Bill that seeks to lift green card cap amended to protect US 06-21

Eliminating the country quota from the most sought-after Green Cards will end the current discrimination in the US labour market, but would allow countries like India and China to dominate the path to American citizenship, according to the latest Congressional report.
Having a Green Card allows a person to live and work permanently in the United States.
Indian-Americans, most of whom are highly skilled and come to the US mainly on the H-1B work visas, are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system which imposes a seven per cent per country quota on allotment of Green Cards or the Legal Permanent Residency (LPR).

The bipartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), an independent research wing of Congress, said if the per-country cap for employment-based immigrants was removed, many expects that Indian and Chinese nationals would dominate the flow of new employment-based LPRs for as many years as needed to clear out the accumulated queue of prospective immigrants from those countries.

This queue would include those with approved employment-based immigrant petitions waiting to file either a visa  .. 

The CRS regularly prepares reports on various issues for the lawmakers to take informed decisions.

A copy of the report 'Permanent Employment-Based Immigration and the Per-country Ceiling' dated December 21 was made available to PTI, ahead of the new Congress beginning January 3, wherein several lawmakers are planning to introduce a legislation to eliminate per-country quota for issuing Green Cards to foreign nationals. 

As of April 2018, a total of 306,601 Indian nationals – mostly IT professionals – were waiting in line for Green Cards, according to the USCIS figures. 

Indians constitute 78 per cent of the 395,025 foreign nationals waiting for Green Cards in just one category of employment-based LPR applications.

Due to the cap, the current wait period for the majority of Indians to get a Green Card is nine and half years, the CRS said, adding this could increase or decrease further depending on the number of new applications every year. India is followed by China with 67,031 in line for Green Cards.

Lawmakers favouring eliminating the per-country cap contend that such circumstances effectively encourage employers to sponsor prospective employment-based immigrants primarily from India.

Proponents argue that removing the per-country ceiling from employment-based immigrants would "level the playing field" by making immigrants from all countries more equally attractive to employers, the CRS said. 

According to the CRS, eliminating the per-country ceiling would reduce certain queues of prospective immigrants more quickly, and remove the perceived employer incentive to choose nationals from these countries over other countries. 

"Shorter wait times for LPR status might actually incentivise greater numbers of nationals from India, China and the Philippines to seek employment-based LPR status. If that were to occur, the reduction in the number of approved petitions pending might be short-lived.

"A handful of countries could conceivably dominate employment-based immigration, possibly benefitting certain industries that employ foreign workers from those countries, at the expense of foreign workers from other countries and other industries that might employ them," the CRS said. 

Because the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) grants LPRs the ability to sponsor family members through its family-sponsorship provisions, removing the per-country ceiling would alter, to an unknown extent, the country-of-origin composition of subsequent family-based immigrants acquiring LPR status each year, it said. 

Changes in the country's demographic profile tilted towards people from one part of the world, was one of the prime reasons for the current per country quota. This, on the other hand, restricts the flow of the best talented foreign workers.

The INA allocates 140,000 visas annually for all five employment-based LPR categories, roughly 12 per cent of the 1.1 million LPRs admitted in fiscal 2017. It further limits each immigrant-sending country to an annual maximum of seven per cent of all employment-based LPR admissions, known as the per-country ceiling, or "cap". 

Two popular employment-based pools of foreign nationals, who have been approved as employment-based immigrants but must wait for statutorily limited visa numbers, totalled in excess of 900,000 as of mid-2018. Most originate from India, followed by China and the Philippines, the CRS said.

Some employers maintain that they continue to need skilled foreign workers to remain internationally competitive and to keep their firms in the US, it said. 

Proponents of increasing employment-based immigration levels argue it is vital for economic growth. Opponents cite the lack of compelling evidence of labour shortages and argue that the presence of foreign workers can negatively impact wages and working conditions in the US, the CRS said.

"Some argue that eliminating the per-country ceiling would increase the flow of high-skilled immigrants from countries such as India and China, who are often employed in the US technology sector, without increasing the total annual admission of employment-based LPRs," it added.

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Switzerland leads the 5th consecutive edition of the IMD World Talent Ranking 11-22

Image credit : Shyam's Imagination Library.

The 2018 edition of one of the world’s foremost reports on the quality of international workforces h
as been released, with Western Europe dominating the top-10

IMD's fifth edition of the World Talent Ranking 2018 assesses the extent to which countries develop, attract and retain talent to sustain the pool that enterprises employ to create long-term value
Canada is the only non-European nation in top-10

The full ranking is available here

Lausanne, Switzerland 19 November 2018 - Switzerland in first and Denmark in second, firmly lead the IMD World Talent Ranking 2018 for the fifth year in a row, followed by Norway, Austria and the Netherlands. Norway joins the top three, advancing four places up from last year, thanks to an improvement in public expenditure on education and the readiness of its talent pool. Canada (6th), Finland (7th), Sweden (8th), Luxembourg (9th), and Germany (10th) complete the top 10.
The Slovak Republic (59th), Colombia (60th), Mexico (61st), Mongolia (62nd), and Venezuela (63rd) are the last countries in the ranking.

“Since 2014, the Talent Ranking assesses how the 63 economies we study develop, attract and retain highly-skilled professionals. Cultivating a skilled and educated workforce is crucial to strengthening competitiveness and achieving long-term prosperity, particularly in the current dynamic landscape where artificial intelligence, robotics and other new technologies constantly redefine the challenges that governments, businesses and society in general will have to face in the future,” said Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center. “This year the most successful countries in talent competitiveness are mainly European, mid-size economies. Moreover, these countries share high levels of investment in education and quality of life,” concludes Arturo Bris.

The IMD World Talent Ranking 2018, which has just been released from the Singapore edition of IMD’s signature program Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP), evaluates the capability of 63 countries in developing, attracting and retaining talent. The assessment is based on three factors: Investment and Development, Appeal, and Readiness. These factors include indicators that capture the resources invested in developing local talent, the extent to which a country attracts and retains talent, and the quality of skills available in the talent pool.

Hard data and responses to the IMD Executive Opinion Survey are used to produce the ranking. The latter annual survey compiles input from over six thousand executives based in 63 different economies.

Western Europe leads, Eastern Europe lags, North America gives strong performance

This year, Switzerland once again confirms its role as an important global talent hub. It ranks 4th in Investment and Development, and 1st in both the Appeal and Readiness factors. In addition, several European countries fall within the 25 most competitive with respect to talent. Belgium (11th), Cyprus (15th), Portugal (17th), Ireland (21st), United Kingdom (23rd), and France (25th) complete this list.
With the exception of Estonia (28th), Slovenia (30th), and Latvia (33rd), Eastern European countries generally place in the lower part of the ranking. For instance, Slovak Republic (59th), Bulgaria (57th), and Romania (56th) underperform in attracting highly skilled workers from abroad and they also face problems in retaining their locally-grown talent.

Canada (6th) is the only non-European country in the top ten, rising from 11th place, lifted by an improvement in the quality of its talent pool. The USA (12th) also moves up with respect to last year showing advancements in all three talent factors.

Singapore and Hong Kong SAR lead in Asia Pacific

In Asia, Singapore (13th), Hong Kong SAR (18th) and Malaysia (22nd) achieve the best placements in terms of talent competitiveness. While the two city-states continue to excel in tapping into the international talent pool, Malaysia instead focuses on investments in education to develop its homegrown skilled workforce. Taiwan (27th) prioritizes the attraction and retention of talent, Japan improves (29th) due to the availability of skilled labor and the effectiveness of its education system and South Korea advances (33rd) partly due to increased government expenditure on education and improvements in the implementation of apprenticeships programs and employee training. China (39th) places in the second half of the ranking, because of its difficulties in attracting foreign skilled workers paired with a level of public expenditure in education that remains below the average of other advanced economies. Kazakhstan (40th) and Thailand (42nd) also fall in the second half of the ranking, partly due to their performance in the readiness of domestic talent.

In the Pacific area, Australia (14th) and New Zealand (20th) confirm their role as talent-appealing hubs. Both countries show high levels of readiness in their talent pool and offer attractive quality of life for international professionals.

Latin America struggles.

At the bottom of the ranking are several Latin American countries. These economies are struggling to develop and retain talent. Venezuela (63rd), Mexico (61st), Colombia (60th) and Brazil (58th) all share issues related to brain drain, matched by a relatively low level of investment in education.
In annex: detailed region and country-specific information.

Switzerland

Switzerland tops the talent ranking for the fifth consecutive year confirming its role as an important global talent hub. It ranks 4th in Investment and Development, and 1st in both the Appeal and Readiness factors.

The country ranks 1st in apprenticeships, health infrastructure, highly-skilled foreign personnel, remuneration in the services professions, remuneration of management, the education system, university education and management education. Other strengths include international experience (2nd), retaining human capital (2nd), and quality of life (3rd). The latter, however, shows a slight decline this year.

Switzerland’s lowest rankings at the indicator level are in cost-of-living (59th), labor force growth (38th), pupil-teacher ratio in primary education (30th) and female labor force (26th). There has been an increase in negative perceptions of the prioritization that the private sector gives to attracting and retaining talent which drops to 12th (from 4th).

Nordic countries

Denmark ranks 2nd in the overall ranking. Norway takes 3rd place, Finland and Sweden come in at 7th and 8th respectively. Iceland, the only Nordic country ranked outside the top 10, is 16th.
For the third consecutive year, Denmark ranks 1st in the Investment and Development Factor. The country improves three places in the Appeal factor in which it ranks 7th. However, it drops 4 places in the Readiness factor to 8th. Norway improves its performance in all factors, ranking 3rd, 12th and 10th in Investment and Development, Appeal and Readiness, respectively. Finland rises in the Appeal factor (21st) and decreases two positions in both the Investment and Development (7th), and Readiness (7th) factors. Conversely, Sweden remains 9th in Investment and Development, and improves to 9th in Appeal and 15th in Readiness (from 12th and 19th, respectively).

At the factor level, Nordic countries all have their best performance in Investment and Development. Here they are all highly ranked in total public expenditure. Norway, Finland and Denmark rank 2nd, 6th and 7th (respectively) in health infrastructure. In the employee training indicator, Denmark is 1st and Norway reaches 5th place.

In the Appeal factor, most Nordic countries are perceived to have high quality of life and be successful in attracting and retaining talent. Nevertheless, high cost of living and high personal income tax rates may constrain the Nordics from further strengthening their talent pools.
In Readiness, the region ranks high in the availability of finance and language skills. Denmark, Norway and Finland perform well in the effectiveness of their education systems in general, and specifically in management education as well as science in schools. Notably, the indicator capturing the availability of senior managers with international experience is one of the weakest points in the performance of Norway (34th) and Iceland (51st).

Spain

Spain is positioned (31st) in the top half of the annual IMD World Talent Ranking.
Among Western-European countries, it ranks ahead of only Italy (32nd) and Greece (44th). However, Spain performs better than almost all Eastern European countries with the exception of Estonia (28th) and Slovenia (30th).

In the Investment and Development factor, Spain drops from 30th to 36th. While in the Appeal factor Spain remains in the 25th spot. In the Readiness factor it improves slightly from 41st to 40th.
The Investment and Development factor includes one of Spain’s key strengths; in the health infrastructure indicator, it ranks 9th. However, this factor also shows some of its main weaknesses. The country ranks 58th in employee training and 55th in the implementation of apprenticeships. This may explain Spain’s relatively poor performance in Investment and Development.

Key strengths lie in Spain’s Appeal factor. In both, the remuneration of management and the quality of life indicators, Spain ranks 19th. Although this factor highlights the need to prioritize attracting and retaining talent (58th position).

Within the Readiness factor, Spain’s performance in indicators assessing the effectiveness of university and management education and the availability of competent senior managers, shows steady improvement since 2016. Yet, there are some weaknesses in this factor. For example, in labor force growth, Spain ranks 53rd and in language skills, it comes in at 52nd.

Eastern-Europe

With the exception of Estonia (28th) and Slovenia (30th), Eastern European countries generally place in the lower part of the ranking.

Estonia improves slightly this year. It ranks 16th in Investment and Development, 33rd in Appeal, and 31st in Readiness. It progresses five ranks in the Appeal factor mainly due to improvements in worker motivation, the impact of brain drain, and the country’s attractiveness for highly-skilled foreign personnel. In the Readiness factor, Estonia also moves up four ranks as a result of an upturn in positive perceptions of the availability of finance skills, executives with international experience, competent senior managers, language skills, and the effectiveness of the education system.

Slovenia moves from 37th to 30th place. It ranks 27th in Investment and Development, 42nd in Appeal and 29th in Readiness. The country’s ranking improvements arise from more positive executive opinions about the private sector’s prioritization of attracting and retaining talent, quality of life, and availability of senior managers with international experience and language skills. There are some worrying signs for the future development of the country’s talent pool. It ranks 59th in the implementation of apprenticeships and 56th in the country’s attractiveness for highly-skilled overseas staff.

Elsewhere in the region, other countries improve to different degrees: the Czech Republic ranks 37th, Ukraine 48th, Hungary 49th and Croatia 54th. Ukraine’s strong performance in moving out of the bottom five originates mainly in gains in the implementation of apprenticeships, emphasis on employee training and the effectiveness of its health infrastructure. In addition, Ukraine improves in the prioritization of attracting and retaining talent, availability of a skilled labor force, financial skills and competent senior managers.

Conversely, Lithuania (33rd to 36th), Poland (34th to 38th), and Russia (43rd to 46th) all decline.
At the lower end of the ranking, Romania (56th), Bulgaria (57th), and the Slovak Republic (59th) all decline in the Investment and Development factor. In the Appeal factor, the Slovak Republic and Bulgaria drop, and Romania rises. While Bulgaria and Romania slightly improve in the Readiness factor, the Slovak Republic drops several ranks because of a deterioration across all components of the factor.

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Won't Allow H1B Visa Holders To Replace US Workers: Donald Trump 12-10

Image credit : Shyam's Imagination Library


WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump has said he would not allow Americans to be replaced by foreign workers, in an apparent reference to cases like that of Disney World and other American companies wherein people hired on H-1B visas, including Indians, displaced US workers. 

"We will fight to protect every last American life," Mr Trump told thousands of his supporters in Iowa on Thursday as he referred to the cases of Disney world and other US companies.

"During the campaign I also spent time with American workers who were laid off and forced to train. The foreign workers brought in to replace them. We won't let this happen anymore," Mr Trump vowed amidst cheers and applause from the audience.

"Can you believe that? You get laid off and then they won't give you your severance pay unless you train the people that are replacing you. I mean, that's actually demeaning maybe more than anything else," he said.

Disney World and two outsourcing companies have been slapped with a federal lawsuit by two of its former technology staff, alleging that they conspired to displace American workers with cheaper foreign labour brought to the US on H-1B visas, mostly from India.

The two employees - Leo Perrero and Dena Moore - were among 250 Disney tech workers laid off from their jobs at Walt Disney World in Orlando in January 2015. They have also dragged two IT companies HCL Inc and Cognizent Technologies into this class action lawsuit.

"You know the name of one of the companies that's doing it. I'm going to be nice because we're trying to get that company back. Don't forget much harder when a company announced a year and a half ago - some of these companies, like Carrier, they announced long before I even knew I was going to be running for president," Mr Trump said.

On immigration, Mr Trump reiterated that he will build the wall along the Mexico border.
"We will put an end to illegal immigration and stop the drugs from pouring into our country, the drugs are pouring into our country, poisoning our youth and plenty of other people," he said.
"We will stop the drugs from pouring into our country. We will stop the drugs from poisoning our great and beautiful and loving youth. OK? We'll do it," he said, adding that the Trump administration will stop the violence that is "spilling across our border."


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THE SHOCKING STATS ABOUT WHO'S REALLY STARTING COMPANIES IN AMERICA 08-15

THE SHOCKING STATS ABOUT WHO'S REALLY STARTING COMPANIES IN AMERICA

FULLY A THIRD OF VENTURE-BACKED COMPANIES THAT WENT PUBLIC BETWEEN 2006 AND 2012 HAD AT LEAST ONE IMMIGRANT FOUNDER AT THE HELM. ARIANNA HUFFINGTON AND OTHER PROMINENT ENTREPRENEURS ON WHY THE U.S. NEEDS TO GET CREATIVE ABOUT IMMIGRATION POLICY.

What do Google’s Sergey Brin  , eBay’s Pierre Omidyar  , and Tesla Motors’sElon Musk all have in common? Each of these serial entrepreneurs who founded companies that have market caps in the tens or hundreds of billions--employing tens of thousands of workers--were born outside the U.S. From Yahoo to Facebook and LinkedIn, each of these innovative companies that have played such a large role in the U.S. economy had at least one founder that was born abroad and then emigrated to the United States.

Immigrants today are more than twice as likely to found businesses as their native-born counterparts and are responsible for more than 25% of all new business creation and related job growth  . And while some of these immigrant-led businesses are next-generation startups and small businesses, many actually top the charts when it comes to America’s largest companies. 

Currently, more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies   were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, according to a study by The Partnership for a New American Economy  , a group of governors and business leaders launched by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Australian media heavyweight Rupert Murdoch. 

Yet today, more than 200 years after the U.S. declared independence and threw open its doors to immigrants looking for freedom and a chance to realize their potential, the land of opportunity has been inching its doors shut.

THIRTY-THREE PERCENT OF VENTURE-BACKED COMPANIES THAT WENT PUBLIC BETWEEN 2006 AND 2012 HAD AT LEAST ONE IMMIGRANT FOUNDER AT THE HELM.

A recent study   put out by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) found that venture-backed companies with at least one foreign-born founder are responsible for an increasing amount of IPOs and subsequent job creation.

 The study concluded that 33% of venture-backed companies that went public between 2006 and 2012 had at least one immigrant founder   at the helm. The study also found that those public, venture-backed companies with at least one immigrant founder represent a market capitalization of $900 billion.

These revenue-generating machines are an enormous boost to the U.S. economy--contributing to the GDP, paying taxes to help lower the U.S. debt, creating domestic jobs (immigrant-founded, venture-backed public companies employ approximately 600,000 people globally with the majority of jobs created in the U.S.) and helping to lift up the standard of living overall.

When I asked Mark Heesen, president of NVCA, why immigration reform is so important not only altruistically for immigrants looking for opportunity but actually selfishly for the U.S. economy, he said: “As Congress debates comprehensive immigration reform, understanding the contributions of high-skilled, foreign-born entrepreneurs to our country is imperative to ensuring meaningful changes to our system. 

These individuals have founded many of America’s most successful companies, keeping jobs, market value, and innovation here in the United States. Our policies must not only accept, but welcome the next generation of immigrant entrepreneurs who are making even greater strides in starting and growing amazing companies.”

But let America’s immigrant entrepreneurs speak for themselves. From the Greek-born founder of The Huffington Post to the Romanian-born CTO of SAP turned founder of Tidemark, the six entrepreneurs below share one important thing: a unique perspective and way of seeing the world that only growing up on the outside can bring.

CHRISTIAN GHEORGHE: ROMANIAN-BORN NYC LIMO DRIVER TURNED FOUNDER AND CEO OF TIDEMARK

Christian Gheorghe, founder and CEO, Tidemark  , who was previously the CTO and SVP at SAP, immigrated to the U.S. from communist Romania with a master’s degree in computer science and mechanical engineering. To make ends meet--and learn English at the same time--Gheorghe took a job in NYC as a limo driver. But this highly educated and hardworking immigrant didn’t let language barriers or low-skilled jobs set him back--they only motivated him.

"In retrospect, not knowing English when I first arrived at the modern version of Ellis Island--a brightly lit immigration room at JFK airport--was a blessing in disguise. Freedom, the first word I ever learned by listening to Pink Floyd records in communist Romania before escaping to America, was one of the few English words I did know and muttered to the immigration officer when he asked me, ‘Why are you here?’

“I learned later what great things an open and benevolent American immigration policy can really do for oppressed people such as myself. One thing is for sure: At that moment, as the wall was coming down, I was given a chance to be free. Freedom, as it turns out, has shaped everything in my life since I was allowed to immigrate to America.

“From learning how to drive a limo in NYC to make ends meet, to later writing software and starting companies to realize the vision I have for analytics for the many, a common thread emerges. The most amazing thing that America has given to me is the gift of freedom to build something from nothing, to find and work with teams of people that share common values, and to build and create value that matters,” says Gheorghe.

IQRAM MAGDON-ISMAIL: ZIMBABWE-BORN, U.S. BRED, COFOUNDER OF VENMO

Born in Zimbabwe to parents of Sri Lankan descent, Magdon-Ismail said his experience as an immigrant in the U.S. was very different from the experiences of his friends who immigrated to the U.S. and weren't lucky enough to become citizens.

“I came to America when I was in the 7th grade. I feel very lucky to have become a U.S. citizen before I went to college--I was automatically granted citizenship when my mom became a citizen because I was under 18. Some of my friends in college didn't have citizenship status, and I found myself planning my career differently. I didn't require a special visa to stay and work in the U.S., whereas some of my college friends did. I knew after I graduated, the doors were wide open for me. 

I was free to explore, and start my own company. Some of my friends were dependent on company sponsorship in order to stay in the U.S. This seems like a good position for companies with enough wherewithal to sponsor students, yet still represents a minor inequality because the spectrum of companies I could work for versus some of my friends was slightly different.

“Venmo   welcomes immigrants. They bring unique insight to our company because of their diverse experiences. I was immersed in a very different environment growing up and going to school in Zimbabwe. My immigrant perspective helps Venmo consider different markets, and a lot of the social encounters I had outside the U.S. continue to inspire some of the innovation you see in our product today. Nowadays, companies like Venmo can quickly reach global audiences. We want people from everywhere in the world to join our team.

“It would be nice if some of our immigration reform focused on helping international students pursue their dreams in America. I have met lots of bright students forced to leave the country because they didn’t have appropriate working status. America is the land of opportunity, and international students with lots of potential are like all other students that attend U.S. universities--we should do whatever we can to keep these amazing people here.”

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: GREEK-BORN, BRITISH-EDUCATED, AMERICAN MEDIA MAVEN

Arianna Huffington, the Greek-born entrepreneur and founder of The Huffington Post  --which was sold to AOL for $315 million in 2011--brought with her the values her mother instilled in her when she was a young girl growing up in Greece as she immigrated to London and then the U.S., first moving to New York and later settling in California. 

The ambitious socialite turned political candidate turned businesswoman and media maven now runs one of the most influential and well-read publications in the U.S.--a publication that has an entire section dedicated to the topic of immigration.

“In the preamble to the Constitution, we are told that America is constantly moving toward a more perfect union, and the 40 million immigrants in the United States are a central part of that never-ending journey. Nowhere is that more evident than in our community of immigrant entrepreneurs.

“When I was growing up in Athens, my mother would tell me, ‘Failure isn't the opposite of success; it's a stepping stone to success,’ and when I came to America, I was given many opportunities to fail my way to eventual success. But my story is just one of millions. And it falls to all of us--especially those of us who have come here and started businesses--to do whatever we can to make sure the same opportunities we've enjoyed are there for the immigrants of today and tomorrow.”

RENAUD LAPLANCHE: FRENCH SAILING CHAMPION TURNED FOUNDER AND CEO OF LENDING CLUB

Renaud Laplanche, the French-born serial entrepreneur who in addition to founding two successful companies also happens to be a two-time French sailing champion and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, initially came to the U.S. as part of a one-year assignment with the New York law firm Cleary Gottlieb. But halfway into the assignment, the entrepreneur left the firm to found TripleHop Technologies, a leading software firm that was acquired by Oracle in 2005. 

But he didn’t stop there. In 2007, Laplanche founded Lending Club   because his perspective of consumer credit growing up in France was vastly different than consumer credit in the U.S.--and he wanted to bring a friendlier credit model to his new home in America.

“My cultural background played a key role in the genesis of Lending Club. As an immigrant, I was not familiar with U.S. consumer credit and was shocked when I realized that credit card companies charge 18% interest rates. I was looking at this with a fresh pair of eyes because there is no such thing as credit cards in France, and consumer loans are a lot more affordable. I think most American consumers got used to the idea of paying high interest rates on credit cards, but for me it was something really new and that made me question the efficiency of the system and gave me the idea for Lending Club.”

PETER WEIJMARSHAUSEN: DUTCH FOUNDER OF SHAPEWAYS

Dutch-born Peter Weijmarshausen founded Shapeways   in 2007 within the Philips Electronics Lifestyle Incubator. Three years later, the immigrant entrepreneur left the incubator after securing venture funding for his 3-D printing marketplace, which is headquartered in New York. Now, Weijmarshausen is working to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., enabling a community where people can create, share, buy, and sell their own 3-D-printed designs.

"A company is nothing without its people and, as it stands, the freedom for employees to work wherever best suits them is not always supported by international immigration laws. Shapeways was started in the Netherlands and, after three years, we decided to move our headquarters to New York, which presented me immediately with the challenge of immigrating to the United States. We're an international startup with a team still in the Netherlands and offices and a factory in New York. 

The team has roots from all over the world, and in the end we've managed to work within the bounds of the existing processes. But making them easier and more flexible will help Shapeways and other companies grow and compete in an increasingly global economy and internationally expansive workplace, both of which have been enabled by new information technologies."

PHIL JABER: FOUNDER OF PHILZ COFFEE

Phil Jaber, the founder of the hugely popular Bay Area-based Philz Coffee  , says the values he grew up with in the Middle East are the same values that have led to his success in America. 

With 13 coffee shops spanning San Francisco and the Bay Area, Philz employs roughly 300 people and single-handedly fuels many of area’s entrepreneurs, startup founders, and tech giants from Facebook--which has a Philz coffee shop at headquarters--to Virgin America--which serves Philz coffee on its flights.

“I immigrated to the United States in the 1960s because I was looking for a better life. My older brother was already living in California and had opened his own business--so I moved out here and helped him around the shop. But from an early age, I knew I wanted to open my own business.

“Running a business isn’t just about the money. To be successful in business, you must really love what you do and you must treat people well--whether they’re your team members or your customers. My business is all about word of mouth--one person tells another person and quickly word spreads. So it’s important to treat each person the way you would want to be treated--after all, we all come from under the canopy of heaven.” Canopy of Heaven is coincidentally the name of one of the flavorful brews of coffee at Philz.

“Before opening my first shop, I visited more than 1,100 coffee shops to observe what worked and what didn’t work--I wanted to make sure that the culture and environment I was fostering at my coffee shop was a diverse, culture-rich, and welcoming one. From a young age growing up in Ramallah [on the West Bank], I learned how to live with and respect people of all cultures, and I wanted my coffee shops to reflect that. At Philz, we work to foster an environment that builds culture and community--an environment that helps people connect with each other.”

As I sat with Phil at his 24th Street location in New York, it was clear that his coffee shops were hubs of connection, collaboration, and diversity, as he pointed out a group of tech entrepreneurs drinking coffee during a brainstorming session, introduced me to a local doctor, and smiled looking at the young couple dancing in line to the café music.

“My heritage, culture, and family have played a big role in the way I run my shops,” Phil says, pulling out a laminated quote his father had written for him more than a decade ago that read: “Let the life I live speak for me."

LET THEM IN.

As Americans, we all have immigrant friends who have personally made our lives richer. And we’ve all heard their stories of going through the immigration process, of the lengthy and tiresome process of obtaining an H-1B visa and eventually becoming citizens. We’ve heard too many times their worried voices when discussing whether or not they’d be able to stay in the country if they wanted to quit their job and start their own business—the same risks we as citizens are encouraged to take--or what would happen if they got laid off and were out of a job for more than a month. Would they be sent back home?

As the daughter of parents who emigrated from Iran and started their lives in the U.S. from scratch, literally bringing with them only two suitcases and the clothes on their back, I understand too well how much hardworking and educated immigrants like my parents really want to be here, how hard they will work to succeed, and how much our country will benefit as a result of letting them in.

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