Impact of Highly Skilled Immigrants on Global Competitiveness

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In 2000, the United States was the leading country containing more than 10 million highly skilled immigrants, which was an increase of over 5 million highly skilled immigrants from 1990, followed by Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and Germany. Countries and regions on a global scale have been eager to draw highly skilled immigrants because of their proficiency in promoting innovation and boosting economic growth. And there is this constant competition between countries contending to get the best talented prospects to improve their global competitiveness. The development of Silicon Valley is a prime example of how immigrants can have a positive impact on society. By attracting the most talented and educated immigrants, Silicon Valley …show more content…

But there is a third role that immigrants partake in, which complements the additional two roles and allows them to provide a huge contribution to the growth in Silicon Valley where their effects are felt on a global scale. These immigrants not only establish deep networks within the fabric of Silicon Valley and inside their companies, but they can also act as a bridge between their hosting regions and home countries. By establishing a link between both visiting and home sectors, it enables these immigrants to reinforce the international network of societies, commerce, advanced technology, knowledge, and new innovations. In his article titled Why Silicon Valley Expert Entrepreneurs Return Home, Vivek Wadhwa notes that “there has been a rapid growth in the amount of highly-skilled immigrants returning home, particularly those that had come from Israel and Taiwan in the 1990s, and Chinese and Indians from 2000 through the oncoming years.” In returning back home, they transported their newfound knowledge of Silicon Valley’s technologies, networks, and business models to their countries. Their newly attained knowledge and attitudes allowed these highly skilled immigrants to contribute to the progression of innovative, and technologically sound networks in their home regions. By establishing connections between …show more content…

As a result, there is a dynamic collaborative flow of skilled migration that occurs between Silicon Valley, China, India, and other countries. The distributing and receiving countries then begin to see a rapid expansion in the clusters of highly skilled individuals. Through this collaborative flow of highly skilled immigrants a network of advanced technologies becomes extensive and foundationally sound. However, in a Fox news interview with Schulte Todd, President of FWD.us and Max Levchin, PayPal co-founder, they claim that this circulation of highly knowledgeable and talented individuals is having a negative impact on the United States. Because the U.S. has unorganized immigration policies, it is losing immigrants to other countries and thus losing talented individuals who can help its country prosper. The interview discusses how this passage and exchange of information is prompting a momentous change in worldwide competition and the global political and economic order. Thus, immigration reform is an extremely important focus for Silicon Valley due to the fact that countries are beginning to be aware of the benefits that these highly skilled immigrants provide and are starting to improve their immigration

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