US Heartland Visa: What it offers to foreign skilled workers to become permanent citizens of America – Investing Abroad News

A Heartland Visa program might soon become a reality, providing highly qualified workers, entrepreneurs, and inventors from all around the world with the opportunity to become permanent citizens of America.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has endorsed the Heartland Visa, a proposed visa program aimed at attracting skilled immigrants to de-industrialized heartland regions. The Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a bipartisan public policy organization, developed the visa to attract skilled immigrants to areas afflicted by de-industrialization.

Skilled immigrants, who contribute to the United States economy by creating jobs, pioneering new technologies, and solving challenges, are seen as the best and brightest individuals globally, making the U.S. the largest and most advanced economy.

Immigrants start businesses at twice the rate of native-born Americans, making them net job creators for the U.S. Economy, states an EIG report.

The resolution urges Congress to establish a Heartland Visa program, which would provide a new immigration pathway to attract highly skilled workers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to communities that are often excluded by current U.S. immigration policy.

The United States has greatly benefited from skilled immigrants. Every year, immigrants start one-quarter of all new firms, and 44 percent of Fortune 500 companies are created by immigrants or their children. Despite these advantages, the spatial distribution of economic benefits from immigration remains unequal, with the majority of skilled immigrants concentrated in a few urban centers. This disparity highlights the need for a more balanced immigration policy to stimulate local economies around the country.

The Heartland Visa is an innovative proposal that allows communities to opt-in to a new immigration pathway for highly skilled workers, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Prioritizing higher-earning applicants and those with local ties, the Heartland Visa would serve as a key component of economic revitalization in participating places.

In exchange for living in a Heartland Visa community, workers with sufficient earnings will gain permanent residency, cutting through burdensome red tape and bureaucracy embedded in the status quo immigration system.

Key Features of a Heartland Visa

Dual opt-in: Counties experiencing economic decline or stagnation can decide to opt in or out of the program, while applicants select their own destinations.

Prioritize applicants with high-wage job offers: Applicants are allocated quarterly to those with the highest job offers or earnings histories, adjusted for age and local ties.

Pathway to permanent residency: Heartland Visa holders, in exchange for living in a participating community for six years, should have an expedited path to a green card.

Scale: Heartland Visas should be large enough to fundamentally change the economic trajectory of participating communities for the better.