Why America needs to open its doors wide to foreign talent CRAIG BARRETT
Financial Times (London); Jan 31, 2006; CRAIG BARRETT; p. 19
(Copyright Financial Times Ltd. 2006. All rights reserved.)
America is experiencing a profound immigration crisis but it is not about the 11m illegal immigrants currently exciting the press and politicians in Washington. The real crisis is that the US is closing its doors to immigrants with degrees in science, maths and engineering - the "best and brightest" from around the world who flock to the country for its educational and employment opportunities. These foreign-born knowledge workers are critically important to maintaining America's technological competitiveness.
...
But we all realised that even an effective national effort in this area would not produce results quickly enough. That is why deciding to compete also means opening doors wider to foreigners with the kind of technical knowledge our businesses need. At a minimum the US should vastly increase the number of permanent visas for highly educated foreigners, streamline the process for those already working here and allow foreign students in the hard sciences and engineering to move directly to permanent resident status. Any country that wants to remain competitive has to start competing for the best minds in the world. Without that we may be unable to maintain economic leadership in the 21st century.
