미국이 외국에서 온 이공계 석박사 학생들 끌어 모을려고
많이 고민한 것 같은데….

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14281975.htm

The roiling policy debate over immigration has focused on the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States now and on stemming the flow of new ones.

But tucked into the immigration bill being considered by the Senate are provisions designed to make it easier for thousands of legal – but temporary – immigrants to stay here.

They are the ones who come to the United States on student visas to study science, technology, engineering and math. In 2000-2001, there were about 50,000 such students in graduate-level programs, according to the National Science Foundation.

In the past decade, the number of U.S. citizens enrolling in such disciplines has declined 14 percent, according to a study cited by Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican pushing the changes.

Now, foreign students earn 30 percent of the doctorates in engineering and 50 percent of those in math and computer science, according to the National Research Council.

At the University of Missouri-Rolla, 280 of the 512 master’s degree candidates are foreign students here on temporary visas, as are 217 of the 338 Ph.D. students.

Policymakers want to ensure that the U.S. economy reaps the benefits of educating them, rather than losing them to booming economies in their home countries because their visas do not allow them to stay and look for work or start businesses.

Science and engineering are expected to be among the biggest creators of new jobs in the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“U.S. workers lose out when their employers can’t get the high-tech innovators and inventors they need to compete with foreign companies in the 21st-century economy,” Bond said.

Currently, foreign students generally come to the United States on one of two types of visas, both of which are designed to encourage them to leave when they complete their studies.

Most students come on F-visas, which require a student to leave upon completion of the program or graduation. To return to the United States to work, they then must try to get another visa.

Others come on J-visas. Those require students to return home for two years at the end of their programs before they can reapply to come back to the United States. There is a waiver for medical doctors.

Those who do stay here to work must apply for a guest worker program for which there are a limited number of visas good only for a few years. While on that program, they can begin the process of applying for permanent residency.

The immigration bill on the Senate floor would allow Ph.D. candidates in science, technology, engineering and math to stay in the United States for up to a year after finishing their programs to look for work. It also would make workers who do find jobs here eligible for permanent residency rather than first having to go through the time-limited guest-worker program.

Bond has introduced an amendment that would extend those benefits to students in master’s and postdoctoral programs, because many students in computer science and engineering do not go on to Ph.Ds. Bond also wants to include all post-doctoral students in those disciplines in the two-year exemption currently provided only to medical doctors on J-visas.

A few immigration reform groups oppose the idea, calling the change a “stealth amnesty” bill that would “result in high-skill jobs going not to U.S. workers, but to foreign workers willing to accept lower wages and deficient working conditions,” according to a Web site run by Numbers USA.

Numbers USA also warned that making it easier for foreign students to stay could pose national security risks because it could make it easier for terrorists to stay in the United States.

But considering the vibrant Chinese and Indian high-tech economies, U.S. companies would more likely want to sweeten their offers to keep the workers, proponents of the plans say.

“We need them to stay here,” said Ursula Oaks, spokeswoman for the Association of International Educators. “The market is showing there’s a need for our immigration laws to catch up to the reality of this global, competitive era we’re living in.”

Rob Ostrander, Bond’s spokesman, said the proposals would not loosen the current tracking system for student visa holders. Nor would they ease the security checks that applicants for permanent residency must complete.