H-1B Visa and Green Card ReformJoshua GlosterUniversity of GeorgiaAbstractH-1B visas and green cards for high-skilled foreign workers have had an almost entirely positive effect on the American economy. H-1B visas, which are temporary non-immigrant visas, and green cards, which allow for permanent residence, are being issued at too low of a rate, even considering the decline in growth of the American economy. Support for removing the cap on H-1B visas and green cards will be based on analysis of current literature regarding the shortage of high-skilled labor in America, free market solutions to immigration issues, and the failure of other policies to solve the labor shortage.Due to the need for a greater number of skilled workers, and to lessen the problem of outsourcing, Congress should pass legislation to enact both H-1B visa and green card reform. Currently, corporations like Google and Microsoft must circumvent H-1B visa restrictions by outsourcing jobs overseas. Lifting the cap on H-1B visas will help end this detrimental process. Also, the green card application process should be simplified so H-1B workers who deserve green cards can obtain them. Positive effects will include an increase in the sense of acceptance among H-1B workers, an increase in their sense of civic responsibility, and incorporation of these workers intowithin the tax base. The complaints of many American workers should be taken seriously and properly addressed, but the potential benefits of H-1B visa and green card reform prove that they outweigh the costs.IntroductionAmerica is a nation driven by innovation, technological prowess, and free trade. During World War II, America imported European scientists to design the first nuclear weapons under the Manhattan Project, establishing the United States as the center of scientific research. The Silicon Valley boomed in the 1980s and 1990s due to the entrepreneurship of foreign businessmen. In fact, more than half of Silicon Valley startups over the past decade were startedby foreigners. 1 However, many of these people are forced outside of the country after graduation from American universities due to the H-1B cap, the limit on the number of H-1B visas that are granted. H-1B visas have facilitated this free exchange in the past, but recently the cap has prevented many highly-educated foreigners from entering the country, which is detrimental to the innovation that drives American economy. The cap on H-1B visas set by Congress has shifted frequently in the past. For the fiscal year (FY) of 2009, the cap on the number of H-1b visas was 65,000, but in the FY of 2001, 2002, and 2003, it was 195,000.2 Congress reduced the cap to 65,000 due to pressure from anti-immigration and pro-US computer programmers and engineers groups. They believe that by hiring foreign H-1B workers, US corporations undercut the prevailing wage of workers in industries related to science, technology, and engineering.3The lack of interest in science and engineering among native-born American is due to the high costs in time and money of graduate school.4 Additionally, the payoff of degrees in the areas of law, business, and finance has increased much more rapidly in recent years than that of degrees in science and engineering. A Masters of Business Administration (MBA) takes two years to complete, while a Juris Doctor takes three years.5 However, the average time it takes to 11 Friedman22 “H-1B Visa”33 One Hundred Ninth Congress Second Session44 North 2355 North 22earn a doctorate in the sciences is around six to seven years.6 The average Ph.D in the natural sciences has to work about two and a half decades before earning back the costs of graduate school plus the income that was given up by not working.7 The cap on H-1B visas needs to be completely eliminated, and the green card process needs to be streamlined so non-immigrants can attain permanent resident status more quickly. The three central arguments in this policy recommendation are the following: that foreigners make up a substantial number of U.S. Ph.D’s but are often forced out of the country after graduation; giving green cards to H-1B workers will help them gain more bargaining power and eliminate criticism that employers can charge them low wages; and high-skilled foreigners will be incorporated into American society and therefore into the tax base.BackgroundLabor shortageWhile they are not directly involved in the manufacturing process, mathematicians, scientists, and engineers develop many of the automobiles, prescription drugs, software, personal computers, and other electronic goods that America exports to the world. Manufacturing decreases America’s trade deficit, increasing its self-reliance. However, manufacturing in America has declined, and so have the jobs associated with it. White collar workers are now more likely to enter the worlds of finance, law, and medicine8, and often learn skill-sets useful only in the United States. For example, American-trained lawyers learn a law 66 North 2277 North 2888 North 22code that is irrelevant outside of the country. These careers are much more lucrative than careers in science, and, in the case of finance and law, require less education.9For those individuals who do wish to major in the sciences or engineering as undergraduates and do not want to go on to medical school, there is little incentive to pursue a doctorate degree. Engineers in particular have little reason to pursue a Ph.D, because a Bachelor’s of Science degree is usually enough to be considered a professional. According to a salary survey done in 1992, a chemical engineer with a bachelor’s degree will only make about $154,050 less than someone with a Ph.D over the course of a lifetime.10 This has led many Ph.D programs across the country to readily accept foreign immigrants. These foreign students are eager to learn using facilities that often do not exist in their home countries.11 They achieve much higher quantitative GRE scores than their American peers,12 and most hope to eventually become permanent residents and perhaps naturalized citizens. There is nothing wrong with reverse this phenomenon of brain drain in itself, but the additional jobs that are created outside of America every time a high-skilled worker leaves will not benefit the American economy. For any job that is created, a host of support positions are created around that job. By forcing foreign high-skilled labor back to their