By William T. Archey

August 17, 2005

In the swirling debate over immigration, one of its most essential components is often overlooked in Washington, D.C., despite being of critical importance to Silicon Valley and other high-tech regions.

For all the editorials that argue for or against granting amnesty to low-wage workers, very few address the issue of high-wage, high-skilled immigration. For all the television pundits who link illegal immigration to national security, none discusses the implications to our economic security of keeping the best and brightest minds on the planet out of the United States.

Since Sept. 11, the United States has understandably increased the barriers for foreign nationals to enter and remain in this country. But the unfortunate and largely unintended side effect of these barriers is that many of the people being kept out are talented individuals who would have come here to study, work, conduct research, start companies, and create wealth and American jobs.

Many who are here face bureaucratic barriers in renewing their visas and are returning to their home countries. And many of the ones in the pipeline are no longer even considering the United States.

If this had happened 20 years ago, the United States would have suffered, but the individual would have lost even more. Going back to or staying in China, India or Eastern Europe at that time meant living in a country where your skills and creativity would wither on the vine.

But today, in a world that has become increasingly flat, as Thomas Friedman puts it, the only loser in this equation is the United States. With the global spread of free markets and virtually free telecommunications, a bright individual can choose any number of countries in which to earn a degree, found a company or apply for a patent. Losing them means we lose their contributions to our economic vitality and national security.

America's dirty little secret is that it has rarely produced enough American-born workers with the requisite science and engineering background to support its knowledge economy. Foreign-born talent has been our workforce safety valve for as long as this country has existed, and particularly over the past 60 years. Given the paucity of American youth currently pursuing science and engineering careers, the problem is becoming even more acute.

One of every five U.S. scientists and engineers is foreign-born. Over half of all doctoral engineering and math degrees awarded in the United States go to foreign nationals whose financial support helps make these programs economically viable. Yet for two consecutive years, foreign applications to American graduate engineering programs have declined, by 36 percent in 2004 and an additional 7 percent in 2005, according to the Council of Graduate Schools.

They can't get the visas. They get the feeling they aren't wanted here anymore. And frankly, they have plenty of alternatives in Europe, Canada, Australia or their home countries. Even historically xenophobic Japan has loosened the rules to allow in more high-skilled foreign nationals.

The United States has taken a step in the opposite direction, and the cumulative effect of visa restrictions against the world's most highly skilled talent is taking its toll. H-1B visas are reserved for high-skilled workers entering the United States on a temporary basis. They are subject to a congressionally mandated cap. On Aug. 12, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the cap had already been reached for fiscal year 2006. This means that no new visas will be made available until October 2006.

When the cap is hit, and companies cannot find the specialized skills they need from American workers, the only viable alternative is to move to where the workers are, to relocate operations abroad. We can accuse these companies of being greedy and treacherous, or we can support public policy that encourages the best and brightest to come to us instead of forcing us to go to them.

America prides itself on being a nation of immigrants, and rightly so. Over our entire history, and especially in the last 60 years, the United States has benefited from an influx of the brightest minds on the planet. We cannot afford to restrict access to such talented people at precisely the time when they have tremendous opportunities elsewhere.

So let's resolve the issue of low-skilled immigration and move on with equal urgency to the separate issue of high-skilled immigration, the source of so much of our technological pre-eminence and economic prosperity.