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Chair presses panel on replacing employer‑sponsored H‑1B with points‑based 'talent' visas; panelists urge careful design
Summary
At a Joint Economic Committee hearing, the chair asked economists whether a points‑based, skills‑scored immigration system would reduce wage suppression and improve portability compared with employer‑sponsored H‑1B visas. Panelists warned that design details, fraud risks and state/local fiscal impacts matter and recommended hybrid approaches and legislative certainty.
The chair of the Joint Economic Committee pressed a panel of economists on whether the United States should move from employer‑sponsored H‑1B visas to a points‑based, skills‑scored system, saying, "the current design of H1s does have some wage suppression because it's employer sponsored and therefore this visa is functionally sponsored and owned by the employer." The chair asked whether a talent‑based points system used in countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain would be a more rational model.
Dr. Purdue told the committee that "the devil is a little bit in the details" for any points system and warned that overemphasizing particular characteristics—such as education—could create perverse incentives. He defended the H‑1B framework's role in matching employers and employees and said improving portability raises productivity and tax revenue: "when you allow portability, you raise the productivity of those…
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