Let's Keep Skilled Immigrants in the U.S.

In order to stay on top of the rapidly changing global economy, the U.S. needs to make it easier for foreign talent to stay in the country

By Vivek Wadhwa

Here's a story about an immigrant realizing the American Dream—well, almost. In 1996, Denis Kholodar won first prize in a national engineering contest in Russia and came to the U.S. to complete a PhD in aerospace engineering. His professor and adviser at Duke University, Earl Dowell, who describes Kholodar as one of the brightest students he has ever worked with, took him under his wing. Together, they pioneered new techniques in aerodynamic modeling to reduce wing flutter in jet aircraft.

After earning his PhD, Kholodar landed a fellowship with the U.S. Air Force. For eight years, he didn't leave the U.S. out of fear of not being able to re-enter—he says re-entry background checks on Russian scientists can take as long as six months. Though Kholodar wanted to remain in the U.S. and make it his home, he had to leave when his visa expired last year. His trajectory illustrates one of the problems being overlooked in the immigration debate—the U.S.is losing out on the formidable contributions of legal, skilled immigrants.

Executives of companies like Boeing (BA) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) often raise the alarm about their aging workforce and the shortage of engineers (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/10/06, "Engineering Gap? Fact and Fiction"). Yet Kholodar says both companies wouldn't interview him when he applied for a job because he wasn't a permanent resident. (Both declined to comment.) Kholodar points out that hiring a nonresident requires extensive paperwork. And the U.S. Air Force couldn't hire him because he wasn't a citizen.

Global Edge

The easiest path Kholodar saw to citizenship was to marry an American, but he couldn't bring himself to wed someone he didn't love. So he looked outside the U.S., and Canadian jet manufacturer Bombardier readily snapped him up. Professor Dowell, who just won a prize known as the Nobel of the aerospace industry from the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics for his research, says America's loss ended up being Canada's gain.

In a previous column, I wrote about research completed by my students that shows skilled immigrants give the U.S. a greater global edge (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/3/07, "Open Doors Wider for Skilled Immigrants"). They contribute to the economy, create jobs, and lead innovation. Immigrants are fueling the creation of high-tech businesses across our nation and creating a wealth of intellectual property.

Our research received extensive media coverage because it was one of the first studies to quantify the contribution of legal, skilled immigrants at the national level. Most commentators agreed that bringing in the best and brightest from all over the world is good for the U.S.

Laying Roots

Unfortunately, some commentators used our research as fodder to recommend lifting the caps on a work-visa category called the H-1B. They missed the point. Our research didn't advocate lifting the H-1B caps—it highlighted the benefits of a workforce that's entrepreneurial and well educated in math and science, common qualities in skilled immigrants who start engineering and technology companies (see BusinessWeek.com, 2/6/07, "The Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs").

What I have said repeatedly is that we want to attract the world's best and brightest and bring them to stay permanently. H-1Bs are temporary work visas with a six-year time limit and that impose many restrictions. H-1B holders can only work for their sponsoring employers—they can't start new businesses. Their spouses aren't even allowed to work or obtain Social Security numbers—which are usually needed for things like drivers licenses and bank accounts. Thus, it's pretty hard to lay deep roots.