The Immigration Debate We Should Have
Posted at 11 a.m. on Feb. 4
Gordon Crovitz: “Many parts of the immigration system are still based on quotas. Visas for permanent residency are capped, so that no country can have more than 7% each year… of the 1.1 million green cards issued every year, 85% are to family members or for humanitarian purposes. Only 15% are for highly skilled immigrants based on employment.”
“The H-1B visa program, established in 1990, creates 65,000 visas a year for highly skilled workers. But the demand for skilled technologists has grown so much since then that in some years this quota has been filled within hours… Smarter immigration policy would give less-skilled immigrants a path to citizenship that could include language and civics requirements.”
