Skilled immigrants leaving the U.S.

Why skilled immigrants are leaving the U.S. is a summarization of Vivek Wadhwa's research presented in BusinessWeek. I read through the article and found it to be, at best, naive. To me, it doesnt tell something that we dont know. Given the fact that it is a research work, I expected more than what is served.

However, the motivation behind this entry does not lie in the article. It lies in the comments to the article. Going through a few pages of comments that the article has received, I felt surprised at the whipping meted out to the H1B candidates. Maybe, the research article wrongfully provokes a seperatist sentiment at a time when American people have lost jobs for no consequence of their own.

However, it is important to look at the other side of the coin. A migrant worker comes seeking opportunity. H1B in particular, is an example of supply and demand. It is not one way. Being someone who has been in the same shoes, the settlement in a new land is particularly challenging for the first generation of immigrants. It is the lure of opportunity, a better tomorrow and the inherent will to explore that drives people to uproot themselves and tread the path less known. Sadly, most of us who have migrated will remain fickle life long.

The comments to the article, some unexpectedly inflammatory, drove me to ponder on the fragility of virtuous tendencies like openness and acceptance. How the varying parameters of temperature and pressure extend their effect past the lifeless world of matter and unto the human mind. It is no surprise when analysts forecast the impact of the global recession to incite social unrest.

And, irrespective of all rhetoric to shun protectionism, seems it is no to immigrants in Britain as well. How time changes everything!