Immigrating to US to get easier with new bill

Young Indian scientists and engineers staying in the US on a temporary visa will be able to get their green cards quicker once the immigration bill passed by the US Senate becomes a law. Vanita Srivastava reports.

Young Indian scientists and engineers staying in the US on a temporary visa will be able to get their green cards quicker once the immigration bill passed by the US Senate becomes a law.

The immigration reform bill was passed by the United States Senate on June 27. Though it still faces an uncertain fate in the Republican-controlled House, pressure is building up to stabilise the US immigration system.

The bill includes a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

According to the most recent statistics from the National Science Foundation, about 25% of the US science and engineering workforce comes from other countries.

Most holders of doctorate degrees with temporary work visas are from China (29%) and India (16%).

Another study, by the same agency on the mobility patterns of PhD graduates in science, engineering and health last year revealed that only 5.2% of Indians who go to the US for their doctorate degrees return.

Amit Vaish, a Washington-based scientist says, “This will certainly benefit those who have advanced degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) from US. This bill makes a provision of granting green card in 5 years to these professionals. They will not have to worry about visa issues once this bill becomes law.”