Issues: Immigration
USINPAC BELIEVES THAT:
- The 2.7 million-strong Indian American community has served as the single-most important catalyst to the American economic miracle and tax payer base expansion in the last decade.
- This has made the U.S. economy highly competitive in the world against other economies in the industrialized world.
- In order to continue to compete in a global economy the United States must not fail in framing a pragmatic and fair policy towards legal immigration. This requires a careful balancing of national and homeland security interests in a post-9/11 world against the need to continue America’s economic leadership in the world.
USINPAC BELIEVES THAT A PRAGMATIC AND FAIR POLICY TOWARDS LEGAL IMMIGRATION MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING COMPONENTS:
- No law should be passed that poses undue burden on small businesses, which is the largest source of job creation and innovation in this country.
- Family-based immigration should be encouraged and made easier since this is a significant incentive for talented immigrants to seek the United States as a destination for work and study over other industrialized nations who are competing for their talents.
- The government should expeditiously implement methods that ensure against fraud or abuse in the legal immigration application process, including the H-1B and student visa programs. The government should also toughen enforcement action and penalties against employers and employees who break the law.
- Students from India make up the majority of foreign students in graduate and post-graduate programs in universities nationwide, particularly in the sciences, and are contributing to research and innovation that earn American patents. Immigrants from India who came to the United States for graduate study now comprise of significant percentage of Silicon Valley start-ups. They have also contributed to American exports to India and other countries. Students from India who obtain advanced degrees from U.S. universities should be exempted from the H-1B visa cap.
- Immigrants from India who came to the United States on the H-1B visa have similarly contributed to research and innovation and also make up a good percentage of the high tech start-ups contributing to American exports to India. The average income of H-1B visa holders is over $60,000; they have thus contributed to the tax payer and consumer base at the highest levels in this country. The H-1B visa program should be expanded as follows:
- The cap on H-1B visas should be eliminated. Currently, U.S. employers must undergo a lengthy and costly application process to demonstrate to the U.S. government that they have unmet demand for employees with critical skills that cannot be met by local or national talent searches. This visa program that has contributed so much to the tech-driven economies nationwide should further enable prospective U.S. employers should determine the numbers, skill requirements of foreign workers rather than arbitrary judgment and second-guessing by the Immigration and Naturalization Services.
- Since it is important for American employers who invest heavily in training and research and development to continue to retain their best and brightest. Expediting the green card application process for H-1B visa holders, their spouses and minor children.
