August, 2004 (Volume 3, Issue 3)
by Rob Paral & Benjamin Johnson
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Below is the executive summary of this publication.
The complete report is also available in pdf.
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Executive Summary
Foreign-born scientists and engineers (S&Es) have long played a prominent role in U.S. technological and scientific advancement and are a critical part of the science and engineering (S&E) labor force in corporations, universities, and research centers nationwide. However, long-standing structural flaws in the U.S. visa system and the unintended consequences of security procedures instituted since September 11, 2001, may be causing an increasing number of S&Es to forgo coming to the United States, thereby depriving the nation of a critical supply of human talent. Yet attracting this talent is a key factor in maintaining the nation’s economic competitiveness and preeminence in science.
Among the findings in this report:
- The foreign-born comprised 11.1 percent of the U.S. population as a whole in 2000, but accounted for 16.6 percent of all S&Es in the United States.
- Foreign-born S&Es represented 38 percent of all S&Es in the United States with a doctorate and 29 percent of those with a master’s degree in 2000. The foreign-born share of all doctorate holders amounted to 51 percent among engineers and 45 percent among life scientists, physical scientists, and mathematical and computer scientists.
- The foreign-born accounted for 42.2 percent of all physical scientists and 38.6 percent of all life scientists in educational & health services in 2000, as well as 26.2 percent of all physical scientists in manufacturing.
- About 33.1 percent of all foreign-born S&Es in the United States in 2000 were from India or China, two of the countries most affected by post-9/11 visa policies.
- The number of non-immigrant visas issued by the State Department (which are the primary means by which foreign-born S&Es enter the United States) fell by 35.7 percent from FY 2001 to FY 2002, including declines of 33.7 percent in H-1B visas for highly skilled professionals and 26.5 percent in F-1 student visas.
- Lengthy delays in processing are widespread and significant. According to the Government Accountability Office, in 2003 it took an average of 67 days for foreign consulates to receive a response from federal agencies on requests for security checks on visa applicants whose work involved access to technologies designated as “sensitive” to U.S. national security.
- Lengthy processing delays often have nothing to do with the amount of time it takes to actually perform a security check on the applicant. Rather, cases get “stuck” or lost at one or more of the many agencies involved in the process, all of which have different databases and computer systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The IPC would like to thank Robert D. Aronson, Paula Collins, Courtney Klein-Faust, Margaret McCormick, Laura Reiff, Mark Regets, and Theodore Ruthizer for lending their expertise to this report.
Copyright 2004 by the American Immigration Law Foundation.
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