Top American universities attract some of the planet's brightest minds to pursue graduate and doctorate degrees in the U.S. But thousands of those best and brightest head for the exits almost immediately after they complete their academic programs.
Why? The American student visas only allow foreigners to stay in the U.S. for the duration of their education program and no longer.
Two lawmakers are fed up with that rule, arguing that kicking highly skilled, entrepreneurial people out of the U.S. and back to countries such as China and India is costing jobs and hurting the American economy.
Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) introduced the SMART Jobs Act, which stands for "Sustaining our Most Advanced Researchers and Technology," on Wednesday. If passed, the bill would create the F-4 non-immigrant visa, which allow foreigners working on advanced degrees in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering or math — to stay in the U.S. for up to 12 months after graduation while they search for employment in the country.
Should such a person find (or create for themselves) a job during that period, they can swap their student visa for a "STEM green card." That card wouldn't count against a country's green card quota (the U.S. tightly manages how many foreigners are granted green cards on a per-country basis).
The bill will have to overcome the toxicity of immigration reform, a particularly volatile topic during an election year. Some states, including Arizona and Alabama, have passed controversial laws born of fear that illegal immigrants are taking jobs which would otherwise be filled by American citizens.
Sen. Alexander, however, considers the bill a common-sense measure to help keep talented workers and potential job creators in the U.S.
"It makes no sense to attract the most talented scientists and engineers from other countries to our schools to educate them, only to send them home to compete with American companies and create jobs -– perhaps even the next Google -– in other countries," said Alexander.
Sen. Coons echoed Alexander's concern over sending intelligent workers overseas.
"Many of the best and brightest young minds in the world are educated at American colleges and universities, and instead of sending them home after graduation, we should be encouraging them to stay in the U.S. to pursue their innovations and create jobs here," said Coons. "When we send off these graduates to pursue their innovations in India and China, we are literally subsidizing our competitors."
Immigrants have founded nearly a fourth of venture-backed companies in the U.S. over the past 15 years. Additionally, they make up approximately half of the masters and doctorate-level students studying STEM fields at American universities, according to a study cited by the bill's authors.
Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, CEO of investment group Revolution and member of President Obama's jobs council, has thrown his support behind the bill, which he calls an important and bipartisan step forward. Case acknowledges that immigration is a highly volatile issue in American politics, especially during an election year. However, he stressed the key to getting the bill passed would be isolating the discussion about high-tech immigration from that of illegal immigration.
"A lot of the emotion is around illegal immigration, and it's important to separate that debate," Case told Mashable. "There's fairly broad bipartisan support for changes in high-tech immigration."
Other similar bills are being considered in Congress, including Sen. John Cornyn's (R-Texas) proposed STAR Act, which would increase immigrant visas for foreign-born STEM students.
Could you get behind a bill that lets immigrants with advanced degrees stay in the U.S.? Sound off in the comments below.
Read the text of the full bill as introduced below:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, selimaksan..
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