Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Third Time The Charm? Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake Re-Introduces Bill To Exempt Foreign PhD Recipients From Visa Quotas

Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CD6) yesterday re-introduced his bill - titled the "STAPLE Act" - that would exempt foreign students from visa quotas if they receive a PhD in the United States.

Flake's reasoning:
“Unless we want to see the next Google or Intel created overseas, we’ve got to enact legal immigration reforms that allow foreign-born, U.S.-educated students who have earned advanced degrees to remain and work in the country after they’ve graduated,”


“At a time when there’s a lot of focus on keeping the U.S. competitive globally, if we don’t keep these highly-skilled workers in the U.S. after they’ve graduated, we’re going to see the next round of high tech companies created overseas rather than here in the United States.”
Here is a link to the bill's main page.

This is the third consecutive Congress in which Rep. Flake has introduced this measure.  It has not gotten out of committee the past two times, though it did pick up five bi-partisan co-sponsors in the last Congress. 






We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com. Thanks.

No comments: