US visa system needs to be automated

United States, 15th January: The US government should focus on fixing its immigration system by giving priority to skilled workers and IT professionals, states a recent report by Brookings Institution.

According to the director of Center for Technology Innovation of the Brookings Institution and the author of the report, Darrell West, the US immigration policy should be reframed to include issuance of automatic green cards for international students successfully graduating from science and math university programs.

The policy brief released on January 12 this year states that introduction of a digital system will result in a significant reduction of delays and errors.

Presently, paper documents are required to be submitted for getting US visas and many a times, the documents required are quite difficult to obtain for the applicants of US visas which after getting lost in the official system need to be resubmitted, West maintained.

The policy states that the US immigration must reduce its emphasis on reunification of family and must focus on inviting high skilled workers. That’s exactly what other nations like Canada, Australian and the UK are doing right now, the paper adds.

Around 36 percent of Canada visas are issued to skilled workers wanting to immigrate to Canada while the percentage of US visas issued to skilled workers is just 6.5 percent.

Moreover, there is a need to increase the number of US H-1B visa for international students finishing their science and math degree programs in the US. It may be noted that the US H-1B visas are in great demand while their availability is limited.

West also asserts on facilitating easy stay of high skilled international students in the US considering the fact that nations like China, India and other developing nations offer a good scope for expansions of job opportunities to the US.

By introducing changes in the composition of the US immigration stream without making any changes in its size, the US can get ‘brain gain’, stated West.

So, the US government should raise the number of US visas for highly skilled workers to 195,000 from the present figures of 65,000, he maintained.

Also, US EB-5 visas should be available to foreigners willing to invest a minimum of $500,000 in employment areas or a minimum of $1 million in other areas. Increasing the O-1 visa program availability for those having extraordinary talent in science, arts, business, athletics or education.