A new bill introduced to the Senate on Wednesday (May 16) will make it easier for international graduate students studying science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) to obtain jobs and become permanent residents after graduating. Known as the SMART Jobs Act, the bill proposes that foreign-born students are allowed to remain in the United States for a year after graduation, and, once employed full-time, undergo an expedited process to achieve permanent legal status.
“Many of the world’s most talented young people come to the United States to obtain their masters or doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering and math,” according to the bill, which is sponsored by Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander and Chris Coons, a Democrat of Delaware. “Too many of those students are then forced to leave the United States to pursue their ideas and innovations elsewhere because of an outdated immigration system that hasn’t adapted to the...