Bajpayee, Govindan at the mercy of US immigration laws: report.
Bureau Report
WASHINGTON, DC: The story of two Indian postdoctoral mechanical engineers at MIT, whose invention for a cheaper, cleaner way to dispose of the billions of gallons of contaminated water produced by fracking has been recognized as a “world changing idea,” and have started a company, but are in danger of being forced to leave the country because their students visas expire soon, highlight the complicated and tough immigration laws here in the US.
Anurag Bajpayee and Prakash Narayan Govindan have started a company to sell the system to oil businesses that are desperate for a cheaper, cleaner way to dispose of the billions of gallons of contaminated water produced by fracking, reported The Washington Post.
![Prakash Narayan Govindan](http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Prakash-Narayan-Govindan-200x300.jpg)
Oil companies have flown them to Texas and North Dakota. They say they are about to close on millions of dollars in financing, and they expect to hire 100 employees in the next couple of years. Scientific American magazine called water-decontamination technology developed by Bajpayee one of the top 10 “world-changing ideas” of 2012.
But their student visas expire soon, both before summer, and because of the restrictive U.S. visa system, they may have to move their company to India or another country, said the Post.
“We love it here,” said Bajpayee, a cheerful 27-year-old in an argyle sweater and jeans. “But there are so many hoops you have to jump through. And you risk getting deported while you are creating jobs.”
Much of the immigration debate in Washington has centered on the 11 million undocumented migrants in the country. But, from the halls of MIT to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley, business and academic leaders are more focused on what they call an even greater threat to the U.S. economy: immigration laws that chase away highly skilled foreigners educated in U.S. universities, often with degrees funded by U.S. taxpayers, said the report.
While other countries are actively recruiting foreign-born U.S. graduates, the United States has strict limits on visas for highly skilled workers that often put them on waiting lists of many years. And unlike Canada and other countries, the United States offers no specific visa for young entrepreneurs like Bajpayee and Narayan who want to start a business in America.
“We train these people and then we push them away, while Chile and the U.K. and Canada are coming in to recruit them,” Bill Aulet, managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, is quoted as saying. “These are people who are creating jobs. It is so outrageous to me.”
The situation exemplifies the worst in Washington gridlock: Even when both sides agree on something, they can’t agree on how to make it happen.
President Obama supports making it easier for foreigners who earn master’s degrees or PhDs at U.S. universities to get green cards, as does a bipartisan group of U.S. senators working on reform. A solution is stuck in partisan infighting, however, over how to craft comprehensive reforms that address both skilled and unskilled immigrants.
Republicans have proposed increasing the number of visas for skilled immigrants by cutting the number available for unskilled immigrants — a trade-off that Democrats oppose.
According to a study by the Brookings Institution, about half of all PhDs working in science and technology are foreign-born. And about 40 percent of all MIT graduate students are from other countries.
Leon Sandler, executive director of MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technical Innovation, said it costs about $250,000 to educate a single PhD student and the U.S. government pays for at least 80 percent of MIT’s graduate research.
“Essentially we are funding their research, spending a quarter-million dollars in taxpayer money; then we make it hard for these people to stay here,” said Sandler, whose group helps start-ups and provided nearly $150,000 to support Bajpayee and Narayan. “If you want more innovation in this country, fix the visa situation.”
Countries from Canada to Germany to Australia to Singapore are enthusiastically courting foreign entrepreneurs with relatively easy visas. Some offer cash.
China has given bonuses of up to $150,000 to thousands of highly skilled expatriates who have come home to work or start businesses. Chile is luring top talent with $40,000 in capital, free office space and a quick visa through its “Start-up Chile” program.
Officials said the program has had more than 5,600 applicants since it started in 2010; it has accepted more than 1,000 entrepreneurs from 51 countries. The program has attracted dozens of foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities, who have started 47 businesses there.
On April 1, Canada plans to launch a start-up visa program giving entrepreneurs immediate permanent residence. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told reporters last month that the program was designed, in part, to poach foreigners from the United States.
“We see the bright, young, international tech developers in the U.S. who are stuck on temporary visas as an immediate market, if you will, for this program,” Kenney said at a Jan. 25 news conference in Toronto.
Many foreign governments and companies are actively recruiting in U.S. centers of higher education from Cambridge, Mass., to Stanford, Calif., offering top graduates alternatives to the expensive, lengthy, difficult and, some say, even hostile U.S. visa system.
Switzerland, for example, has a “science consulate” with a sleek, modern storefront on a street between MIT and Harvard devoted to promoting Swiss companies and universities to top students, said the Post.
Bajpayee and Narayan want to stay in the United States. They don’t want to move to Chile or Israel or Singapore, which seem too small and too far from their main markets in the U.S. oil and gas fields. But, they said, if they can’t legally stay in the United States, they have other options to consider.
Indian and Chinese investors want them to locate in those countries. Brazilian mining company officials have called, too, hoping to lure them to Brazil. They have thought about moving to Australia.
“If it doesn’t happen in the U.S.,” Narayan said, “we will make it happen somewhere else.”
They said their systems could make fracking more cost-efficient and environmentally safe. Robert MacKenzie, an oil industry analyst with FBR Capital Markets, said oil companies create seven barrels of wastewater for every barrel of oil they produce, said the report. If Bajpayee and Narayan have found a way to fully clean that wastewater, cheaply and on an industrial scale, MacKenzie said, “That could be the Holy Grail.”
Bajpayee and Narayan have systematic plans for how to perfect their product, manufacture it, sell it and grow their business. But when it comes to getting a green card, their strategies are less scientific.
“Prayer,” said Narayan.
“My strategy,” Bajpayee was quoted as saying, “is to get the best possible lawyer in Boston and pay them as much money as they desire.”