Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently spoke out in favor of progressive immigration reform, and others in his industry have echoed this opinion. Zuckerberg explained in an editorial in The Washington Post that he favors a "welcoming immigration policy" for both business and personal reasons.

Zuckerberg says that his grandparents were immigrants, and came into the U.S. through Ellis Island. His concern is that today's youth, who are often brought here as young children, are not getting the same opportunities as the generations of immigrants that came before.

Additionally, he points out that it makes economic sense to reform and evolve our immigration system in today's global market. We've shifted from an economy based on natural resources to an economy based on "knowledge and ideas," he writes. And it will be important for the U.S. economy to attract the world's brightest thinkers, and particularly to retain those that are already here.

"Why do we kick out more than 40 percent of math and science graduate students who are not U.S. Citizens after educating them? Why do we offer so few H-1B visas for talented specialists that the supply runs out within days of becoming available each year?"

A recent editorial by the New York Times board agreed with that sentiment. It stated that lawmakers have mainly focused on Comprehensive Immigration Reform that entails border security and a path to citizenship for those 11 million undocumented immigrants residing here, and rightly so. But it also called for an increase in employment based visas and green cards that will allow employers to attract and retain the best workers, scientists and technology experts.The article called for flexible limits on employment visas, rather than the hard caps in the existing system.

For more information on employment and family-based visas, please contact the Law Offices of Matthew H. Green.