Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2016 announcing the release of the iPhone 7 during an event in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Hundreds of thousands of employment-based immigrants wait years for their green cards, while once again, in 2017, the H-1B cap for high-skilled professionals was exhausted within the first week. What is the reason for this explosive demand for high-skilled labor in the United States? Blame your smartphone.
Table 1: Technological Advances Since 1990
| POPULAR TECHNOLOGY TODAY | IN 1990 |
| World Wide Web* | Did not exist |
| Smartphones | Did not exist |
| Mobile Applications | Did not exist |
| Social Media | Did not exist |
| Streaming Music | Did not exist |
| Streaming Video | Did not exist |
Source: National Foundation for American Policy. *In 1990 World Wide Web did not exist for individuals on a global scale.
Back in 1990, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed the Immigration Act of 1990, which imposed new restrictions on the use of H-1 temporary visas, forming a new category known as H-1B, and placing a limit of 65,000 on the number of new H-1B visa holders each year. The new 140,000 yearly quota on employment-based green cards (for permanent residence), along with per country limits that today cause decades-long waits for Indian skilled professionals, has remained unchanged since 1990.
The problem is that many of the technological developments we take for granted today did not exist when the 1990 law was passed, and those technological advances have fueled the growth and demand for high-skilled technical labor. (See this National Foundation for American Policy report.)
The World Wide Web? It did not exist for individuals on a global scale back in 1990.
Social media? Facebook was not founded until 2004.
Streaming video? Netflix did not start its online streaming movie service until 2007.
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