Immigration Lottery Design: Engineered and Coincidental Consequences of H-1B Reforms / Parag A. Pathak, Alex Rees-Jones, Tayfun Sönmez.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pathak, Parag A.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Rees-Jones, Alex.

Sönmez, Tayfun.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w26767.

NBER working paper series no. w26767

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Immigration Lottery Design

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2020.

Summary:

The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 dictates an annual allocation of 85,000 visas with 20,000 reserved for advanced-degree applicants. We represent the main requirements of this legislation as formal axioms and characterize visa allocation rules consistent with the axioms. Despite the precise number reserved, we show that the range of implementations satisfying these axioms can change the allocation of advanced-degree visas by as much as 14,000 in an average year. Of all rules satisfying these axioms, the 2019 rule imposed by executive order is most favorable to advanced-degree holders. However, two earlier modifications resulted in larger changes, potentially unintentionally.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2020.