Anti-immigrants love recessions because they can whip up fears of foreigners coming to the US and stealing American jobs. But pro-immigration advocates can just as easily make the case that immigrants are job generators for Americans. And immigration can do even more to help the economy than is the case under the current system. Here are ideas for changing immigration law to attract needed capital into American businesses and enable employers to hire more American workers. Some of these are changes that can be made by a government agency while others would require legislative changes.
 
1. Create a retiree visa
What if we could find people to immigrate to the US who are well off financially who want to spend money in the US and who have no desire now (or likely in the future) to try and find employment in the US ? We can. They're retirees and they've been coming to the US for years. But many are reluctant to buy vacation or retirement properties because they only get 90 or 180 day stays when they come over and have to deal with convincing a CBP officer that they have strong ties abroad and are going home after each trip.
 Why not create a retiree visa that would be limited to people who can show a steady source of non-work income, they have their own health insurance and they own a residence in the US without a mortgage? 
 
2. Create a new medical visitor visa
You may not have heard of medical tourism, but it is a very important new trend in global health care. People are more and more frequently traveling outside their own countries for health care. A lot of Americans are looking to go abroad for procedures, particularly the uninsured, because of big cost differences. And a lot of wealthy foreign nationals are coming to the US because we have cutting edge treatments with some of the best doctors in the world. Creating a separate tourist visa for people who have the financial means to pay for their US treatment will give a boost to American hospitals and having foreign nationals able to pay the full bill for their care helps to underwrite Americans who don't qualify for government funded care, but are not well off enough to pay 100% of their medical bills. 
 
3. Make F-1s dual intent and expand STEM occupations list
When a student applies for an F-1 visa, the student must demonstrate that he or she has no intention to immigrate. But it's pretty hard for someone to prove this when they're coming over for a program that lasts several years. 
 
Making F-1 visas a dual intent category and not denying entry on the basis of a lack of ties to the home country will help in two very important ways. First, foreign students very often receive no financial aid and are, in effect, subsidizing American students unable to afford higher education without some outside help.
 
Second, a great number of American universities have been unable to find enough American students to fill slots in graduate programs, particularly in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math. Those foreign students often make it possible for a university to keep a department going that otherwise might not survive and thrive without them here. And that means American graduate students have MORE opportunities. International students also help ensure that America's place as the premiere country for research is maintained.
 
F-1 students recently got good news when USCIS enacted a rule permitting practical training to be extended an additional 17 months when they have a degree in a STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) field. Unfortunately, USCIS took a very restrictive reading on which jobs are in STEM fields. The social, behavioral and economic sciences are left out despite the fact that the National Science Foundation includes these occupations in their STEM fields list. And how about including health science graduates? Even if the goal is promote industries other than direct health care, it's worth noting that many of these graduates work in biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries which are key export fields for the US.