US government mishandling of immigration laws leads to increasing loss of talented foreign workers who leave the US.

In a study entitled "Intellectual Property, the Immigration Backlog, and a Reverse Brain-Drain," the researchers concluded that the US government's failure to more promptly issues visas to skilled foreign professionals resulted in increasing numbers of these workers departing the US. The research identified the large number of foreign-born company founders and inventors in evaluating the magnitude of the loss to the US. The conclusion is that the US should adjust policies to reduce the immigration backlog, encourage innovative foreign minds to remain in the country, and entice new innovators to come.

See Kauffman Foundation Study Points to 'Brain-Drain' of Skilled U.S. Immigrant Entrepreneurs to Home Country, August 22, 2007, for more information.