The World Has Changed Since 1990, U.S. Immigration Policy Has Not

Changes in technology over the past 25 years have increased the demand for high-skilled labor in America at the same time U.S. limits on high-skilled immigration have remained stuck at levels set in 1990. Before the iPhone, the iPad, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Google, back when Mark Zuckerberg was still in kindergarten, Congress passed its last major piece of legislation on high-skill immigration. The 1990 Immigration Act set in law the 140,000 quota on employment-based green cards, the per country limits that restrict Indian and Chinese immigrants, the 65,000 numerical limit on H-1B visas, along with other measures that, with only minor modifications, have not changed in 25 years. In the meantime, fundamental changes in technology and commerce – the Internet becoming a part of daily life, for example – have greatly expanded the demand for skilled technical labor as America’s immigration laws have restricted access to much of that labor at levels established 25 years ago. Many of today’s major technologies and companies did not exist nor could have been imagined by lawmakers when Congress debated the 1990 Act. The research documents the enormous changes in the U.S. economy and technology since 1990 and contrasts that with the lack of change in America’s policies on employment-based immigration.

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