Please Raise The Roof and Stop the Madness

“AHHHHHHH, NOOOOOOOOO. NOOOOO WAAAYYYY!!!” The exclamation I heard echoing through the hallway outside of the office. The sound was coming from one of the very talented Latin American skilled programmers at one of the high profile startups in our space. Everyone in the office exchanged looks, wondering who had passed away.
We learned shortly thereafter that the exclamations we were hearing were not ones rooted in sorrow or tragedy, but rather they were expressions of pure joy. Our friend had just received notice that he was the recipient of one of the highly coveted 65,000 H-1B Visa’s. These visa are reserved for highly skilled foreigners enabling them to work in the United States for a specific company who has agreed to sponsor them.

The H-1B Lottery

The cap of recipients allowed is reached within hours of the opening of the lottery process and successful recipients of the lottery are informed in April/May as the new federal fiscal year begins. This year there were 236,000 applicants who submitted the proper paperwork and paid the onerous fees ranging from $1,600 to $7,400 depending on company size and composition plus attorney fees.

Any company in search of skilled programmers understands, finding talented programmers is a herculean task unless you are Google, Apple, Uber or Facebook with an unlimited pocketbook and list of perks. One of the causes of the shortage is a dearth of qualified US programmers with programming skills in the latest languages or with specific vertical expertise.

The Data is Indisputable

Cisco estimates there are more than 1 million unfilled security jobs worldwide. There are a host of predictions whether from Cisco or the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating a massive shortage of technology talent in different areas.

Economic projections point to a need for approximately 1 million more STEM professionals than the U.S. will produce at the current rate over the next decade if the country is to retain its historical preeminence in science and technology.
 — President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

In a study of employment data from 2000–2007, the American Enterprise Institute asserts that 100 additional jobs given to immigrants with advanced degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) is associated with an additional 86 jobs for US natives.

According to a Kaufman-Wall Street Journal study, 44% of US companies in Silicon Valley were founded by immigrants in the period 2006–2012, albeit down from 52% in 1995–2005. Famous immigrant founders/leaders include: Elon Musk (Tesla, PayPal, SpaceX), Sergey Brin & Larry Page (Google), Pierre Omidyar (eBay), and Jerry Yang (Yahoo).

Immigrants are now more than twice as likely as the native-born to start a business and were responsible for more than one in every four (28 percent) U.S. businesses founded in 2011, significantly outpacing their share of the population (12.9 percent).
 — The partnership for a New American Economy

As all Americans can agree, the US economy is growing well below its true potential, whether its 3% or higher GDP growth. High growth technology businesses started by immigrants like Google, Tesla, eBay, etc. is what we need more of in order to accelerate growth. This election season, hopefully someone, Democrat or Republican, steps to the forefront to increase the H-1B cap and bring over more talented immigrants who can start great new businesses.

Don’t make it a cause for celebration when someone is allowed by the government to use their unusual technology talents to help US companies. Lets make it easier for great programmers and technology leaders to work here in the US such that we all benefit.