New Report: Which Immigrants Succeed? Simple Facts to Guide Better Policy

America should focus on attracting and retaining high-skilled immigrants

New York, NY – The fiscal and economic benefits of high-skilled immigrants are well established. But while other high-income countries take pains to attract and retain high-skilled immigrants, the U.S. places much more emphasis on family ties. In a new report, Manhattan Institute fellow Robert VerBruggen demonstrates the price of taking this approach, recommending an alternative that would place much greater emphasis on skill while leaving overall levels of legal immigration unchanged.

VerBruggen demonstrates that some easily-identifiable factors—such as education level, occupation status, and English proficiency—are highly predictive of immigrant economic success, yielding greater tax contributions and lower welfare tolls. To harness these benefits, VerBruggen recommends revamping the legal immigration framework so that it benefits America regardless of the total number of admitted immigrants. Policy recommendations to realize that framework include:

• Establish a points system: Select immigrants by how they score on metrics that predict economic success, such as English proficiency, education level, and job title.
• Abolish lotteries: Do away with the random visa lotteries that do nothing to ensure immigration furthers the national interest.
• Diminish the primacy of family ties: Family-based green cards should be restricted to spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Family connections to individuals already here (siblings and so on) can be taken into account but should be given significantly less weight.

Read the full report here.