Seven years ago, when I was visiting Germany, I Met with an official who explained to me that the country had a perfect solution to its economic problems. Watching the U.S. economy ___62___ during the ‘90s, the Germans had decided that they, too, needed to go the high-technology ___63___. But how? In the late ‘90s, the answer schemed obvious. Indians. ___64___ all, Indian entrepreneurs accounted for one of every three Silicon Valley start-ups. So the German government decided that it would ___65___ Indians to Term any just as America does by ___66___ green cards. Officials created something called the German Green Card and ___67___ that they would issue 20,000 in the first year. ___68___, the Germans expected that tens of thousands more Indians would soon be begging to come, and perhaps the ___69___ would have to be increased. But the program was a failure. A year later ___70___ half of the 20,000 cards had been issued. After a few extensions, the program was ___71___.
I told the German official at the time that I was sure the ___72___ would fail. It’s not that I had any particular expertise in immigration policy, ___73___ I understood something about green cards, because I had one (the American ___74___). The German Green
Card was mismand,I argued,__75__it never,under any circumtances,translated into German citizenship.The U.S.green card,by contrast,is an almost__76__path to becoming American (after five years and a clean record).The official__77__my objection,saying that there was no way Germany was going to offer these peoplecitizenship.”we need young tach workers,”he said.”that’s what this pro-gram is all __78__.”so Germany was asking bright young__79__to leavetheir country,culture and families,move thousands of miles away,learn a new language and work in a strange land—but without any__80__of ever being part of their new home.Germany was senging a signal, one that was ___81___ received in India and other countries, and also by Germany’s own immigrant community.