AIBS has joined 30 other scientific organizations in urging the House Judiciary Committee to include provisions aimed at improving the retention of international STEM talent in legislation being crafted in response to the 2022 budget resolution and reconciliation instructions.
Specifically, the groups urge lawmakers to create additional Employment Based (EB) visas specifically for international students who earn, or have previously earned, advanced STEM degrees in the United States. The letter also requests that these individuals be exempt from any per-country cap.
“Foreign-born STEM professionals are critical to the US R&D ecosystem, economy and society,” the groups note. “They bring fresh perspectives, diverse experiences, expertise, new ideas, and creativity to our universities, laboratories and companies. For example, as of 2018, immigrants had founded more than half (50 of 91) of the privately held billion-dollar startup companies in the United States, with 21 having a founder who first came to the United States as an international student. These global experts have created thousands of jobs with higher-than-average salaries for US workers, while boosting our country’s competitiveness.”
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