Welcome to the Usavis.org Newsletter!
June, 2005

American scientists have always contributed greatly to the global scientific community. From recent Nobel Prize winners to Albert Einstein, American citizens have been spearheading the exploration of scientific frontier since the United States first appeared on the world map.

Only recently, the objectors to immigration in the United States are starting to notice that the most important American scientists were born outside the country. In fact, these scientists are so important that about one third of the U.S Nobel Prize laureates were immigrants.

When presented with the question of what attracts them specifically to the United-States, foreign scientists list the chance to work with the world's best scientific resources and equipment at the top, followed by the fact that universities provide financial support for scientists-in-training. Additional reasons include the starting salary in the United States (often triple those offered in other countries), government and private grants for young scientists and, of course, the American culture which welcomes and accepts people of all nationalities.

The options for foreign scientists to stay in the United States today are limited, based first and foremost on “outstanding academic achievement”. Yet foreign scientists struggle hard to keep their place inside the country to allow themselves the same opportunities American-born scientists and their children get.

A Nation of Immigrants
The problem these scientists face today is the immigration policy’s popularity decline in the United States, led by widely held views that the country should invest in local-born scientists and not foreign researchers.

Although history has taught us differently, for example by the fact that three quarters of German Nobel Prize winners have immigrated to the United States, officials in-charge of immigration policies are trying to limit the amount of permits issued to foreigners, regardless of their academic, scientific and industrial importance to the United States. As Stuart Anderson, Executive Director of the National Foundation for American Policy, said: “If opponents of immigration had succeeded over the past 20 years, two thirds of the most outstanding future American scientists and mathematicians would not be in the United States today, because U.S policy would have barred their parents from entering the United States.”