Immigration

Federal inaction on immigration reform is undermining America’s economic and national security interests by stifling innovation, stunting job growth, and exacerbating ongoing skills gaps in our nation’s critical industries. Additional funding for critical industries and emerging technologies is not enough: in order for the United States to successfully compete in the 21st Century global economy and regain our leadership in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, Congress and the Administration must work together to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the 118th Congress, including the following proposals that will help America win the next era of innovation:

Providing Much-Needed Certainty for Young Immigrants

A pathway to citizenship for all Dreamers, including the nearly 700,000 individuals covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, as well as the 400,000 DACA-eligible Dreamers denied protections due to ongoing litigation.
Protections from aging out for “documented Dreamers,” the children of parents who live in the U.S. with legal status.

Optimizing Existing Immigration Programs

Streamlining of high-skilled immigration processes to ensure the utilization of all available green cards each fiscal year.
Modernization of employment-based immigration programs to be responsive to America’s economic and national security needs.
Ensuring that family visa determinations are considered in conjunction with employment-based visa determinations to allow families to stay together while ensuring that spouses and children are not counted against the cap on high-skilled immigration.
Elimination of outdated per-country caps that do not track to America’s strategic needs.
Recapture of unused employment-based visas that have been unallocated due to flaws in our high-skilled immigration system.
Provisions to ensure that program fees for H-1B visa applicants are used effectively, match the supply of H-1B visas to demand, and reduce the backlog of employment-based green cards.

Attracting Critically-Needed Talent in Emerging Technologies to Our Shores

Exemptions from green card caps for advanced STEM degree holders in emerging technology fields.
Creation of a startup visa to encourage entrepreneurs from around the world to grow companies and jobs in the United States.
Increased flexibility for the movement of high-skilled workers and entrepreneurs starting a new company or expanding a company’s footprint in the United States.
Updates to the methodology for prevailing wage determinations to reflect employers’ compensation structures, including, but not limited to, stock-based compensation.
Expansion of the OPT and STEM OPT programs to allow foreign students to continue their training in the United States.
Allowance for dual intent visa applications by foreign students seeking to study in the United States.
Efforts by federal, state, and local governments to ensure the U.S. continues its proud tradition of welcoming refugees in our communities, including, sharing data with employers on where refugees are settling, and the type of skills individuals possess.
Enhanced vetting and information gathering on particular individuals spending time in certain countries to address Intellectual Property (IP) theft to critical domestic industries.
Increased transparency around the retrogression of visa numbers, particularly for individuals with current priority dates.
Updating the H-1B lottery system to ensure the process is not used to game the system through misuse and fraud. Lottery selections should be based on beneficiaries that applied, not the number of registrations.

In December 2021, TechNet released a report, “Closing the Skills Gap: The Data Behind Talent Shortages, High-Skilled Immigration, and Economic Impact,” that examined the severity of the skills gap that exists in America today, how it impacts our economy, and why increasing high-skilled immigration will help fill talent shortages in communities across the country. If left unaddressed by Congress, the current talent shortage will result in more than 9 million job vacancies and $1.2 trillion in lost production over the next decade.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REPORT

CLICK HERE TO READ A ONE PAGE SUMMARY OF THE REPORT

The report also analyzed state-by-state data, the importance of immigrant entrepreneurs, and the jobs generated for American workers by skilled immigration.

Closing the Skills Gap: The Data Behind Talent Shortages, High-Skilled Immigration, and Economic Impact – State-By-State Profiles