Last week, in response to Adam Ozimek’s call for more blogging about high-skilled immigration (HSI), I gave you a summary of Kauffman Foundation research on the topic. This week for Practically Friday we look at research, legislation, and resources by others in the same space that we find interesting: supporting the idea of an urgent need for immigration policy reform regarding HSI.
There’s a ton out there, so dig in:
Legislation/Policy
(Bill summaries from the American Immigration Lawyers Association unless otherwise noted)
(See also: http://www.immigrationresearch-info.org/research)
There’s a ton out there, so dig in:
Legislation/Policy
(Bill summaries from the American Immigration Lawyers Association unless otherwise noted)
- Department of Homeland Security Reforms January 31, 2012 and August 12, 2011 (one year and six month anniversaries of Startup America) to “attract and retain highly skilled immigrants.”
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Entrepreneurs in Residence program to “utilize industry expertise to strengthen USCIS policies and practices surrounding immigrant investors, entrepreneurs and workers with specialized skills, knowledge, or abilities.”
- BRAINS Act (S. 3553) - Introduced by Sen. Schumer (D-NY) on 9/19/12 - Provides for immigrants visas for certain advanced STEM graduates, student visa reform, age-out protections for children, retention of priority dates, and family reunifications for high-skilled workers.
- Attracting the Best and Brightest Act of 2012 (H.R. 6412) - Introduced by Rep. Lofgren (D-CA) on 9/14/12 - Provides up to 50,000 visas available to immigrations who 1) possess a graduate degree in STEM fields from qualifying U.S. research institution; 2) have an employment offer from a U.S. employer in field related to degree; 3) are the subject of an approved labor certification; 4) will receive a wage that is at least the actual wage paid by employer to all other individuals with similar experience/qualifications. Makes unused STEM visas available for other employment-based visa categories.
- American Investment and Job Creation Act of 2012 (H.R. 6210) - Introduced by Rep. Conyers (D-MI) on 7/26/12 - Provides an employment-based immigrant visa for an alien entrepreneur who has engaged in a new commercial enterprise that has 1) within the four years prior to the filing of a petition, created full-time employment for at least five U.S. workers, or in the case of a Distressed Area Development Zone, for at least three U.S. workers; and 2) received enough investment or revenue during this period to support employment creation requirements.
- Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 3012) - Passed by the House on 11/29/11, released from hold by the Senate on 7/11/12 with additional H1-B enforcement provisions - Introduced by Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT) on 9/22/11 - Eliminates the employment-based per-country cap entirely by fiscal year 2015 and raises the family-sponsored per-country cap from 7% to 15%.
- SMART Jobs Act (S. 3192) - Introduced by Senators Alexander (R-TN) and Coons (D-DE) on 5/16/12 - Would establish an F-4 nonimmigrant visa for students pursuing an advanced degree in mathematics, engineering technology, or the physical sciences in the United States. It would also authorize those students, after obtaining employment related to their field of study, to become permanent residents.
- The STAR Act (S. 3185) - Introduced by Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) on 5/15/12 - Would allocate 55,000 immigrant visas for eligible STEM graduates of qualifying U.S. research institutions who have job offers in related fields. The visas will be offset by the elimination of the diversity visa program.
- STAPLE Act (H.R. 399) - Introduced by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) on 1/24/11 - To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize certain aliens who have earned a Ph.D. degree from a United States institution of higher education in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to be admitted for permanent residence and to be exempted from the numerical limitations on H-1B nonimmigrants. (from govtrack.us)
- STEM Jobs Act (H.R. 6429)* - Introduced by Rep. Smith (R-TX) on 9/18/12 - Voted on in the House on 9/20/12 and failed by a vote of 257 to 158 - Creates new visa categories for foreign PhD and masters graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and eliminates the diversity immigrant program.
- Startup Act 2.0 (H.R. 5893 and S. 3217) - House: Introduced by Rep. Grimm (R-NY) on 6/5/12 - Senate: Introduced by Sen. Moran (R-KS) on 5/22/12 - Partially-based on a Kauffman Foundation research report entitled “The Startup Act” - see Part 1 for more details.
*Bill Failed
(See also: http://www.immigrationresearch-info.org/research)
- Investing in the Human Capital of Immigrants, Strengthening Regional Economies by Audrey Singer - Brookings Institution - September 20, 2012
- The Search for Skills: Demand for H-1B Immigrant Workers in U.S. Metropolitan Areas by Neil G. Ruiz, Jill H. Wilson, and Shyamali Choudhury - Brookings Institution - July 18, 2012
- Patent Pending: How Immigrants Are Reinventing the American Economy - Partnership for a New American Economy - June 2012
- Immigrant Small Business Owners: A Significant and Growing Part of the Economy by David Dyssegaard Kallick - Fiscal Policy Institute - June 2012
- Immigrant Contributions to Entrepreneurship and Innovation by Mario Kranjac - 4% Growth Project, George W. Bush Institute - Summer 2012
- Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital by Robert W. Fairlie - U.S. Small Business Administration - May 2012
- The U.S. Immigration System: Potential Benefits of Reform by Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney - The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution - May 2012
- Immigration and American Jobs by Madeline Zavodn - American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and Partnership for a New American Economy - December 2011
- The “New American” Fortune 500 - Partnership for a New American Economy - June 2011
- Which Immigrants Are Most Innovative and Entrepreneurial? Distinctions by Entry Visa by Jennifer Hunt - NBER - April 2009
- How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation? by Jennifer Hunt and Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle - NBER - September 2008
- Brain Circulation: How High-Skill Immigration Makes Everyone Better Off by AnnaLee Saxenian - The Brookings Institution - Winter 2002
- A Global View of High-Skilled Laborers by Neil G. Ruiz, Senior Policy Analyst and Associate Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program, July 6, 2012:
- Foreigners Welcome? The Economics of High-Skilled Immigration by Dr. Antony Davies, Associate Professor of Economics, Duquesne University - Presentation at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Marcy 31, 2009:
- Beside the Golden Door: U.S. Immigration Reform in a New Era of Globalization by Pia Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny
- Brain Gain: Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy by Darrell M. West
- Ethnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies by Roger Waldinger, Howard Aldrich, and Robin Ward
- Immigrant, Inc.: Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy (and how they will save the American worker) by Richard Herman and Robert L. Smith
- Transnational and Immigrant Entrepreneurship in a Globalized World edited by Benson Honig, Israel Drori, and Barbara Carmichael
Blogs
- Brookings Immigration by the Brookings Institution
- 4% Growth Project by the George W. Bush Institute
- Immigration Blog by the Center for Immigration Studies
- ImmigrationProf Blog by Kevin R. Johnson, Bill O. Hing, and Rose Cuison Villazor
- Noahpinion by Noah Smith
- Open Borders by Bryan Caplan
- Bloggers and Economists are Failing on Immigration by Adam Ozimek - Forbes - October 7, 2012
- Immigrants Needed by Adam Ozimek - Forbes - October 4, 2012
- Immigration: The Forgotten Issue by Matthew Yglesias - Slate.com - Moneybox - October 4, 2012
- The Secret to U.S. Growth in the 21st Century: More Asians by Noah Smith - The Atlantic -October 2, 2012
- Washington's New Twist on Human Sacrifice by L. Gordon Crovitz - Wall Street Journal -September 30, 2012
- Fixing the capitalist machine: Some sensible ideas for reviving America’s entrepreneurial spirit - The Economist (Schumpeter) - September 29, 2012
- The U.S. Needs More Immigrants to Grow the Economy and Create Jobs by Matthew Denhart - Huffington Post - September 26, 2012
- Should high-skilled immigrants get special treatment? by David Grant - Christian Science Monitor - September 16, 2012
- Incubating Ideas in the U.S., Hatching Them Elsewhere by Alexandra Starr - Wall Street Journal - September 11, 2012
- If You Want More Jobs, You Should Want More Immigrants by Steve Case - The Atlantic - September 11, 2012
- America’s Irrational Immigration Fear by Vivek Wadhwa - The Washington Post - July 30, 2012
- Answers to Your Questions on Skilled Immigration by Catherine Rampell - Economix, New York Times - July 25, 2012
- Is America falling behind in the skilled worker race? by Neil Ruiz and Shyamali Choudhury - CNN - July 19, 2012
- America’s other immigration problem: Report outlines contributions from highly-skilled immigrants by Emi Kolawole - Ideas @ Innovations, The Washington Post - June 26, 2012
- H1-B Visa Quotas Greatly Restrain Small Business Expansion by David Bier - Forbes - June 17, 2012
- Give Us Your Geniuses: Why Seeking Smart Immigrants is a No-Brainer by Adam Ozimek and Noah Smith - The Atlantic - June 2012
- Why does the government halt skilled immigration? by Alex Nowrasteh - The Hill’s Congress Blog - June 22, 2012
- Positive New Steps to Reform High-Skilled Immigration by Alex Nowrasteh - Forbes - June 3, 2012
- Immigration Reform Is Key to Job Creation by David Park - Economic Intelligence, USA Today - March 23, 2012
- The Hub Nation - The Economist - April 22, 2010
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