Selling Immigration Visas: A Market-Based Approach to Boost American Innovation

Current US immigration policy assigns the government the onus of choosing winners and losers among those seeking to immigrate to the US. This mechanism is inefficient, particularly because it excludes many talented foreign workers from filling jobs in the US technology sector, where there is a shortage of skilled workers. We advocate for a market-based approach to allocating visa slots to high-skilled foreign workers. In our model, aspiring workers can purchase an immigration visa for a sufficiently high price that provides a straightforward pathway to citizenship. This price can be paid off over time, similar to how homeowners pay their mortgage. Using the existing H-1B visa program as a model, we outline how implementing this policy would work.