Skilled Immigrants Leaving the U.S. - A Vivek Wadhwa Article
Here’s a report of how skilled immigrants are leaving the US for better opportunities and better quality of life. It is a well written report that covers almost all points. And some of the numbers are amazing - “Despite the fact that they constitute only 12% of the U.S. population, immigrants have started 52% of Silicon Valley’s technology companies and contributed to more than 25% of our global patents. They make up 24% of the U.S. science and engineering workforce holding bachelor’s degrees and 47% of science and engineering workers who have PhDs. Immigrants have co-founded firms such as Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), eBay (EBAY), and Yahoo! (YHOO).”
It isnt all rosy back home the report says - “Indians complained of traffic and congestion, lack of infrastructure, excessive bureaucracy, and pollution.”
Cannot agree more. Irrespective of anything, it is the bureaucracy that has been the most frustrating. I have had to handle many a paper work of late. Applying for a ration card, applying for an LPG connection, getting a voter’s ID card, applying for my dad’s death certificate, helping my mom pay her property tax, not looking forward to the paper work involved in transferring the house from my dad’s name to my mom’s. I considered writing a post for each of these procedures. But the drudgery of the processes themselves prevented me from blogging about them. And in comparison the ease with which we were able to do our paper work in the US. Of course, it is a pointless comparison. The traffic and everyday living arent as frustrating as knocking on Government office doors.
Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.
Filed under: R2I
Chitra, thanks for your comments. You are right that this is a big trade-off — the bureaucracy and traffic vs. the advantages of being home.
Thanks Mr. Wadhwa for dropping by.
You have very good articles on the subject. And some very interesting numbers from all the research.
“It isnt all rosy back home the report says - “Indians complained of traffic and congestion, lack of infrastructure, excessive bureaucracy, and pollution.”
Just wondering what your thoughts are on this issue…do these problems bother you? Do you ever, in hindsight, regret moving back from the US?
Also, out of curiosity, what was your motivation for the move?
I guess i am doing a little survey of my own!
Ameerkandesi, the last para summarizes my thoughts.
I have no regrets moving back, but I do miss the US … a lot. I think of calif as home and do miss it. Please go through all my posts under the R2I category,I think I have covered my thoughts about most issues here. Thanks for visiting.
I love your blog, I have completed my MBA and m’ in search for a Flat could you please give me ur suggestion, looking near to BTM.
I understand the frustration of facing bureaucracy back in Blore. But I bet that the joy of being with friends and family out do , the frustration. People moving back to India, have to cope up with this. But things will change slowly for sure. I still have 3 more years to come back to good old B’lore. I’m still in California. Good post Chitra.
I was just wondering, because we are reading mutual conflicting statements. Some media mostly Indian or Chinese authors say that US is loosing Skilled worker and they are badly in need of H1Bs. But the actual fact if you go to any US consulate or USCIS or even POE they try their level best to restrict H1B visa. So does that mean they don’t need H1Bs any more. People might say that they are doing this because there were fraud cases of H1Bs. But they are denying almost all cases including genuine cases. Their motto is to deny maximum here in USCIS level then rest at Consular level. And there is bill going on in Senate to restrict or to add more stringent rules on H1B visas. I don’t think they really need H1Bs. So I am confused.
there are pros and cons. ‘Better life’ in US versus better social life in India.
Hey Chitra,
Nice blog and good set of comments here …Last few yrs I’m unable to decide on R2I it’s like “Better life in US with social networking sites OR Better Social life in India with missing US infrastructure” …