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Yeah, but why not make it merit based? Currently it uses an arbitrary value of where you are born.

This forces people from India to stay on H1-B for 15-20 years, and prevents them from easily changing jobs or opening a business.

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There are lots of merit-based immigration programs (EB1, EB2, EB3, O1, etc). H1-B is a lottery by design; it's supposed to be the "labor pool" visa.

I don't think you understand. EB2 actually has per-country caps. Once you are in the Eb2 queue, you have to wait 15-20 years if you were born in India. That is what needs to be fixed.

The process should be completely merit based.

> EB2 actually has per-country caps. Once you are in the Eb2 queue, you have to wait 15-20 years if you were born in India. [...] The process should be completely merit based.

Because... can I ask why, exactly?

why what? Not sure which part of that quote you are referring to.

I'm asking why you think the immigration process should be merit based. What objective would it optimize for?

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