America: Between a rock and a hard worker

I came to New York, feeling blessed that my parents would finance my education at a premier global university. Now, as I look for jobs, I feel almost unhappy that I’ve come to a nation that does not seem to embrace foreigners. I’m writing because I’d like to offer my insight to students at Columbia about an issue that could easily affect them, their friends, companies they work for, and the economy in general. It is an issue that affects me personally as an international student looking to work in finance.

A few weeks back, the Obama administration formulated a plan to ban U.S. companies currently receiving government money for hiring international students full time (these firms wouldn’t be able to sponsor H-1B visas). The government is trying to cast itself as pro-employment for citizens, and win popularity by exercising influence on the firms that are the easiest to manipulate. To be clear, I am not implying that international students are smarter or harder-working than Americans, but that the U.S. should be trying to rope in the brightest people possible, regardless of where they come from.

I was bothered because this policy would dash my summer and full-time options, but I’m not the only one affected. I can (maybe) understand the pay caps on employee bonuses, but preventing H-1B visa issuance is detrimental for several reasons.
On the soft power side, it sends a message to international students and other countries, that in bad times, the U.S. will ignore them and what they have to offer. One might argue that this kind of policy-making is not unusual for countries in desperate times, but the fact that this behavior can be common doesn’t mean it’s productive.

In fact, there is a massive sunk cost rendering the Obama administration’s policy nonsensical. America chooses to educate international students, granting many of them financial aid. These students enter the country and benefit from heavy subsidies that most universities receive either for facilities or research. If we’re going to kick these students out after such a large sunk cost, we might as well have denied them admission in the first place. Most of the international students who want to join the work force are highly skilled and would contribute substantially to the tax revenue. By denying jobs to top applicants, we also reduce the incentive for top students to come to the U.S. in the first place. Columbia’s business school, law school, and undergraduate applicant pools would all be hurt in the long run.

Additionally, this measure would create a redistribution effect. When Bank of America and Citibank don’t hire top candidates, these people don’t get good enough jobs. They will be filtered down the ladder and get offers at slightly less recognized firms, which are not in trouble. The job-sluts, like me, are just taking offers from and contributing to firms that don’t need our contributions as badly. The arrogant applicants of quality are flipping America off. As of mid-March, I’ve just taken a job away from a worthy American in an untroubled firm. Overall, in the short term, this plan hardly opens up jobs for Americans.

Less nimble or less street-smart companies are shot in the foot. They are left missing some top international candidates who would have raised productivity in their firms. Forget that these people will pay high taxes and don’t see the full benefit of living in America—the banks need to survive. Mr. Obama, if you and your lawmakers want to get us out of this crisis, why would you restrict the job applicant pool?

Now, imagine what would happen if the U.S. embraced top talents while other countries kicked them out. We would get some of Oxford and Cambridge’s finest international students. It doesn’t take too many brilliant minds and hard workers to turn a company around. But as it is right now, there sure will be some real geniuses going back to India, China, Russia, et al. this year, leaving us shaking our heads at the decision-making of our lawmakers.

The author is a junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Science majoring in applied mathematics.