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Does US want or need Indian brainpower?

June 17, 2010

In early 2009, a Washington Post article by Vivek Wadhwa about the reverse brain drain in the USA mentioned fed up would-be immigrant Girija Subramaniam – an Indian who earned her master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia in 1998 and then joined Texas Instruments as a test engineer. She had wanted to stay in the USA and had applied for permanent residency in 2002 but had been left in immigration limbo. Even worst, if she had accepted a promotion or left her employer to start her own company, she would loose her place in line. Fed up, Wadhwa noted that she had applied for fast-track Canadian permanent residency and was expecting to move to Canada by the end of the year.

Girija Subramaniams was not alone in her frustration over American immigration policies towards skilled and highly educated professionals and potential entrepreneurs. According to Wadhwa’s research (as of the end of September 2006), more than a million people were waiting in line for just 120,000 permanent-resident visas that are granted each year to skilled workers and their family members. And since no nationality can claim more than 7% of the visas, many years may pass before immigrants from countries such as India or China are even considered.

Does US want or need Indian brainpower
Moreover, previously published research by Wadhwa has shown just how important skilled immigrant professionals, especially those from India, are to the USA economy. Just consider his following findings about the contributions of Indian immigrants:

  • Approximately 26% of all immigrant founded engineering and technology companies started in the USA between 1995 to 2005 have Indian founders.
  • Over the past decade, Indians have founded more engineering and technology companies in the US than immigrants from China, Japan, Taiwan and the UK combined.
  • While Indians have sizable communities in California and New Jersey, Indian entrepreneurs tend to be well dispersed throughout the country.
  • From 1998 to 2006, Indian immigrants invented or co-invented 21% of all USA immigrant patent applications.
  • Between 1990 and 2000, the population of Indian scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley grew by 646%. In contrast, the total foreign-born scientist and engineering workforce grew by 246% while the region’s total population of scientists and engineers, both native and foreign-born, grew by only 103%.

However, Wadhwa has since been recently quoted by The Straits Times as saying that while in 2008, he had predicted that 50,000 professionals would return to India and China, he has since doubled his estimate. In other words, what started out as a trickle is now turning into a torrent.

Wadhwa further noted that while everyone has suffered in the recession, Indians on temporary work visas who loose their jobs do not have the option of starting their own business like an American would potentially have. Hence and often their only option is to buy a one way plane ticket home or do what Girija Subramaniam was planning to do – find another country that wants her brainpower.

Related posts:

  1. Obama’s immigration policy may backfire
  2. The sinking H-1B visa program: Will innovation need to be outsourced?
  3. Look who is hiring and investing in USA: Indian outsourcers
  4. U.S. Hikes Visa Fees For Overseas Workers; Angers Indian Outsourcers
  5. Tough laws for foreign IT professionals


Written by JohnU · Filed Under Outsource Blogs 

Comments

5 Responses to “Does US want or need Indian brainpower?”

  1. Does America want or need Indian brainpower? | Outsource Portfolio : PlanetTalk.net - Learn the truth , no more lies on June 17th, 2010 9:27 am

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  2. kvadrocikl on June 20th, 2010 5:38 pm

    Us does not want anyone. See the unemployment rate in US, there are log of US citizens to fill the job.

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  4. No on July 5th, 2010 12:54 pm

    Did you see the unemployment rate in US? We do not have any jobs for anyone.

  5. Why Intel's Andy Grove is right (and so completely wrong) about American Jobs | Outsource Portfolio on July 19th, 2010 8:38 pm

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