There is a huge amount of talk these days about an amnesty for workers who are in the U.S. illegally. At the risk of causing great discontent (I guess it may be a good thing that my blog comments are broken) I think we ought to be granting amnesty to another group. I teach Information Technology at a university with a extremely high proportion of international students who are here on F-1 (student) visas. I regularly ask students who are finishing up their degrees what they intend to do when they are done. Almost universally they are going to either do one year of Optional Practical Training (OPT), a temporary employment authorization that gives them a year to work for a U.S. firm to gain practical experience in their field of study, or seek an employer who will sponsor them for an H-1B temporary work visa, an employment authorization which allows workers in technical fields to work in the U.S. for up to six years. Whenever possible, students will try to do both, which will allow them to stay here and work for seven years. The common and frequent criticism of H-1B visa holders is that they are taking jobs from U.S. information technology workers. The fact is, IT employment in the U.S. is at a record high, 3.472 million workers, while IT unemployment is at a near-record low, 2.5%. And in reality, many of the currently unemployed IT workers in the U.S. are in that situation because a) they have obsolete skill sets--cobol programmers and switched telephone network engineers, for example--or b) they did not see the handwriting on the wall to realize that while IT certifications may have gotten them a job in the past, employers expect to see a degree now. But the H-1B holders have both current skill sets and a degree.

Now here's the rub, and the crux of my argument: the vast majority of foreign students graduating from our program don't want to take the jobs of American IT workers--they want to BE American IT workers. THEY DON'T WANT TO GO HOME! They want to stay here and be good American taxpayers! So here's my proposal: if we're going to offer an amnesty to those who are here working illegally, than let's offer a one-time amnesty to anyone who is a graduate of a U.S. university and is here on an H-1B visa--but only if their employer is willing to sponsor them for permanant residency, just as they did for the H-1B to start with. What this would amount to is a one-time lifting of quotas for EB-2 and EB-3 category immigrant visas for those who meet this narrow requirement. These are people putting down roots: they went to school here and stayed here to work. They have technical skills and knowledge that helps make America more competitive in the world economy. They want to be here, and they contribute far more to our competitiveness in world markets (and our tax base) than fry cooks, maids and landscapers. Plus it makes a really catchy chant: “Amnesty for H-1B! Amnesty for H-1B!”