U.S. Policy Impedes Innovators

Abstract

In their Policy Forum “Doctoral students and U.S. immigration policy” (1 November 2013, p. [562][1]), K. E. Maskus et al. point to the potential economic benefits of expanding opportunities for the brightest international graduate students to remain in this country after graduation. However, the present immigration system creates unnecessary barriers that prevent many international students from obtaining green cards (permanent residency), thus limiting their postgraduation contributions to innovation and job creation in the United States. International graduate students, typically on F-1 visas, are not permitted to declare dual intent (the intent to study and immigrate), and the opportunities for obtaining a green card after graduation are limited regardless of career path. Graduates who pursue postdoctoral positions in academia are often on exchange visitor J-1 visas that grant, by definition, temporary and nonimmigrant status. In the industry, H-1B visas can lead to employer-sponsored green cards, but the number of available visas is drastically short of demand, as is the number of available employment-based green cards for people born in certain backlogged countries such as India and China. Moreover, despite the critical role of innovation and job creation in growing our nation's economy, graduates who start companies—whose products may spring from work accomplished at American universities—face the tallest hurdles. Legally, international graduate student entrepreneurs are often not allowed to found their companies under their own names and, instead, must be sponsored to work for a company owned by another party. An alternative pathway for entrepreneurs is a foreign investor EB-5 visa, but the personal investment of up to $1 million required from applicants places this option out of reach for most recent graduates. Meanwhile, other countries have created programs to capitalize on entrepreneurs who were trained in the United States but cannot find a way to stay ([ 1 ][2]). From a practical standpoint, these restrictions dissuade future innovators from pursuing careers in this country and thereby encourage the development of new technologies elsewhere in the world. Some straightforward reforms that would improve the situation include: (i) authorizing dual intent for student visa holders, (ii) increasing the number of H-1B visas available to recent graduates and increasing the number of green cards awarded to highly educated immigrants in STEM fields, and (iii) creating a new immigration pathway to encourage entrepreneurship. 1. [↵][3] “Where creators are welcome,” The Economist (9 June 2012); [www.economist.com/node/21556636][4]. 2. The authors are writing on behalf of the Legislative Action Subcommittee of the Graduate Student Council at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1239572 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [4]: http://www.economist.com/node/21556636