For the first time, the United States faces the prospect of a reverse brain drain. So far, the U.S. had the benefit of attracting the world’s best talent. They typically came here because of the freedom and economic potential that America offers.
Interestingly, according to an earlier study, 31% of the engineering and technology companies formed between 1995 and 2005 had an immigrant as a key founder. And more than half of the foreign-born founders of U.S. technology and engineering businesses initially came to the U.S. to study.
As a matter of fact, a recent survey carried out by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Harvard University, New York University and Duke University points out that foreign-nationals contributed to 25.6% of all U.S. international patent applications in 2006 substantiating the fact that inflow of talent from the world to the U.S. is worth billions of dollars.
However, the threat of reverse brain drain is hanging over its head due to the flaws in the immigration policies. The waiting period for getting a visa and its extension and unavailability of permanent visas (green cards) are the reasons why these skilled labors are returning to their home countries.
Since the focus of the immigration policy has been on the unskilled workers who enter the country illegally, we tend to ignore the plight of the skilled workers who will not wait five years to reform the immigration system. In fact, under the federal law, a temporary skilled employee working in the U.S. has to operate under several restrictions—not being promoted and the high degree of difficulty in shifting jobs being a few of them.
“I had previously heard numbers in the 200-300 range and thought these numbers were very high. I doubt that political leaders in the U.S. are aware that there are so many skilled workers waiting in line - and that we may lose many of these”, says Vivek Wadhwa, Executive-in-Residence, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University.
Does that mean that the whole debate around immigration of skilled workers and visa misuse is phony? We will have to wait and watch.
