In an excellent article this week (Lexington|Help Not Wanted), The Economist argues that the absurdly low cap on H1B visas is proving to be devastating to the U.S. economy. Allowing only 85,000 qualified immigrants to enter the country per year to start companies, practice medicine, advance science, etc. makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. As the article points out, 70 of the 300 American Nobel prize winners since 1901 are immigrants, 40% of PhDs in science and engineering are earned by immigrants, and a similar percentage of patents filed in the U.S. are done so by immigrants. Roughly 25% of the IT companies in Silicon Valley are founded by Chinese or Indian entrepreneurs, and Sun Microsystems, Google, and Intel had immigrants among their founders. The argument that these immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans possesses no merit whatsoever, as it’s estimated by Bill Gates that for every foreigner granted an H1B visa, 5 jobs are created for Americans. Most economists agree.
This ridiculous policy stands as yet another perfect example of the nonsensical drivel coming out of Washington these days. (and though the Bush Administration has undoubtedly become the worst abomination in U.S. Presidential history, I am referring here to both sides of the aisle in Congress). As the article asks in conclusion, making reference to Mike Judge’s new movie, “How do you win the global war for talent when Congress is already in the hands of the idiocracy?”