The one thing that's really huge in this proposition is that it would allow spouses of H1B visa holders to work in the US. The fact they cannot do it is a parti

The one thing that's really huge in this proposition is that it would allow spouses of H1B visa holders to work in the US. The fact they cannot do it is a particularly cruel aspect of the current immigration system in the US. We moved to the Bay Area when I got a job at Google a year and a couple of months ago. We really like it in California: my job is super interesting, the weather is nice, and the people are amazing. I cannot imagine any place in the world where I could have a bigger impact being a programmer. However, going back to Europe is a topic of our everyday conversations. Why? My wife is one of the smartest people I know. She is the webdesigner you would love to work with (you know, those who can actually code their stuff in a way that works with all browsers, use source control, and are not afraid of using the command line). She worked as a project manager and her team loved her. She has interesting things to say about startups, business models, and Goedel's theorem. She used to have a career back in Europe, but in the US she's almost a non-person. She can live here, yes, she can drive a car, but she doesn't even have her own SSN. She cannot do any productive work, and getting an H1 visa if you are not a software engineer is extremely hard (we had this conversation with a couple of immigration lawyers). I have my dream job, but at the same time I cannot help the feeling that I am ruining my wife's life.