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from the so-highly-skilled-we-need-second-jobs dept.
The Obama administration announced plans to permit the spouses of certain, "highly-skilled" H1B visa holders the right to work too. The backlog of green-card applications for H1B holders can be as much as 11 years. If the goal is to attract and keep more high-quality talent within the USA (rather than H1B off-shoring), it seems like streamlining the "green card" permanent residence process would be more effective. Making the H1B visa a mandatory path to a green card within a very short period, such as 2 years might be a much better way to encourage highly talented individuals to stay in the country compared to requiring more than a decade of uncertainty.
Some claim that this will actually have the perverse effect of enabling IT salaries to fall even further. The New York Times article notes there are representatives who question the wisdom of the proposal and that there is a 60-day comment window.
(Score: 2) by emg on Wednesday May 07 2014, @06:36PM
I believe Canada does something similar, where spouses of those on work permits can get an open work permit themselves.
However, progressing from there to a permanent resident visa doesn't take eleven years. Someone who moves to Canada on a work permit and wants to stay could be a citizen within eleven years.