the first bill to improve high-skill immigration to pass Congress in several years.

Immigration Blog

Stuck In Immigration – Immigration Issue

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Every four years usually coinciding with election season, the American people have the privilege of being subject to unintelligible histrionics on the issue of immigration by both contenders for elected office and editorialists.  Candidates from all political quarters tend to treat immigration as an electoral issue for their district rather than a national strategic issue for the country, and therefore many merely choose to master the art of being opaque without sounding evasive, not the least bit interested in developing a realistic policy framework so long as the fewest number of constituents have been alienated.

If we wish to break a cycle in which we are all freely able to talk about immigration reform with only meek expectations that anything would be done, we should first demand an honest dialogue that examines the issue not just from one communities parochial interests—because immigration becomes far too easy to demagogue, and intelligent debate inevitably gets replaced by populism that throws up various quack remedies ranging from mass deportations to a completely open border.

This type of ad hominem debate is not healthy for America or India, so let’s resist indulging in tired ‘feel-good’ clichés about immigrants being the most hard-working, talented, and loyal people in society.  Immigrants are like any other large demographic group: there are many individuals that are wonderful, and there are some that are not so.  So let’s look only at facts.

In the last twenty years, nearly 1 in 4 new public American companies were founded by immigrants, including technology conglomerates like Google, Sun, PayPal, eBay, Intel, Tesla Motors, and Yahoo.  This has translated into hundreds of thousands of high paying jobs for American citizens, that also support hundreds of thousands of more jobs at the support, administrative, and unskilled levels, and billions in both foreign direct investment in U.S. infrastructure and tax revenue to the American government.  An American economic success achieved by not being myopic and lowering impediments for those with provable human capital.

It is a vital American national security and strategic interest that both domestic and foreign human capital should have minimal barriers towards entrepreneurship.  Current regulations which link legal status towards employment with a single firm and demand obtrusively high levels of capital backing as a prerequisite for founding a company actually encourage repatriation of skilled labor with no tangible benefit to the domestic workforce.  Even in a credit constrained global economy, an EB-5 Visa requires an investment petition backed by $1 million and the initial creation of ten domestic jobs for U.S. nationals.  Most high-tech startups begin with less than $50,000 initial investment.

Well paying jobs in America for college graduates will not come in abundance from stimulus packages, protectionism, or changes in the tax code.  America could afford higher barriers towards starting companies when there were few other places in the world where honest and innovative people could prosper, but that paradigm has now eroded.  The cornerstone of American success is that creative and intelligent people can commercialize their talents, and we should not throw away our competitive edge in attracting and enabling those who can create jobs.