If H1B ends, should we be happy?

H1B whacked?

A new bill in Washington aimed at tightening the rules for companies in the U.S. that hire skilled workers from abroad could threaten the business model for outsourcing firms... Top executives at [Indian outsourcing firms] say the legislation could also escalate into a trade dispute between India and the U.S.

I'm not a big fan of the H1B. Most people don't like it because it seems to take US jobs from us locals, especially IT jobs. I also think it puts the H1B workers in a bad spot where their sponsor wields too much power over them.

But, think about general immigration policy. If you could design a policy that carried high economic benefit to your country, it would only bring in these kinds of people:

1. highly-skilled professionals. This helps our companies bring better and more innovative products to market. From the perspective of the countries that these people leave, this is called a "brain drain".
2. people from middle- and upper-classes. These people would have more safety cushion, meaning little likelihood of needing public assistance and more likely to be able to go back if things went very badly.
3. people likely to work steadily. This derives from 1. and 2., and of course the fact that they have to leave if they stop working. As a result, these workers will pay a lot more in taxes -- funding roads, schools, bank bailouts, etc. -- than they take out.
4. people likely to speak English and assimilate. I don't really care too much about this, but as a long-term criteria for succeeding in this country, speaking English and getting along with people who are already here help a lot. People in categories 1. and 2. have greater likelihood of meeting this criterion, not to mention that most H1B's come from countries that speak English as one of their national languages.
   

Guess what program hits all these notes?

I'm not saying that, because it's powerful economics, that justifies the program. I am suggesting that in aggregate we all get a lot more out of it than it costs us. The IT industry mostly takes a combative view of the H1B program, but I think that's short-sighted.

And, to put a final point on it, if we didn't bring all the professionals here to fill the jobs, might more of the jobs go out to them?