Explaining the Startup Act 2.0

Southern California Public Radio
June 5, 2012

What is the cleverly-named legislation called Startup Act 2.0? The bill being announced tomorrow by members of Congress is the House version of a Senate bill introduced last month, which simply put makes it easier for foreigners who obtain advanced degrees to stay in the United States.

The idea is to make it easier for these individuals to stay after finishing their studies and start businesses, rather than joining the exodus of foreign graduates who head back after their visas expire to their home countries to work, or who (along with some American-born children of immigrants) are drawn to jobs in the burgeoning tech sectors of countries like India and China.

The two bills target graduates in the fields of what’s referred to as STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. Recent research has suggested that within six years, should educational trends continue, U.S. businesses will be faced with a shortage of native STEM-trained graduates coming out of American universities. While not everyone agrees, according to one recent report, as STEM-related jobs increase, by 2018 the U.S. is projected to have a shortfall of around 230,000 qualified advanced degree holders in STEM fields to fill them.

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