In recent years the U.S. numbers of undocumented migrants from India and China have increased dramatically. For example, in 2023 there were more than 65,000 such immigrants, most of whom are skilled. [1]
They thereby avoid the difficulties of doing so legally by first obtaining a U.S. job offer and then applying for a U.S. work visa (H-1B), which is time consuming and full of uncertainty. This year, for example, there were 470,000 such applications, but Congress has imposed an annual limit of 85,000 for same, resulting in a lottery.
The other option for such foreigners is to apply for asylum and five months later obtain a work permit while waiting years for a hearing on the asylum request. In fiscal 2022, 250,000 such work permits were issued.
There are many ideas for resolving these problems: (a) creating a “bridge visa” for all skill levels for states where they are most needed without a numeric cap or a lottery; (b) creating a “heartland visa” for resettlement in states suffering population loss; and (c) creating visas for a list of occupations facing critical labor shortages.
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[1] Shou, How the broken immigration system is pushing skilled workers to enter illegally, Wash, Post (July 29, 2024)
