Stephen Moore: U.S. Needs More Brainiac Immigrants, So Let's Boost H1B Visas

Of all America's immigrant visa programs, arguably the most successful for the U.S. economy has been the H1B program. This program admits highly skilled foreigners who fill vital employment niches to make our made-in-America businesses more successful in international markets. Larry Kudlow, the director of President Donald Trump's National Economic Council, calls these immigrants the "brainiacs."In many ways, he is right. America's high-tech companies use tens of thousands of these visas each year. The workers come for usually about six years; those who are successful here apply for permanent residence when the visa expires.The firms that use these visas must affirm that they were not able to find comparably skilled American workers to do the jobs. There is little evidence that these foreign workers displace Americans from their jobs. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has testified that every H1B immigrant his firm recruits, translates into about five additional American workers being hired. If we want research labs, advanced manufacturing and scientific advances to happen here, we must have access to the world's best workers.The problem is there is a severe shortage of these visas. In 2018 there were only about 65,000 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) immigrants admitted under this visa category. Employers have requested about 200,000, according to Forbes. This mismatch between demand and supply is restraining America's growth spree.  Continue reading...