Retaining EE graduates a challenge given current immigration laws
 By
Paula Collins, vice president, TI government relations
Imagine – every year
our country welcomes the best and brightest students
from around the world to study at our universities.
Then, shortly after graduation, or perhaps a few years
after working for a U.S.-based company like Texas Instruments,
we send them back overseas to work for foreign competitors.
This is the effect our broken immigration system has
on highly educated foreign nationals.
Despite the many controversial issues involved in immigration
reform, one thing is clear: for the U.S. to remain competitive,
our companies need to be able to hire and retain the
brightest minds in the world, especially graduates from
our universities.
The semiconductor industry depends on electrical engineers
to continually innovate in the design and development
of new chips. In 2006, U.S. universities awarded more
than half of their master’s degrees and 71 percent of
their Ph.D.s in electrical engineering to foreign nationals.
At some campuses in Texas, these figures are even higher
(see Table 1). TI and other high-tech employers need
predictable access to this talent.
Although TI continues to hire only a small number of
foreign professionals each year, they are typically
important contributors and have the talents we seek
to retain in long-term employees. Indeed, if you look
at some of our top business managers and technologists
in the company, many are foreign-born. They help drive
business that supports thousands of TIers as well as
numerous suppliers and downstream businesses in Texas
and the U.S.
It is counterproductive for this country to train and
employ foreign scientists and engineers and then send
them home with the skills and know-how to compete against
American businesses. Even worse is to lose employees
who have worked for our company for several years but
eventually leave out of frustration over waiting for
a visa. Although we continue to try to increase the
pipeline of domestic students in these disciplines –
and TI is doing its part to help address that need –
we must be able to hire and retain foreign students
and professionals.
The shortage of H-1B visas is well documented, as illustrated
by hitting the 2008 cap of 65,000 within the first two
days as companies scrambled to get their share of a
pie that is too small. A lesser-known side of the same
coin is the shortage of employment-based permanent resident
visas, or green cards.
Long waits for green cards have become an urgent problem
for hundreds of TI employees. These highly educated
professionals face at least a five- to seven-year wait,
leaving them in personal and professional limbo and
limiting their promotion and mobility options. These
waits are largely caused by insufficient numbers of
green cards, which are set by law.
The immigration bill introduced in the U.S. Senate falls
short of the relief sought by TI and others in the high-tech
community, particularly with respect to the numbers
of green cards and H-1B visas for highly educated professionals
and a predictable implementation of a new merit-based
system.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), together with Sen. Maria
Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced an important amendment
to address the concerns of high-tech employers. Sen.
Kay Bailey Hutchison (D-Texas) was also supportive of
the proposal. On June 7, before these issues could be
resolved, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the
bill for the third time, a procedural mechanism that
limits debate and guarantees an eventual vote. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decided to put the
bill on hold.
On June 11, Sen. Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) announced that the Senate would return to the
bill before the July 4 recess. The Cantwell-Cornyn amendment
has been superseded by the Kyl-Cantwell amendment, which
would expand the H-1B cap to 180,000, double the H-1B
advanced degree exemption from 20,000 to 40,000 and
phase in the merit system by reserving green card visas
for employers. Although the proposal falls short of
adding the needed green card numbers, it represents
an improvement over the bill as introduced.
TI and others in the high-tech
community will continue to advocate for meaningful immigration
reform for highly educated professionals and remain
hopeful that the process can move forward in Congress.
Our country’s innovation leadership depends on it.
Table 1 – 2006 degrees granted in Texas to foreign
nationals in electrical engineering.
|
Master’s Degrees |
Ph.D.s |
Rice |
40% |
75% |
UT Austin |
41% |
75% |
UT Dallas |
70% |
89% |
Texas A&M |
68% |
88% |
Texas Tech |
50% |
40% |
|
