Is it now America’s turn to see a Brain Drain?

The USA has seen waves of migration. First from various countries in Europe and then from Asia and Latin America. What this means is that America was always a melting pot of cultures and took ideas from all over the world. It had the best of every country. This led to it being the most innovative country around, especially in tech.

That seems to be rapidly changing. If you go to America as a tourist, you have to keep your documentation with you at all times as you may be checked anytime. If you are going as a student, then forget protests and activism. You may be deported even for forgetting to buy a ticket on a bus or jumping a red light. What if your college’s right to take foreign students is blocked? You have no choice but to go home. This happened with Harvard university. While they got relief from the courts, students may already get deported in case of a delay.

Not just students

It has become much tougher to get an H1-B visa or a Green Card. To make matters worse, the Department of Justice announced that a Green Card can be cancelled at any time and also retrospectively. What happens if your Green Card is cancelled in such a manner after you get your citizenship? Will it be cancelled?

As you can see, whether you want to visit, study, work or try to settle down permanently in America, you will be encountering landmines all the way. A lot of people will either look to other countries or decide it’s better to stay back in their home country. Second, there will now be a reverse brain drain. Already a lot of NRIs are returning to America. A few American celebrities have emigrated too. A report said that a record number of Americans are headed for the UK.

America still has time to reverse this trend. But if it doesn’t, then they will soon lose the title of being the melting pot of the world. The US will become a monotonous and static identity. The fall of the American empire on the lines of the Roman one is a favourite topic in social media circles. The tariff war may lead to a lot of instability. Legal immigrants are stable, illegal ones are not. The millions of illegal immigrants in America could destabilize the country.

Europe and Russia have started asserting themselves. China is miles ahead of America on many tech parameters. India is slowly catching up. The future looks bleak for America.