I think the problem is that occupation-specific visas may distort markets in a way that general immigration would not. Now, short of open borders in every dire

I think the problem is that occupation-specific visas may distort markets in a way that general immigration would not. Now, short of open borders in every direction, any immigration system could be seen as a form of protectionism. But an immigration system that allows people to come in as free and full citizens, without requiring them to have a specific academic background or have a job offer from a specific kind of company in a specific kind of position (tech, in this case), would do more to preserve the positive qualities of a free labor market than targeted, industry specific, role specific visas. Let me give an example of what I mean. Suppose that a country with a large and valuable market has a 100% protectionist tariff on all foreign grown fruits and vegetables. The next day, the government removes tariffs on lemons only. Would that lead to a freer market in fruits and vegetables? Most likely what would happen is that anyone outside the borders seeking access to that market would start producing lemons, and anyone inside it would seek to start producing something that is still protected by tariffs. Domestic production would collapse, imports would soar. I think this is essentially what the US has done with IT. We've created very specific visas for a narrow band of roles, under the assumption that there is a "shortage". Open borders are a political non-starter, but we could replace this with a lottery that allows people to come here as free and full participants in the labor market, welcome to choose whatever field they like. This way, tech employers would have to actually compete in a free labor market. My opinion, like a lot of people here, is that there really is no shortage, in the sense that aversion to tech careers may be very rational when you consider options available to people with the talent to do tech. Without these visas, tech employers would actually have to compete with finance, law, medicine, nursing, and dental hygeine, and so forth to hire workers. There is no reason immigration would need to subvert this, all we need to do is allow immigrants to come here as free citizens with choice, and not force them to study a particular field or work in a particular job role as a condition of coming here.