Top Talent Could Lose Fast Track to U.S.

Penny Rosser, director of the international scholars office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said MIT processes as many as 20 EB-1 applications each year for leading foreign-born scholars. She would not discuss the immigration status of individual Nobel Prize winners and other luminaries at MIT, but doing away with the "fast track" system for such scholars, she said, could exacerbate green-card delays that already run up to almost three years for some applicants.

Worse, she said, the new system would greatly reduce the weight of intangible talents and scholars' fame in their fields when their applications are considered.

Critics also say U.S. companies could be at risk of losing top foreign-born talent to overseas competitors. Elizabeth E. Stern, an immigration lawyer at Baker & McKenzie in Washington, said one of her clients is in the process of getting EB-1 status to head one of seven divisions of a major electronics manufacturer in Silicon Valley. Like several top executives in his field, she said, the client -- whom she would not name -- does not have advanced degrees.

"This guy is one of a half-dozen people in this world who is up to the job of heading a division of a multibillion-dollar behemoth. Now you're going to say that because he has no degree he doesn't have enough points to stay?" Stern said. "These are exceptional people, and by not treating them as such this country stands to lose."

In the balance, observers say, are people such as Jasvindar Singh, 42, an interventional cardiologist from Fiji who got a green card this year after receiving "extraordinary ability" status in 2006. While in the United States on a series of temporary visas, he pioneered a treatment for inserting a specific kind of tubing into arteries to treat heart blockages.

"You have people who have new ideas, who are involved in teaching local people to advance medical care," Singh said. "Extraordinary ability status helps not only them, but also their students, their patients and medicine at large. And those are the people you cannot lump together with people applying for family reasons or economic reasons just to get into this country."

Professional sports organizations, agents and players groups are still assessing the bill's potential impact, but the short-term effects would probably vary across fields and skill levels. Most foreign-born professional baseball players, for instance, come to the United States on temporary "team" visas that anticipate their ultimate return to their home nations. But some -- including the Yankees right fielder, Abreu, according to his agent -- have used EB-1 status to gain permanent residency. That avenue would become far tougher for many sports stars who do not have advanced degrees and excellent English skills.

Barry Frank, a top official at IMG, which represents sports, fashion and entertainment personalities, said: "Look, baseball is basically becoming a Hispanic game. And don't forget who their employers are -- men of considerable means and power. The owners are not going to let their stars get away because of some silly Washington law. I think you're going to hear some noise."