DHS Details Immigration Policy Changes for Foreign Students, Researchers, Entrepreneurs

As part of President Obama’s recent executive order on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued a number of new policies and regulations intended to capitalize on the skills of foreign workers, researchers and students. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy published an explanation of how the new rules will also be used to attract immigrant entrepreneurs through two new pathways to legal residency.

President Obama’s original memorandum to the heads of federal agencies focuses on the need to streamline immigration bureaucracy, but notes that the majority of American STEM Ph.D.s over the last 50 years were granted to foreign-born students.  One in four high-tech startups have been launched by foreign entrepreneurs. America’s serious reliance on attracting the best and the brightest from around the world necessitates clear pathways to legal residency for immigrants who can bring valuable skills and resources to the U.S. marketplace, according to the memoranda.

In a related fact sheet, the White House identifies three specific goals of the new policies that could help bolster the U.S. high-tech economy. These include providing rapid work authorization for high-skilled workers that stay valid when workers switch jobs, expanding immigration options for foreign entrepreneurs and improving on-the-job training for foreign STEM graduates to encourage stronger ties to the American economy.

Additional details are available in a DHS memorandum to the director of U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS). The office is instructed to modernize the immigrant visa process, speeding up the approval process and making its decisions more consistent. For employment-based visas, the office is instructed to update its regulations so that long-standing visa petitions remain valid when the applicant switches jobs.  Job changes have also been an issue for holders of temporary visas when attempting to become legal permanent residents. These workers have been allowed to change jobs in the past, but only when the new job is in a same or similar classification. This is of particular concern for high-tech workers, since their jobs are often poorly understood by federal agencies. The memorandum instructs that office to remove any unnecessary restrictions on these foreign workers.

In order to retain foreign students, USCIS is instructed to expand and improve its current program that allows students to remain in the U.S. for one year after graduation to participate in “optional practical training.” By helping these students experience employment in their field of study, the program would increase the chances of these students remaining in the U.S. Similarly, researchers and entrepreneurs conducting R&D in the U.S. have been able to seek green cards without employer sponsorship if their work is determined to be in the national interest. DHS is instructing USCIS to issue more of these waivers and to add a parole program for applicants whose work may not yet qualify, but are backed by investor financing or are engaged in work that promises to create new jobs in the future.