European Union May Streamline Process to Retain Foreign Mathematicians and Scientists

January 10, 2008

The European Union is on the verge of giving U.S. companies a run for the best foreign-born mathematicians and scientists. It's proposing a "blue card" program that would make it simpler for skilled foreigners to stay and work on the continent. The good news, at least for U.S. companies, is that, because all 27 members of the EU must sign off on any major policy changes, the change may not go into effect before 2009.

The bad news is that "there are only so many brains available," U.S. analyst Will Strauss of Forward Concepts told Investor's Business Daily. "And either they're going to get them or we are."

Although foreign nationals from China, India, and elsewhere account for the majority of U.S. doctoral degrees in mathematics, computer science, and engineering, many still find it difficult to navigate the U.S. immigration bureaucracy.

The EU's blue card will compete against a type of U.S. temporary work visa called the H1-B, which has the reputation of impeding the retention of talented students. Compete America co-chair Robert Hoffman noted that part of the problem is that the H-1B visa program is too broad, covering not only scientific and engineering jobs but also jobs for "fashion models of national or international acclaim."

The H-1B is a "real mishmash," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). "The refinement of that program would be appropriate." This would make it easier for people educated in the U.S. in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics but born elsewhere to remain here.

Source: Investor's Business Daily, Dec. 11, 2007.