This is the first of a three part series looking at the origins of Silicon Valley and how it became synonymous with technological innovation. The first pillar of Silicon Valley’s success is immigration. We bring on Alex Nowrasteh to discuss how immigration reform in the 1960s opened the door to a wave of skilled engineers and entrepreneurs from around the globe. Even today, a significant portion of tech startups are founded and staffed by foreign-born talent.

However, the recent turn towards immigration restrictionism is worsening the already problematic bottleneck on attracting global expertise to the US. Caleb Watney joins us to talk about how the flawed H-1B visa system is responsible both for worsening that shortage and for widening a competitive moat around the Big Tech companies that have the resources to navigate the visa morass.

What is the H-1B visa? Does our immigration system favor entrepreneurship? How many American college students are immigrants? What does our student visa system look like?

Further Reading:

Why Silicon Valley Wouldn’t Work Without Immigrants, written by Farhad Manjoo

Tech as We Know It Would Not Exist Without Immigrants, written by Tom Humberstone

Why We Need State‐​Based Immigration Visas, written by Alex Nowrasteh

Related Content:

You Are Now Free to Move About the Planet, Free Thoughts Podcast

Trump’s Immigration Crackdown, Free Thoughts Podcast

The Libertarian Argument for Open Borders, written by Grant Babcock

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