Immigration of highly skilled persons

The U.S. Presidential election is fast approaching.  However, during the Presidential debates between President Barack Obama and the challenger Mitt Romney, the subject of immigration took only mentions not worthy of any headlines.

One type of immigration, highly skilled persons, helps the country in many ways.  It allows the country to attract well educated persons as well as keep the skills already educated by the U.S. Those who came on student visas, F-1 visa, have to leave the country after the graduation and if they elect to work for a limited period of time (one or two years).  This will create an issue for the country especially after they have been educated by the U.S. university system.

The limited number of visas allowed for highly skilled persons are further complicated by the system.  The visas are assigned according to the country origin, not based on the need of the country or a person’s ability to contribute to the country.  The ongoing battle between the Democrats and the Republicans in the U.S. Congress are also damping the attempts to attract skilled immigrants.  The Republicans in the Congress prefer to deal with comprehensive immigration policy while the Democrats are trying to deal with many parts of the immigration issue separately.