March 26–Coalition of American chambers seeks a liberalised visa regime to woo foreign talent and spur economic growth, Suresh Pattali reports from Boston
Most of Boston’s economy revolves around the services industry while manufacturing companies employ approximately 15 per cent of the workers. —
An increasing number of open-market proponents have joined the chorus for an immigration perestroika in the United States in order to spur the much-needed growth in many regions of the country.
Paul Guzzi, former Massachusetts secretary of state and president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, is the latest to warn that there will be an industrial crisis if America does not radically change its immigration policies.
“We are dumb as a country. We need to radically change our immigration policies — the H-1B visas are part of it. We need to increase those H-1B visas,” he told journalists on the sidelines of Emirates airline’s recent inaugural flight to the historic city of Boston.
Boston officials are excited about the businesses generated by the international students who come to study in the city’s world-class universities. “I see those students every day. They patronise our clothing stores, restaurants, clubs, theatres, etc. The economic boost we get from trade is really huge,” argued Jim Klocke, executive vice-president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Boston has taken the initiative to form a national coalition of approximately 65 regional chambers to push the federal government to lift the employment visa cap and to give green cards to those who graduate with masters in stem education. “We need more engineers and scientists here because that is the basis of so much of what we produce,” he said.
Calling for more research funding in the country, Guzzi said there are a lot of private research scholars but the driver of much of innovations comes from the federal government. In this context, he pointed out that the Internet was the outgrowth of basic research done by the Department of Defence. “So we need more such funds, not less.”
There has been a big debate about liberalising the immigration policy in the US for a long time. The Senate last June passed a sweeping immigration bill that would give millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship but the legislation has stalled in the House of Representatives.
However, there are signs that political leaders may soon offer a framework for reform. There has been so much work done on it in the White House and Congress in the past two years that Klocke believes there is a possibility that the new immigration bill will be passed later this year.
“President Barack Obama pretty much wants the immigration bill. The Republicans and Congress have resisted for a long but that is beginning to change. When Obama defeated Mitt Romney last year, one of the striking things in the election results was that the president raked up very large margins among Latino and Afro-American voters. Romney performed very poorly among these groups.
“So some of the smarter strategists on the Republican side think the party needs to support the immigration bill. So our coalition of chambers has been working in Washington to try to get the bill passed,” Klocke explained.
The chamber officials outlined the strength and weaknesses of Massachusetts and Boston and where the international players such as the UAE can come in to help.
Explaining the five major industry clusters in the region, Guzzi said the fundamental foundation of Massachusetts is its colleges and universities. “We think they are world-class. And we think that may in part be the connecting point between the Middle East and this region.”