The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine warned last year that the U.S. lacks a “whole-of-government talent strategy” for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Though U.S. universities rank first globally on research quality, our visa system is among the slowest and least predictable in the developed world. Our talent policy assumes that top researchers will endure any visa lottery or processing delay to stay in the U.S. That assumption is obsolete.
Both our allies and our adversaries have created visa systems that are faster, simpler and more certain. China’s new K-visa targets young STEM talent, and its Qiming Program recruits top scientists with $420,000 to $700,000 signing bonuses and full housing subsidies. Germany’s Opportunity Card allows skilled workers in before they find jobs. … And there are more.
The choice isn’t between domestic and foreign talent; the nation was built on both. Investing in domestic STEM education is essential. But building homegrown capacity takes years. China graduated 3.57 million STEM students in 2020; the U.S. graduated 820,000. Closing that gap domestically would require quadrupling university STEM capacity and reversing current demographic trends.
