U.S. science and engineering companies are short more than 200,000 advanced-degree workers thanks to the United States’ onerous immigration policies, university leaders say.

That’s why leaders from 140 universities, including the Triangle’s Big Three, wrote a letter in collaboration with the Partnership for a New American Economy to President Barack Obama and Congress earlier this month requesting immigration reform for foreign-born graduate students trained at American universities.

They asked for a “clear path” to a green card for students with advanced degrees in science, math and engineering, calling current laws “antiquated.”

The shortage of advanced-degree workers is attributable in part to members of the “baby boomer” generation retiring and leaving the workforce. University leaders argue that there aren’t enough qualified Americans to fill those vacant jobs.

Science and engineering companies project a shortfall of 230,000 workers by 2018, the letter said.

Chancellor Randy Woodson said Tuesday that foreign workers used to fill the gap, but the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks changed the face of U.S. immigration law and made it more difficult for skilled workers from other countries to find work here.

“So they are taking all their American ingenuity and know-how we generate here at the universities and going to other countries that are recruiting them,” Woodson said.

Students on temporary visas in 2009 accounted for 45 percent of all U.S. graduate students in engineering, math and the sciences, according to the letter. That number is 51 percent in the N.C. State College of Engineering.

While out-of-state tuition covers the cost of education, a public university still ends up spending additional time and money beyond those tuition dollars on a Ph.D’s education in the College of Engineering, according to Jay Narayan, a professor of material science and engineering. For him, it’s about return on investment.

“If they go back, that is our total loss,” Narayan said. “It is not a good investment if we let them go.”

While many international students would like to work and live in the U.S. after earning their advanced degrees, once a student visa expires, such students have 60 days after the end of their full-time studies to leave the country. The only way for international grads to obtain a work visa is if a domestic employer sponsors them. 

But according to Michael Escuti, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, generally only large companies have the resources or persistence to do so.

“That is unfortunate because there are so many jobs in small- and medium-sized companies for Ph.Ds, especially the ones that I train,” Escuti said.

Work visas are time-limited to three to nine years, and to obtain them, advanced-degree workers compete in the same category as fashion models under current immigration law. Getting a green card for permanent residence can take the full nine years or more, according to the university leaders’ letter.

Vish Kulkarni, a recent Masters graduate from Mumbai, India, found a job in Michigan but said others are not so lucky.

“Not a lot of companies, especially in this economy, are willing to sponsor a work visa,” Kulkarni said.

Tingting Ji, a junior in French from China, wants the same opportunity Americans have.

“We are like other American students,” she said. “We get our diploma our degree and everything, but we aren’t treated the same.”

Woodson said that while the U.S. remains the world’s leader with regard to innovation, a failure to modify current immigration policy governing highly skilled foreign graduates could jeopardize that status.

“If Congress doesn’t consider the immigration issues that we currently face, 20 years down the road that won’t be the case,” Woodson said.

The reasons behind the shortage of American graduate students in science are many.

Most graduates of N.C. State’s engineering departments receive job offers after they graduate with undergraduate degrees, many of them for more than $60,000.

“That pulls them away to never return, generally,” Escuti said.

To Narayan, however, American culture and education doesn’t value math and science enough.

“There’s a big prize at the end of a Ph.D, but it requires a lot of hard work and a good background,” he said.

Regardless of the reason, university leaders say that until American numbers increase, American companies need access to the best candidates.

“They are in global competition now,” Narayan said. “They have to hire the best people they can hire.”

Woodson said the letter’s intent was to plant a seed, recognizing international Ph.Ds represent the world’s best.

“To not capitalize on their intellectual potential for America-because they are the ones that start companies and build jobs that employ our citizens-then we’re going to wake up one of these days and find that we’ve lost the edge that we had,” he said.