Losing Our Competitive Edge? The Impact of Immigration Policy on U.S. Science and Technology

Date: Friday, March 31, 2006
Time: 7:30 - 9:00 AM
Location: Salomon Hall, Maher Hall building
University of San Diego
Event Sponsors:
USD Trans-Border Institute
USD School of Law
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
San Diego World Trade Center
American Immigration Lawyers Association, San Diego Chapter
Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Law Foundation

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A panel of local and national experts in business, education and immigration examined the role of immigration laws in maintaining the U.S. competitive edge in science and technology. The discussion highlighted issues facing the business community and educational institutions in California.

Invited Panelists:

• Ben Johnson, Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Law Foundation, Washington, D.C.
• Thomas M. Barnett, Director, International Office, The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego
• Diana Vellos-Coker, Partner, Larrabee & Zimmerman LLP, San Diego
• Ginger E. Jacobs, Partner, Guerrero Jacobs & Schlesinger LLP, San Diego (Moderator)

Event Description
A key - and often overlooked -- issue in the debate over immigration is the extent to which foreign-born professionals are a critical component in our economy's most advanced, internationally competitive industries. This is especially true for the high-tech corporations, universities, and research centers here in Southern California.

Although the United States must develop more programs to increase the number of native-born students pursuing advanced degrees, the U.S. economy has long relied on foreign-born professionals to maintain its technological and scientific edge in the world. However, rising global competition for talent and endemic problems in the U.S. immigration system is causing an increasing number of foreign professionals to forego coming to the United States in favor of host countries with less cumbersome immigration systems. This phenomenon is depriving the United States of the human capital necessary to continue to compete in the global economy.

Event Summary
This forum examined aspects of the immigration system that make it difficult to attract highly skilled professionals to the United States, and presented several examples of foreign professions being deterred or prevented from coming to the United States due to hurdles in the immigration system. Finally, panelists discussed policy changes that must be made to assist employers and institutions of higher learning as they seek to recruit talented professionals in an increasingly competitive international labor market.

Immigration attorney Diana Vellos-Coker provided an excellent overview of the various types of employment-based immigrant visas, which can be used to apply for permanent residency, and non-immigrant visas, which only allow for temporary stay in the United States. The United States currently caps the number of employment-based visas at 140,00 per year, allocated evenly across countries-each country gets about 7% of the allocated visas. Some non-immigrant visas such as student visas (F1) and exchange visitor visas (J1) do not have limits. However, the popular HI-B visas, used for a variety of qualified professionals are capped at 65,000 per year, with an additional 20,000 per year for persons with advanced U.S. degrees; these visas are fully utilized. Backlogs in countries where applicants outnumber visas-such as China and India-make it extremely difficult to get professionals from those countries to the United States.

Thomas Barnett of the Scripps Research Institute described several cases where Scripps has not been able to hire or continue to employ top researchers due to backlogs in the visa system, rejected visa renewals or waivers. Panelists reported that many of the problems in processing visa applications are related to error or negligence, likely a result of insufficient resources allocated to staffing and training.

Ben Johnson of the Immigration Policy Center discussed possible policy changes. He stated that the immigration system currently works as a filter of the defense system; to maintain competitiveness, it must be used instead as a recruitment system. He emphasized the need to prioritize the North American relationship by facilitating high-skilled immigration from Mexico and Canada. All panelists mentioned the need to reevaluate visa limits and allocation.