This is the year when immigration reform might happen, but leaders in the technology industry distrust politicians enough not to take chances. A group of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists is launching a "virtual march on Washington. They will be using the Internet and social media to argue for making the U.S. more welcoming of skilled workers.  The website launching Monday, www.MarchforInnovation.com, aims to harness the digital activism that last year killed overbroad antipiracy legislation with millions of emails and tweets as well as hundreds of websites that went blank in protest. The immigration-reform effort is the brainchild of the Partnership for a New American Economy, founded by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg. It has support from people like AOL founder Steve Case and venture capitalist Fred Wilson. It will use an online campaigning tool called Thunderclap, which can deliver thousands of Twitter and Facebook posts simultaneously, with the idea of forcing Washington to focus on the issue.  John Feinblatt, chief policy adviser to Mr. Bloomberg, says the idea came from "technology leaders wanting to use technology to change the debate." In the old days, groups would hire a lobbyist. Now the plan is to get millions of people to use the MarchforInnovation site and social media. "The immigration debate focuses on the borders and the 11 million undocumented workers, but not enough on the future flow of workers," Mr. Feinblatt says. "The debate should be about jobs, attracting the best and brightest, and creating a robust legal regime to allow skilled immigrants."  The MarchforInnovation site is backed by leaders from hundreds of technology companies who are frustrated by losing top brains to countries such as China and India for lack of available U.S. visas. The site links to research reports supporting reasons why the U.S. needs many more skilled immigrants.  Among the findings: Every 100 immigrant technologists with advanced degrees who stay in the U.S. lead to 262 jobs for American workers; more than 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or first-generation Americans; the U.S. has a shortage in technologists with advanced degrees in the hundreds of thousands; and one quarter of the Americans who have won Nobel Prizes or been awarded patents have been immigrants.  Many Americans will be surprised to learn that the U.S. is being outcompeted for the best immigrant minds. For generations, the U.S. had immigration largely to itself—Australia, for example, had an immigration policy called "White Australia," which an immigration minister summarized in Parliament in 1947: "Two Wongs don't make a white."  Today Australia is a magnet for immigrants from Asia, with a visa system that gives points for skills and education, not race or ethnicity. The current immigration minister says the policy lets the government "select migrants like a business manages its workforce."  Canada has a similar point system, along with a Provincial Nominee Program to meet the needs of local industries. This has helped revive cities like Winnipeg. Britain was once known for brain drain, but in a recent essay on the 125th anniversary of the Financial Times, its editor could write that London's finance industry is now "open to immigrants, innovation and talent."  While the U.S. debate on immigration focuses on illegal aliens, other countries pursue aggressive strategies to boost their economies by attracting skilled workers. In South Korea, Spain and Switzerland, 80% of permanent visas are used for employment. For Britain, Germany and Italy, it's 60%. For the U.S., it's only 7%. For a skilled worker, it's actually harder to come to America.  Other countries seek out entrepreneurs who want to start companies. Britain offers visas to startup founders who raise $75,000 in venture capital. Singapore gives visas to entrepreneurs who raise $40,000. New Zealand has no minimum level of investment so long as the business is "beneficial to New Zealand." Chile gives entrepreneurs $40,000 along with visas.  Canada recently passed a new law offering permanent residency to entrepreneurs who raise investments from recognized venture capitalists. The Canadian immigration minister says he will go on a poaching trip to Silicon Valley where "thousands of super bright young foreign nationals" lack visas enabling them to stay in the U.S.  Meanwhile, the U.S. immigration debate all but ignores economics. Even Silicon Valley's representative in Congress, Democrat Zoe Lofgren, is lukewarm in her support of skilled immigration. "We must make it easier to keep critical workers who can keep America competitive and grow our economy, but we should not do so by closing the door on family-based immigrants," she said at a hearing earlier this month. But she refrained from taking the logical next step of calling for an increase in the overall annual visa cap.  Like it or not, the U.S. is in a global competition for the best and brightest. For the first time, immigrants have choices, including going to the many countries other than the U.S. that value them.
In The Wall Street Journal, Information Age columnist Gordon Crovitz writes that tech leaders are launching an Internet campaign, www.MarchforInnovation.com, to make the country more open to innovators.