MICHAEL BARONE: Congress Softens Stance on High-Skilled Immigrants.

[I]t's apparent that the United States needs more high-skill immigrants -- job creators rather than job seekers. The death of Steve Jobs (whose birth father, it turns out, was an immigrant) reminds us that highly talented individuals can be huge national assets.

The response in the House of Representatives has been a bipartisan push for more green card slots for STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) graduates of American universities.

And it appears that the chairman of the full Judiciary Committee, Lamar Smith of Texas, is interested. This is noteworthy because Smith has been an implacable opponent of any bill containing legalization or amnesty provisions.

But Smith agrees that it is a travesty not to admit STEM graduates educated at American universities who want to apply their talents in this country.

He does have some concerns. He points out that graduates with doctorates are far more productive than those with just master's degrees.

Here's an interesting tidbit from one of the professional engineering newsletters I subscribe to. Look who else is searching for PhDs. Of the 28 positions posted, only five (in bold) are from U.S. institutions.

PhD: University of South Hampton, UK
PhD: Nanyang Technological University
PhD: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
PhD: Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden
PhD: Umeå University, Sweden
PhD: University of Technology of Compiègne, France
PhD: Louisiana State University
Post-Doc: Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden
Post-Doc: Qatar University
Post-Doc: Qatar University
Post-Doc: University of Exeter, UK
Post-Doc: The University of Hong Kong
Post-Doc: University of Nancy, France
Faculty: University of South Hampton, UK
Faculty: The IMT Institute for Advanced Studies
Faculty: Texas A&M University
Faculty: Harbin Institute of Technology
Faculty: University of Groningen
Faculty: University of Western Sydney, Australia
Faculty: Washington University, St. Louis
Faculty: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Faculty: Shandong Academy of Science
Lecturer: University of Western Sydney, Australia
Research Assistant: United Arab Emirates University
Research Assistant: Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
Researcher: Australian National University
Researcher: Honeywell, Czech Republic
Researcher: Honeywell, Czech Republic

It may be a bit late.