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Rank2436

Idea#2806

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Staple a green card to every advanced degree awarded in the US

Why Is This Idea Important?: If the US does not do this, they will continue educating the world's best and then sending them away, which will in the long term amount to the US becoming increasingly irrelevant on the global stage as other countries achieve a critical mass of highly educated talent in fields of science and technology, all thanks to receiving excellent US educations. This would also alleviate the pressure on the H1B visa system -- those with post-graduate educations would not need an H1B visa, leaving the H1B system to those cases where only a Bachelor's is necessary for the job.

The US has made a *huge* investment in my education: I have both a Master's and most of a PhD from good US institutions, and neither has cost me a cent due to receiving fellowships and working as a research assistant. The US has therefore invested something like a quarter of a million dollars in me, only to send me home after my degree (because the F1 student visa is of "nonimmigrant intent"). After paying for me to become a global expert in my field, they are forcibly sending me home to my own country to help bolster a competitor economy. Whaaat?

I propose that the US staple a green card to every post-graduate degree awarded in the US. This will be a huge incentive for the best talent to stay in the US, and for the US to therefore remain competitive in the global economy.

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Submitted by luke.hutch 2 years ago

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Comments (5)

  1. luke.hutch said:

    See also http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2974-4049

    2 years ago
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  2. we_spencer said:

    Hay, where can I get one of those F1 student visa? I would gladly go back to my own country (USA) after the U.S. Government pays for my PhD.

    2 years ago
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  3. mAximo said:

    well if you can't return and make your country competitive enough so that your countrymen aren't illegally immigrating here, how about you invent for us a National ID system that tracks immigrants overstaying their visas, like Muhammed Atta, instead of citizens who belong here?

    2 years ago
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  4. rockerrr said:

    I say we dont pay for degrees for any non US Citizen. That would take care of you having to leave with your great degree. Or you could go back to your country and apply for green card and come back and do the right thing. But that is just too hard for you considering you were handed everything.

    2 years ago
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  5. luke.hutch said:

    It doesn't matter -- even if the govt doesn't pay for degrees (which they don't in many cases), then private industry will pay for them, if there is a promising student that can do the exact research they need someone to do.

    And even if nobody pays for the degree (i.e. the student pays for themselves), the US is still making a huge intellectual investment in foreign students...

    Any foreign student that is studying here is here because they're the best. Why wouldn't the US want to keep them here, to bolster the economy once they enter the workforce?

    2 years ago
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