A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discusses how the slow and bureaucratic immigration process forces adult children of H-1B work-visa recipients to return to their parents’ countries. The article uses the example of Athulya Rajakumar, who grew up in Seattle, attended high school, and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, yet may face deportation as she ages out of eligibility for her family’s work visa. This problem affects over 200,000 children of immigrants, who are forced to leave the country that they have known their entire lives because of a backlogged and broken immigration system. To avoid such cases, the H1-B program should be expanded for children of work-visa recipients and provide more opportunities for highly skilled immigrants to work in America and boost innovation.
Many children of H-1B visa holders like Athulya have already assimilated to American culture and identify with American values and beliefs. Forcing these children to return to the countries of their parents is unreasonable and counterproductive for the American economy and society as a whole.
Increasing the number of H-1B visa holders is also important for improving the economic state of the country. Holders of H-1B visas are typically highly educated, with around 75 percent of H-1B visa holders coming from India. H-1B visas are granted to uniquely high-skilled immigrants who can grow and innovate. While some critics of the program, including Mark Krikorian, argue that H-1B visa holders reduce employment opportunities for Americans, highly skilled workers actually provide positive complementary skills to American workers and disproportionately file more patents and start more VC-startups than their American counterparts. Increasing the number of H-1B visa holders provides American firms and businesses with the human capital necessary to prosper and succeed, thereby increasing the wealth and prosperity of America as a whole.
America should reward ambitious and intelligent immigrants who migrate to America legally to pursue opportunity and success. Expanding the H-1B visa program sets a precedent for meritocratic avenues for legal immigration to America that can be followed by well-intentioned migrants who wish to better the economic conditions of themselves and their families.