Sunday, May 17, 2009
WADHWA: EXPAND THE H-1B PROGRAM TO INCLUDE HOUSING INVESTORS
From Professor Wadhwa's recent Business Week column:
Many economists have begun to discuss this theme, and not surprisingly, they find the Grassley approach counterproductive. Gary Shilling, a prominent economist, envisions a new visa program that would expand the existing EB-5 visa program, which allows visas to be issued to a foreigner who has invested $1 million in a new enterprise that hires at least 10 new employees. The program allows for as many as 10,000 visas a year and grants foreigners permanent residence after two years.
Econoblogger Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, proposes that foreigners who buy homes be granted an employment visa, a mechanism he feels might even buoy the U.S. housing market. Melding a home purchase with an expanded H-1B program and a clear, fast-track path to citizenship might be an effective way to not only bring in these immigrant knowledge workers but also harness their economic growth to help the entire country regain some of its lost housing value. Beyond creating more jobs and potentially underpinning the housing market, this infusion of smart immigrants would most likely have other salutary effects, such as expanding the U.S. tax base and boosting the number of patents filed in the U.S. by both immigrant workers and U.S. citizens.
# posted by Greg Siskind @ 9:31 AM
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Many economists have begun to discuss this theme, and not surprisingly, they find the Grassley approach counterproductive. Gary Shilling, a prominent economist, envisions a new visa program that would expand the existing EB-5 visa program, which allows visas to be issued to a foreigner who has invested $1 million in a new enterprise that hires at least 10 new employees. The program allows for as many as 10,000 visas a year and grants foreigners permanent residence after two years.
Econoblogger Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, proposes that foreigners who buy homes be granted an employment visa, a mechanism he feels might even buoy the U.S. housing market. Melding a home purchase with an expanded H-1B program and a clear, fast-track path to citizenship might be an effective way to not only bring in these immigrant knowledge workers but also harness their economic growth to help the entire country regain some of its lost housing value. Beyond creating more jobs and potentially underpinning the housing market, this infusion of smart immigrants would most likely have other salutary effects, such as expanding the U.S. tax base and boosting the number of patents filed in the U.S. by both immigrant workers and U.S. citizens.
# posted by Greg Siskind @ 9:31 AM
