My Visa Whine (Ongoing) E1 and H1 status

We have HUGE numbers of foreign doctors, nurses, and technicians. Are they smarter, more motivated, or more dedicated to study than their  US counterparts? No.

While federal grants, loans, and other financial aid do a good job of paying for education including very basic housing and living expenses, very few students from families of modest means manage to get through without working part of full-time. At the point that they reach graduation the idea of more school is mortifying. The process for getting into medical school is daunting. Even then many very qualified candidates are turned down due to the limits in the capacity of our medical schools. We don't have the capability to train more doctors here.

Now to nurses. Our problem in nursing is even worse. The biggest problem is that our brightest students do not even consider nursing. Why? It is still viewed at the high school level as a vocational program. Here in Texas the majority of the nursing programs are still in our community colleges. There are BSN and Even MSN programs, but still most beginning RN's are taught through vocational departments at our community colleges. Nursing students as a whole are older. They are the back to school types. RN's with 5 years of experience make 60K a year or more. Teachers make 40. A whole lot of Junior attorneys make less.

It is true we need more Doctors, Nurses and even engineers. We need to be training US students for these jobs. The key is be able to create capacity we need to pay teachers as much as they would make in practicing their craft. How do we pay for that? Clearly the flow of state and federal funds are stretched to their breaking point. The cost of a degree is outstripping the ability of the students to repay. Lenders are hesitant to loan students more as their education concludes as it is. Obviously higher tuition is not the sole criterion.

Here is a big part of the answer. Make the entities hiring these immigrants pay 10% of their total compensation or $20,000 per year whichever is greater.  Literally have the imported labor pay for the next generation of students. It may create a reduction in the availability of providers, but I think it would create a training thrust to offset it after only a year or two. My bet is that part of the reason they hire these professionals is as much about making more money as it is about having more providers.

We have to reduce the number of highly paid immigrants. To do this we have to train qualified American students!