Migration of high-skilled workers between Brazil and US: Aspects on immigration policies

Following the recent improvement of the socioeconomic indicators in Brazil, a greater number of Brazilians has gained higher levels of educational and technical skills. Data from the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA, 2009) for the period 2000-2008 indicates a 28% increase in the number of Brazilians with 13 or more years of formal education, while the country's total population has expanded 10.7%. This suggests that, on average, Brazilians are becoming more able to face the challenges of a labor market increasingly competitive and with global scale. Also based on data from the SELA (2009), in 2000, 154.5 thousands skilled Brazilians where living in some of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, while in 2008 they added up to 227.6 thousands, representing an average of 9,1 thousand skilled Brazilians emigrating by year to one of those countries.

We found that, on average, 3.9 thousands skilled Brazilians are allowed to work per year in the U.S. with H-1B temporary visa. In contrast, data from the Brazilian Ministry of Labor show that between 2006 and 2009, an annual average of 4.9 thousands Americans (skilled and unskilled) were allowed to work in Brazil. From that total, as 59% have higher education, we can admit that, on average, about 2.9 thousands skilled Americans are allowed to work in Brazil annually, and these figures have been growing in recent years.

In Brazil, matters related to migration - particularly with regard to the segment of skilled professionals - has had little effective impact into public policies. The objective was therefore to gather information that might be useful for the design and development of public policies on international migration, focusing on the potentialities of the high-skilled migrants – which can be one of great strategic relevance to boost social and economic development.