The appointment of Indian origin Sriram Krishnan as senior policy adviser on Artificial Intelligence in the Donald Trump administration has reignited the political debate over skilled immigration in the United States.
- Krishnan has previously advocated for the removal of country caps on green cards for skilled immigrants and is a supporter of Merit based immigration reforms.
About Immigration
- Definition: Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents
- Immigration statistics of USA: In 2022, 2.6 million people legally immigrated to the United States making the country the home to one-fifth of the world’s international migrants.
- Source: Mexico alone roughly contributes 23% of all U.S. immigrants followed by India (6%), China (5%), the Philippines (4%) and El Salvador (3%).
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Legal Immigration System in USA: USA has two main visa categories,
- Permanent Visas or Immigrant Visas: Immigrants seeking permanent residence in the United States apply for a Green Card, the informal term for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status
- Categories: 58% of them were admitted on the basis of family reunification followed by employment-based preferences (27 percent), refugees (3 percent), diversity (4 percent), and asylees (5 percent)
- They can apply for U.S. citizenship after five years, or three years if they marry a U.S. citizen.
- Temporary/ Nonimmigrant visas: The United States admits workers, foreign students, and exchange visitors annually for temporary residence through a broad swath of visa categories, assigned letters of the alphabet from A through V.
The H-1B Visa
- It is for “specialty occupations” that require “a high level of skill” and at least a bachelor’s degree for a maximum of 6 years or longer if they are in line for a green card. It is presently capped at 65,000 H-1B visas per year
- As per the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Indians accounted for 72.3% (2.79 lakh of a total of 3.86 lakh) H-1B visa holders in 2023.
Green Card
- A green card is a document issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that shows a person’s permanent residency in the United States.
- It includes the holder’s biographic information, photo, fingerprint, and expiration date
- Benefits: A green card allows the holder to live and work in the United States indefinitely, and provides a pathway to U.S. citizenship after a specified period.
- Apply:
- An employer-sponsored green card application
- A self-sponsored employment-based green card application
- Marriage to a U.S. citizen
- Sponsorship by a close relative who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident
- Expiry: The card is valid upto 10 years and has to be renewed.
- The green card holder’s status as “lawful permanent resident” is still valid unless the status is abandoned or revoked by U.S. government.
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- Debate For Immigration:
- Attracting Global Talent: America’s technological and economic dominance depends on its ability to recruit the best minds worldwide
- Dearth of Domestic High Skilled Workforce: The United States produces too few highly skilled graduates and attracting elite engineering talent from abroad was essential for America to keep winning as per Elon Musk.
- Debate Against Immigration:
- Job Displacement Concerns: The sheer dominance of Indian H-1B visa holders, a majority of whom work in computer-related occupations has sparked fears of Indians taking over high skilled American jobs displacing them.
- The White Middle Class: The concern that the American Middle Class is following the path of the American Working Class which is ailed by high unemployment, low wages, inflation, a housing crisis, and others as they were replaced by Mexican immigrants.
- Depress Wages in the US: The tech companies are merely using the H1B visa program as a means to cut costs as immigrant workers are cheaper.
December 30, 2024
