Pakistan among Top Sources of Foreign-Born STEM Workers in America
By Riaz Haq
CA

As of 2019, there were 35,000 Pakistan-born STEM workers in the United States, according to the American Immigration Council. They included information technologists, software developers, engineers and scientists. These figures do not include medical doctors and healthcare workers. 

Foreign-born STEM workers in America - Source American Immigration Counci l

Foreign-born workers make up a growing share of America's STEM workforce. As of 2019, foreign-born workers made up almost a quarter of all STEM workers in the country. This is a significant increase from 2000, when just 16.4% of the country’s STEM workforce was foreign-born. Between 2000 and 2019, the overall number of STEM workers in the United States increased by 44.5 percent, from 7.5 million to more than 10.8 million, according to  American Immigration Council . 

India and Pakistan are among top 10 countries receiving US Immigrant Visas - Source Visual Capitalist

 

India topped the top 10 list of foreign-born STEM workers with 721,000, followed by China (273,000), Mexico (119,000), Vietnam (100,000), Philippines (87,000), South Korea (64,000), Canada (56,000), Taiwan (53,000), Russia (45,000) and Pakistan (35,000). 

Huge number of Indian STEM workers in the United States can at least partly be attributed to the fact that India's "body shops" have mastered the art of gaming the US temporary work visa system. Last year, Indian nationals sponsored by "body shops" like Cognizant, Infosys and TCS received  166,384 H1B  visas for work in the United States. By comparison, only  1,107 Pakistanis  were granted H1B visas in Fiscal Year 2022.  In addition to H1B work visas, 9,300 Indian nationals and 7,200 Pakistani nationals received  immigrant visas  to settle in the United States as permanent residents in 2021. 

Doctor brain drain – Source statista

In addition to 35,000 Pakistan-born  STEM workers , there were 12,454 Pakistan-born and Pakistan-trained  medical doctors  practicing in the United States, making the South Asian nation the second largest source of medical doctors in America.  Pakistan produced  157,102 STEM graduates  last year, putting it among the world's top dozen or so countries. About 43,000 of these graduates are in the field of information technology (IT).

H1B visas issued in Pakistan - Source Visagrader.com

 

H1B visas issued in India - Source: Visagrader.com

Every year, applicants sponsored by Indian body shops claim the lion's share of  H1B visas . In 2022, Indians received 166,384 new H1B visas, accounting for nearly three quarters of all such visas issued by the US government.

(Riaz Haq is a Silicon Valley-based Pakistani-American analyst and writer. He blogs at  www.riazhaq.com )