Broad STEM Grad Green Card Exemptions Would Distort Labor Market

Broad-based exemptions would result in foreign STEM grads who substitute rather than complement American workers

Reader Comments
Back to argument

There is no doubt that only a small fraction of students get PhD degrees. Phd is extremely difficult and time consuming process. Most institutions spend over $80000 a year per year of phd studies (includes tution stipend equipment so forth). At the end of a typical STEM phd (5-6 years) spending close to half a million dollars, what is the sense in sending those students back to their native countries. Their native countries and US global competitors get a free ride. STEM phds fuel research and create technology that create jobs and new markets. They educate americans, they pay taxes and allow the country to be the leader in technology, clearly the 21st century will belong to those who lead in technology. Viewing Phds as a funding source for college programs is ill-placed logic, view it from economic perspective. Here is a startling truth, since 2011 there has been a dramatic shift in hosting of computer science conferences, nearly half of them occur in China ! The chinese know that research and innovation is the only true and tested way of getting ahead, because some day some other country will offer a cheaper labor market.

Currently a phd grad has to work his/her way through myriad of temporary visas, most of these temp visas (h1b) is hogged by outsourcing companies or consultants, and get over within a matter of a month. In the green card process they again compete for quotas. The truth is employment based immigration should be the highest priority and burdening the brightest and smartest and the ones most likely to turn around the economy is a bad decision that will hurt US long term interest. We can already see that effect, case in point already china has some of the worlds top supercomputers, a technology once dominated by the US. Phds should be welcomed in this country and invited to stay, but instead we are asking them to labor through many years of uncertainty and pain. In a global economy with more choices now for these select few individuals, we can ill afford to drive them away !

mm of CA 7:12PM November 28, 2012

It's not about PhD guys staying here or not. Eventually they will get the GC if they decide to stay. But, when they are just out of their PhD and has fresh ideas, should the immigration laws stop them from being entrepreneur and create jobs. In the current set up they has to face hurdles to create their own company and work for it. So, lot of them choose to work for stable companies to secure their career instead of trying out their own ideas which could lead to more job creation.

sm of CA 9:16AM October 02, 2012

I totally disagree. Sorry, foreign students are not taking those jobs away. US Citizens usually do not apply for those jobs, either they are not educated enough or those jobs are too hard. Do you know what an H1B (Alien working visa) means? During the H1B application process, the alien has to approve he or she is the best candidate in the US for this job. This has proofed that UC citizens cant do such a job. Foreign students are willing to work hard on their education. Sorry, US Citizens are really lazy! I know I am offending a lot of people here. I am just saying the damn truth. I am a school science teacher, the most diligent students are always immigrants or kids from an immigrant family. It is obviously not the eduction. US Citizens are abusing your own privileges in the education system.

sp of CO 3:31AM September 20, 2012

American public have clearly voted here that they want to retain the smart highly educated immigrants.

John Pazoski of AL 11:54PM June 17, 2012

And here's another thing for everyone to think about.

Whenever anyone talks about H1-B visas they always bring up that IT is swelling with American workers who can't find jobs.

Well folks, high tech is not just IT, not even close. What about biotech where 3/4 of all PhD students in the USA are foreign? What about PhDs in Petroleum engineering? Chemical Engineering? Pharma R&D?

To say those fields have few professionals is a severe understament. Talk with anybody from Chevron/Exxon and ask them how easy it is to get a PhD in Drilling Simulations or ask Pifzer how they are doing in hiring Protein separation specialists (who are all PhDs).

High tech is not just IT. That area might be adequately staffed but the same cannot be said of most other science fields.

MG of MD 10:51AM June 15, 2012

"Most foreign students graduating with a Ph.D. already have a variety of immigration channels to stay permanently."

The writer of this article is severely misinformed. If you are a foreign student and graduate with a PhD, it will take no less than 5-6 years until you get a Green card after graduating and that is if your employer decides to sponsor you and stick with you for 6 years. And if you do get fired you either leave the country or have very limited time to find another job. Even if you do find another job, you GC process starts from scratch i.e. another 6 years.

That means means that you will be in H1-B visa for all that time and you will not get a mortgage loan (at least not easily even if your credit scrore is 750 or more), your wife cannot work. If your kids are not born in the USA they will pay out of country tuition for everything. If your wife wants to go to school and study she willl pay the absurd out of country tuition (despite the fact you as a PhD are working and PAYING TAXES).

I personally know 3 PhD professionals who recently moved to Canada because of these conditions. They were given permanent residency on the spot. 1 of them even had a $97,000 job offer from an American company. When they heard he was going to Canada they bumped to $110,000, but when he inquired if they could provide his wife with a working visa, of course the answer was no. Well, the Canadian government did and he is there now.

Fellow foreign PhD students, I urge you: do not come into the US, it is not the pink picture you think it is. After you graduate you will deal with A LOT of instability and you will be the only one supporting your family for many, many years.

Instead go to Canada, the immigration process is much more streamlined. Australia is another great option, Singapore, Japan, etc are all better options.

MG of MD 10:42AM June 15, 2012

Master's degree with fixed period of work experience like (5 years) will be a good criteria to have green cards. This way it won't be a easy shortcut.. and candidate will have to prove the worth with his working ability and contribution to the US economy before he can get his/her green card.

vijay of TX 1:11PM June 04, 2012

I am a PhD in Electrical Engineering, now with F2 visa. I am not allowed to work in the US. Two of my friends with PhD had to go back their country because they did not get jobs before their F1 visa ended. So It is great if a PhD is automatically granted a working visa status.

David Ng of CO 12:37AM June 02, 2012

These votes are completely hacked and skewed by the pro-immigration side. See the associated comment in Daniel Stein's argument (Argument #1 in this series). It even shows you how to vote multiple times. What a joke. The left has to skew data to make it look like Americans aren't about to revolt over our country's give-away citizenship/tax dollars bonanzas.

Melanie Ward of CA 6:52PM May 29, 2012

@PhD on J-1 visa

What is the dual intent of the H-1b? There is no intent of naturalization of which I am aware. It is a temporary work visa. It has been turned into an avenue for naturalization with allowances for extension while a GC is in play, but where was it defined as such beyond the hopes of some recipients?

John80224 of CO 6:04PM May 29, 2012

1 2 >