Jeremy Neufeld
@JeremyLNeufeld
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Director of Immigration Policy @IFP. Also tweets @progress_vibe and @livecivilwar
Washington, DC
Joined January 2012
The new Trump H-1B rule just dropped! It prioritizes DOL "Wage Levels," not real wages. DOL thinks an experienced acupuncturist making $40k is a higher "Wage Level" than an early-career AI scientist making $280k. That means more visas for outsourcers, fewer for real talent.
In the next few days, the Trump administration is going to propose a new regulation changing the H-1B lottery. The big question I'm watching: will DHS prioritize the highest earners or so-called DOL "Wage Levels"? Here's why it matters: 🧵
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A flavor of what the "merit-based" H-1B weighted lottery would do: A landscape architect in Bethlehem, PA making $66,000/year would have double the odds of being awarded an H-1B visa of a pediatric surgeon down the street earning $230,000/year.
This is not true. The new "merit-based" lottery proposal is so poorly designed that it will increase IT outsourcers' abuse of the program and barely move the needle on average compensation. In contrast, a wage ranking would nuke the IT outsourcers and dramatically raise wages.
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Immigrants both consume and produce. Any policymakers who thought it would help reduce inflation were wrong. Fast wage growth in the late 2010s coincided with the lid coming off at the southern border (same in the late 90s, on a much larger scale).
In the post-GFC period, QE and migration were the main macro tools used by policymakers. QE pushed up asset prices, making many households feel wealthier than they actually were. They took on more credit and consumed beyond their means, even as real wage growth stayed flat. Asset
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All three were born outside the US and arrived on student visas.
BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth” with one half to Mokyr
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All 3 Nobel winners are foreign-born scholars who came to the US for their PhDs, & all 3 spent at least a good chunk of their careers in the US. This doesn't just benefit the US for "scoreboard" reasons. It's how a country innovates. Appropriate given the prize's subject matter!
BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth” with one half to Mokyr
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🚨 Happening Today! 🚨 Join us for an exclusive conversation with @JeremyLNeufeld, Director of Immigration at @IFP as we dive deep into the state of immigration policy under the new administration. SPACE LINK : https://t.co/jmp9SrBTEH 🕗 8 PM Eastern 🕖 7 PM Central 🕕 6 PM
We will be having a conversation with @JeremyLNeufeld ( Director of Immigration Policy @IFP ) on Immigration the 10th of October , 8pm ET JOIN US ! Space Link : https://t.co/jmp9SrBTEH Don't forget to register ! @RajeevSharma00 @KshatriyaDhrum @IAACouncil
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1/ OPT OBSERVATORY I’ve spent the past year creating *the most in-depth public resource* on how the US retains international students after they graduate. Today, @IFP is releasing never-before-seen data we obtained from ICE via FOIA. Check it out: https://t.co/La9FD8zN2j
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We’re going to create a *brain freeze* if we can’t *both* promote domestic workers and *welcome* foreign-born advanced STEM degree holders. These things are not and have never been mutually exclusive.
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Will America remain a magnet for researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs? On a new @TechPolicyPdcst, @JeremyLNeufeld of @IFP discusses why it should, why it might not, and how to make sure it does.
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This is from the compact the White House is trying to get MIT, Dartmouth, and other universities to sign for a funding advantage: It would limit international student enrollment to 15% and enrollment from any one country at 5%. How does this advance merit-based admissions?
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I’m in @PostOpinions today talking about how the admin’s H-1B policy efforts are part of a misguided campaign against international students here for advanced STEM degrees - who help America *and* Americans when they *stay here* and join the US STEM workforce.
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Jeremy and @IFP have done outstanding work to illustrate why the proposed changes to H-1B would undermine the administration’s stated goals. Skilled immigration policy shouldn’t treat all occupations as if they’re equally valuable to our economy.
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The Trump admin claims it wants reduce the number of H-1B visas going to large outsourcing firms (Infosys, Cognizant, etc). But its proposed H-1B reform would actually *increase* visas to large outsourcers by 8%. New from @JeremyLNeufeld in today's WSJ:
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Who's doing the statistical analysis over at USCIS?
One shocking mistake in USCIS's NPRM to modify the H-1B lottery: The agency claims that there were zero civil engineers and architects paid above Level 1 wages from 2020-2024. This is obviously not true! In 2024 alone, there were numerous submissions for civil engineers that were
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One shocking mistake in USCIS's NPRM to modify the H-1B lottery: The agency claims that there were zero civil engineers and architects paid above Level 1 wages from 2020-2024. This is obviously not true! In 2024 alone, there were numerous submissions for civil engineers that were
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Breaking: Canada plans to attract US H1B visa holders hit by Trump's visa fee hike "Not as many H1B visa holders will get visas in the US. These people are skilled and it is an opportunity for Canada. We will have an offering on this soon," says Canadian PM Mark Carney
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