Of all the places on the planet, California has arguably benefitted the most from the twin pillars of cutting-edge technology and bold entrepreneurship. The Golden State has the highest concentration of tech talent on Earth. Much of this talent has come from other countries: Immigrants and children of immigrants represent a disproportionate share of founders of successful companies, including Apple, Intel, Google, Stripe, and WhatsApp.
California could have become an even greater story of technological success if all the talented immigrants who had wanted to work and live there had been allowed to. In our 2012 book, The Immigrant Exodus, we documented how restrictive and borderline-cruel U.S. national immigration policy was, in forcing many founders and smart engineers to move away. While many other countries have created special visas and recruitment programs to attract STEM talent and founders, the U.S. has maintained a Byzantine and confusing immigration process with exceptionally limited slots for multi-year work visas. Today, willing migrants sometimes have to wait several decades for their Green Card and permanent residency.
