I’ve read of Canada’s value-added, “point-based” immigration system before. However, at the same time, their refugee-status determination policies are way too loose and have made Canada a terrorist entrepot and have everything to do with why so many terrorists entered Canada first before trying to sneak South.
We would also benefit greatly from REAL immigration reform. I know from my father’s many Russian friends over the years what a red-tape monstrosity the current system we have for “legit” immigration is (think an average of a dozen years, twenty-thousand bucks and countless man-hours spent making appointments, gathering paperwork and standing in line).
That said, I have a real problem with the H1-B system. I’ve heard too much about the “Indian Mafia” that prevails in the IT world. For H1-B reform, I would go with the proposal another FReeper tossed out a few years back: companies in question could sponsor ALL the H1-B’ers they want too, but the supposedly vitally-needed workers in question would be free to work for ANY employer they chose over the duration of their visa. The companies in question would be free to add to the employment pool of the skill in question but they would NOT have any indentured slaves to toil for them at sub-par wages.