The Gang of 8: Making America a Magnet for Global Talent

Over the last two centuries, 77,461,387 people have immigrated to America.¹ Most were poor; some sought to escape persecution and tyranny; nearly all hoped to build a better life here. Though we have been a land of immigrants since the Pilgrims sailed the Mayflower, immigration has always been controversial in America. Every immigrant group—whether they were Irish, Chinese, German, African, or Mexican—has a story to tell of prejudice and hardship before eventually gaining acceptance.

But despite the hardships faced by new arrivals and the antipathy that many felt toward them, even the most ardent nativist must admit that immigration worked for America. It populated this vast new country, put workers in fields and factories, built the railroads and canals, filled the ranks of the world’s greatest military, and grew our economy and middle class to be the envy of the globe.

Today, Congress is poised to consider a modern comprehensive immigration bill. The main focus has been on the disposition of the 11 million who are already here in violation of entry rules. This memo focuses on another part of immigration reform­—the part that seeks to modernize the flow of future immigration into an America that no longer needs to populate a sparse nation, fill factory floors, and tend to a primarily agricultural land.    

In this memo, we argue that the bipartisan Gang of 8 bill reforms an outdated immigration system to fit America’s modern needs. The bill renews America’s commitment to welcome the world’s huddled masses but also sets new priorities for skills-based immigration, eliminates arbitrary country caps, puts the students we’ve educated to work in our economy, and establishes a sustainable path for the agricultural and guest workers on which our society depends. 

Problem 1: America doesn’t prioritize skills-based immigration.

Today, nearly two-thirds of U.S. visas go to family-based immigration, while many of our global competitors allocate the majority of their visas to those whose skills are needed in their economies. In 2011, for example, Canada awarded 63% of its visas based on employment.² And skilled workers account for two-thirds of Australia’s immigrants annually.³  Meanwhile, the U.S. currently allocates only 14% of its green cards based on employment. Why?

Under the current outdated immigration system, the two main ways foreign nationals immigrate to the United States are through family ties or employment. But the balance between these two categories disfavors employment, skills, and education. About a million green cards are awarded each year, providing their holders legal permanent residency and the right to live and work in the United States indefinitely. Of those 1,000,000, only 140,000 (14%) are currently awarded to immigrants petitioning on the basis of employment—and that number shrinks by half once we take into account their spouses and children, who claim about 70,000 of the total number of green cards available. Not only that, but we still offer the same number of employment-based green cards that we did in 1990—a lifetime ago in economic years.⁴

This means that the skilled individuals our economy desperately needs have to wait in long lines to come here—in India, skilled workers and professionals who petitioned to enter the U.S. in 2002 are only just receiving their green cards this month, almost 11 years later.⁵

Date of Application for Those Receiving Green Cards in May 2013

Source: United States Department of State

Solution: The Gang of 8 bill reforms future flow to emphasize employment skills in addition to family connections.

The Gang of 8 bill will increase the proportion of green cards allocated based on employment and economic contribution from 14% to 40% or more. Spouses and children of employment-based green card holders will be authorized to work in the country, without counting against the limits, and that alone will effectively double the number of employment-based visas available. The bill also reallocates the balance of family and employment-based visas to value the potential contributions immigrants can make to our economy. And the creation of a new merit-based allocation system for future green cards will prioritize bringing in those workers our economy needs, while still taking into account the importance of family ties. Under the new system, somewhere between 120,000 and 250,000 visas (depending on demand and market need) will be awarded according to a point system that values employment experience, employment-related education, entrepreneurship, high demand occupations, civic involvement, English language proficiency, family relationships, age, and country of origin.

Reforming future immigration to value both employment skills and family ties will finally allow the world’s best and brightest to contribute to our economy and ensure that America is competitive on the global stage for the long-term.

Problem 2: Arbitrary caps keep skilled people out of the country.

Under the current system, it is extraordinarily difficult for a skilled worker in a foreign country to come to the United States on an immigrant visa—not only are employment-based green cards capped at a mere 140,000, but 85% of them go to applicants already residing in this country who want to transition from temporary to permanent status. That means that in reality, only about 21,000 skilled workers can come to the U.S. each year—that’s only 2.1% of all the green cards awarded annually.⁶

On top of that, no country can receive more than 7% all available employment visas—regardless of its size or the number of students it educates. That means that every country is limited to 9,800 employment visas each year, regardless of their population. So while the visas available for a person from China—where the population is 1,344,130,000—would cover 0.00072% of the country’s population, a full 17% of Greenland’s people would be welcomed (population 56,744). Notably, China is home to 2,409 colleges and universities, while Greenland has only 1.⁷ This means many highly educated foreign nationals, trained at the very best universities and planning to start new businesses and grow our economy, have little to no chance of coming here because of arbitrary caps that treat all countries as if they were the same size.

Solution: The Gang of 8 bill lifts country caps and embraces immigrant entrepreneurs.

Recognizing that country caps place unnecessary obstacles in the way of high-skilled immigrants who can improve our economy, the Gang of 8 bill completely eliminates all per-country limits for employment visas. That way, we can get the best of the best, from wherever they hail. Countries will no longer be pitted against one another in a zero-sum game—and as a result, our economy wins.

The Gang of 8 bill also establishes the INVEST visa, a new path to America for foreign entrepreneurs looking to start the next big company. To apply, an immigrant has to show that he has either secured at least $100,000 in investor funding or that he already owns a U.S. business that has created at least 3 jobs and has had an annual revenue of $250,000 for the last two years. The visa is good for three years, and it can only be renewed or become permanent if the holder can show his business has created jobs, garnered substantial investment, or earned sufficient revenue.

Until we pass this bill, maintaining arbitrary caps and shutting out entrepreneurs will continue to frustrate our ability to attract the immigrants we need to compete in the global 21^st Century economy.

Problem 3: We educate the world’s talent and then make them go home to compete with us.

Our country is home to 29 of the world’s top 50 universities, which allows us to admit the best and the brightest students, especially in math, science, engineering, and technology (STEM)—the fields that will power the global economy for the next century. In 2011-2012, 764,495 international students were enrolled in U.S. universities.⁸ But every year after graduation, we force most of these students to go back home. They then create billion dollar industries that compete against ours in the global marketplace—even though our economy desperately needs their skills.

When these advanced graduates are unable to get a green card to stay here after completing their education, many turn to the temporary visa for highly-skilled immigrants—the H-1B visa. Unfortunately, the current H-1B system is insufficient to meet both immigrant supply and employer demand. With only 65,000 of these high-skilled visas available, they have run out every single year since 2004. This year, every single H-1B visa was claimed within five days—meaning that those employers who didn’t get the visas they needed will have to wait at least 360 days until next year’s batch is available before they can hire these skilled foreign workers. Even those immigrants who are lucky enough to get an H-1B visa have only 6 years in which to get a green card or leave the country, and while they’re here, their spouses and children are unable to work in the country. How can America serve as a global magnet for talent if we are so inhospitable and unwelcoming to our smartest students, the most in-demand skilled-immigrants, and their families?

Solution: The Gang of 8 bill allows the bright students we educate here to stay here and work to improve our economy.

Under the Gang of 8 bill, international students who have earned an advanced STEM degree from a U.S. university and lined up a job will be able to stay in the country and put the education we gave them to work in our economy—without any caps.  Also exempt from visa and green card caps are scientists and mathematicians with PhDs in STEM fields, immigrants with extraordinary abilities, outstanding researchers and professors, multinational managers, and doctors working in underserved communities. Additionally, the Gang of 8 bill would allow full-time students earning bachelor’s degrees or higher to apply for dual intent visas, making it easier for them to put their education to work in our country after graduation.

The Gang of 8 bill also vastly reforms the high-skilled H-1B visa program, the main path to temporary residency currently relied upon by talented international students in our schools. The bill expands the H-1B visa cap from 65,000 to a minimum of 110,000, and it allows that number to increase to 180,000 if the market demands it. Spouses and children of H-1B visas will be work-authorized, but they will not count against the H-1B visa caps, ensuring that all of those visas go to the high-skilled immigrants our economy needs, while still welcoming their families.

The Gang of 8 bill cracks down on those companies that abuse the system: increasing requirements for recruiting American workers first and offering higher wages before hiring foreign workers. It also implements fines and wage requirements for companies that are overly-reliant on these visas, and after 3 years the bill bars from eligibility those companies where a majority of their workforces consist of H-1B visa-holders.

The bill doesn’t just make sure we can import the scientists we need—it helps improve our own educational system as well so that we can better train American students in STEM fields for the future. Under the Gang of 8 bill, employers will have to pay a $500 fee when applying to hire foreign workers, and all of those fees will go into the STEM Education and Training Account. This account will be used to fund low-income STEM scholarships, grants for K-12 STEM education programs, grants for STEM education at minority-serving institutions, and STEM job training for American workers.

Thanks to the Gang of 8 bill, we will finally be able to carve out the space our system needs to retain the talent we’ve nurtured, allowing our economy to enjoy the fruits of our educational labor.

Problem 4: Our current system creates no path for many of the workers we need.

Temporary low-skilled laborers—farmworkers and non-agricultural laborers— currently enter the country under the H-2A and 2B visa programs. But these visa programs are seriously flawed: the process is overly burdensome for employers, does not offer sufficient protections to either U.S. or immigrant workers, and awards too few visas to meet our economic needs. Though there is no cap on annual farmworker visas, in 2011 only 55,000 were granted, even though our nation’s farms are home to between 2 and 2.5 million workers, more than half of whom are undocumented and living and working in a shadow economy.⁹ And non-agricultural low-skilled visas are currently capped at only 66,000 per year.¹⁰ Neither program is responsive to the overall size of the industries they serve or the needs of those employers. Our economy and food supply rely on this labor, but our current system has no sufficient path to bring in the workers we need to harvest it.

Solution: The Gang of 8 bill brings agricultural laborers and guest workers out of the shadows with new, market-sensitive visa systems.

The Gang of 8 bill creates a new visa for agricultural workers and streamlines the process for farmers and growers who depend on seasonal labor. For the first 5 years, 112,333 temporary agricultural visas will be awarded each year, and beginning the 6^th year, the Secretary of Agriculture will determine a cap annually based on unemployment rates and need. These temporary visas will be good for a renewable 3 year term, but after 6 years, agricultural workers will have to leave the country for at least 3 months. Additionally, no agricultural worker will be eligible for any sort of federal benefit or assistance. Employers will not be able to displace U.S. workers with immigrant farmworkers, and they will not be able hire any foreign labor unless they have offered employment to each eligible, able, willing, and qualified U.S. applicant. Any agricultural worker who is unemployed for more than 60 consecutive days will lose their status and have to leave the country. And visa-holders will have the same protections, wages, and working conditions as employees who are U.S. citizens.

The Gang of 8 bill also establishes a temporary guest worker visa for the low-skilled non-agricultural labor on which our economy depends. Under a carefully negotiated plan that satisfies both business and labor interests, the number of visas available will range from 20,000 the first year up to an eventual cap of 200,000, with the exact number determined by market-based formula. This calculation will be performed by the new independent Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research, which will also study and report recommendations to Congress to continually improve the employment visa programs.

Under the guest worker program, spouses and minor children will also be work-authorized to ensure that these families are able to support themselves and contribute to the economy. And guest worker visa-holders will be able to change jobs while they are in the country, recognizing the need for flexibility and fluidity in the low-skilled workforce.

Finally, the Gang of 8 bill will create the path to legality needed for many of the currently undocumented low-skilled workers who power our society. While our economy is largely skills-based and knowledge-oriented, no country can sustain itself without low-skilled labor. The Gang of 8 bill acknowledges this fact by cementing a solid and functional structure for both employers and laborers upon which our economy can grow.  

Conclusion

The Gang of 8 immigration bill will play a vital role in spurring America’s economic growth, ensuring we can attract and maintain the global talent needed to spark innovation and increase our international competitiveness. This bill is our only chance to pass immigration reform this year—and if we fail to do so, the problems outlined above will only be exacerbated in the years to come. Comprehensive immigration reform may be a heavy lift, but the only other option is to continue to turn away the talent we need, shut out entrepreneurial innovators, compete against the students we’ve educated, and deny a path for the low-skilled workers we rely on—and that’s not a viable option if we want to maximize future economic growth.