Sameer Baxi

Reverse Brain Drain

A key issue that is frequently overlooked in the debate over immigration is the extent to which foreign-born professionals have helped build many of the most advanced and internationally competitive industries in the U.S. economy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in science and engineering. The diverse contributions of foreign professionals were pivotal in creating the high-tech economy of the 1990s and remain indispensable in maintaining the global preeminence of the United States in a wide range of scientific and technical fields.

However, as a recent report from the National Science Board (NSB) makes clear, continued U.S. leadership in these areas is increasingly uncertain Other nations, particularly in Asia, are becoming more successful in persuading their own skilled professionals to remain or return home and in attracting other professionals from abroad. At the same time, a large portion of the science and engineering workforce in the United States is approaching retirement age. Yet the U.S. government has implemented restrictive visa policies since the terrorist attacks of 2001, which have inadvertently made it more difficult for scientists and engineers to come to the United States. As a result, policies that were intended to enhance U.S. national security are beginning to undermine the U.S. economy.

One reason the United States has achieved preeminence in the global scientific endeavor is its traditional ability to attract large numbers of scientists and engineers from around the world, who “contribute talent, scientific ingenuity, and technical sophistication” to U.S. science and technology industries.

The business community has been slow to react to restrictive visa polices and overseas entities' aggressive pursuit of top-tier workers. The talent drain could threaten US innovation.

Visa shortages have forced some foreign students who would have preferred to work in the U.S. to fall back on their second choice: accepting jobs in their home country.

If the United States closes its doors to the global scientific community on which scientific progress is based, other nations will reap the benefits and the U.S. economy will suffer in the long run.

Reference:

Todd Henneman. An Exodus That Hurts the U.S. <http://www.workforce.com/section/06/feature/24/27/20/>

Workforce Management, January 30, 2006