Now, with Abacha dead and the country enjoying its longest stretch of democratic rule since independence, Noo Saro-Wiwa has written “Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria,” a book about her recent tour of the West African nation. What is most surprising about the book is that it is generally devoid of bitterness, characterized instead by irreverence tinged with sadness – not only about the tragic history of the Saro-Wiwa family, but also about Nigeria’s own wasted promise.

In some ways, Nigeria has become a byword for squandered opportunity. Although blessed with abundant natural resources, including copious amounts of oil, the majority of the country remains desperately poor. Saro-Wiwa negotiates her way through this contradiction and many others that characterize modern Nigeria with a critical eye tempered by humor and an appreciation for the absurd. When writing about the capital, Abuja, she describes a city where the most inconsequential legal statutes are zealously enforced, even as politicians openly negotiate lucrative bribes. At the real-life Transwonderland, an amusement park meant to be Nigeria’s answer to Disneyland, she discovers creaky rides and cobwebbed concession stands. Confronting tensions in the Nigerian national identity, as she has at many points during her journey, Saro-Wiwa finds that her ethnic and tribal identity trumps her status as a Nigerian.

Through it all, Saro-Wiwa’s biculturalism makes her the ideal tour guide. Despite growing up outside the country and being pigeonholed by other Nigerians based on her tribal affiliation, she feels a deep connection to Nigeria. Still, she has the power to observe the country with the bemusement of a foreigner. In a particularly colorful section describing Lagos, the country’s commercial capital, she writes that if the city were a person it would “wear a Gucci jacket, a cheap hair weave… and the mother of all scowls on her face.”

Saro-Wiwa unflinchingly describes the growing religious extremism in the predominantly Muslim North and the environmental problems in the oil-rich South. In short, Saro-Wiwa has written a travelogue about a place few travelers would voluntarily put on their itineraries. Still, she refuses to portray Nigeria as a caricature nation overrun by Islamic militants, oil spills and email scammers. Given what Nigeria has taken from Noo Saro-Wiwa, her book’s depth and nuance represents both a literary and personal triumph.

Photo by Associated Press Photo – Sunday Alamba

When the Bank of Japan announced its campaign to combat deflation in February, investors heard just one thing: the sound of trillions of yen sloshing into global markets.

To attain a 2 percent inflation target, the Bank of Japan plans to double both the monetary base and the bank’s government bond holdings over the next two years, while also stepping up purchases of exchange-traded funds and shares in real estate investment trusts. As this ocean of liquidity builds, investors need to know where the waves could wash up – and whether they might lift Japan out of a two-decade stagnation.

The Yen That Flow Overseas

The central bank’s ¥7 trillion ($70 billion) in monthly government bond purchases will come mostly from the Japanese banks, life insurance companies and pension funds that hold about 38 percent of the country’s sovereign debt, according to a recent Credit Suisse research note entitled “Bank of Japan’s Shock Therapy.” With the central bank dominating the government bond market, Credit Suisse thinks these institutions could send as much as ¥10 trillion ($100 billion) on an annualized basis into the Japanese stock market and as much as ¥20 trillion ($200 billion) into overseas bond markets.

“The Bank of Japan has gone all in,” Adrian Zuercher, Credit Suisse’s Head of Emerging Market Strategy, told The Financialist. “They have taken away the Japanese government bond market. They are now the ones that are investing in government bonds, and all the investors get thrown aside.”

Investors are already flocking to emerging market bonds, chasing both higher yields and a favorable currency spread as the growing Japanese money supply depresses the value of the yen, Zuercher said.

“We have indications, for example, that Mexico has already seen lots of inflows,” Zuercher said. “It’s closely correlated to the U.S. (economy), the currency is correlated to the U.S. dollar, and it offers a nice yield pickup.”

Japanese investors, long accustomed to deflation, are used to investing in emerging markets, Zuercher said. They are already large holders of Brazilian government bonds and could buy more. Asian economies such as the Philippines, which recently received an investment-grade credit rating, could also see inflows.

Europe’s seemingly eternal state of flux means emerging markets are not the only places where sovereign bonds carry relatively attractive premiums. In their research note, Credit Suisse analysts said Japanese investors could snap up between 4 percent and 28 percent of the net European debt issuance in the second and third quarters.

“We have seen since the beginning of the year that Japanese investors are big buyers of French bonds,” Zuercher said. “In the last few weeks and months, the spreads of French bonds have narrowed against German yields, and that was really driven by Japanese investors.”

Credit Suisse analysts said in the note that Dutch, German and American bonds have been popular, and Italian bonds could become attractive if the political situation remains stable.

The Yen That Stay in Japan

But Japanese officials are probably hoping some money stays at home, too.

“At the end of the day, the Bank of Japan wants to stimulate their own economy and not the international financial markets,” Zuercher said.

The Bank of Japan hoped its commitment to buy Japanese equities would lure domestic investors into the stock market, “putting money back into the real economy to stimulate growth,” Zuercher said.

For now, though, foreign investors seem to be driving the more than 50 percent increase in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index over the past six months. Domestic investors have been selling Japanese equities – not buying them, Credit Suisse analysts wrote in the note. But Credit Suisse believes Japanese institutional and retail investors will start buying stocks if inflation seems likely – and for that to happen, wages have to rise.

Some large companies have already announced raises and bonuses for workers, and the weakening yen stands to strengthen Japanese exports, potentially increasing revenues for Japanese firms and fattening their bottom lines. Still, Zuercher said it may take more than one quarter of stimulus-boosted growth for Japanese companies to open the till.

“Companies have learned over the last 20 years that they can earn decent money by controlling costs,” Zuercher said.

If prices and wages do start increasing, however, investors should look for signs of life in the moribund Japanese real estate market. Credit Suisse analysts recently reported that the rental revenue per unit for Japanese real estate investment trusts (J-REITs) was higher in April than the previous year for the first time in more than three years. The analysts said the move could foreshadow an increase in office and residential rental prices in Tokyo.

Rising home values would make Japanese residents feel wealthier and potentially boost consumption, Zuercher said, but foreign investors are hoping to cash in on the trend, too.

In a recent research note entitled “Real Estate Sector: Recommend Adding to Holdings with Office Rents Now on the Rise,” Credit Suisse real estate analysts in Japan reported interest from European investors. Zuercher said he also has anecdotal evidence about Chinese investors moving into the Japanese housing market.

Ultimately, however, it is not yet clear whether most of the ocean of liquidity will flow abroad to France and the Philippines or stay to grow wealth in Tokyo and Osaka.

“That’s something we have to see – how much the real economy can benefit from this money,” Zuercher said.

Photo of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pushed for the bold monetary measures introduced by the Bank of Japan, courtesy of his Facebook page.

Upmarket yoga retreats attract both men and women of all ages and offer relaxing getaways in exotic locations, classes with famous instructors, spa treatments and gourmet meals.

Near the top end of the market is Parrot Cay, a luxury resort on the Turks and Caicos Islands. It will be offering a six-night Restore Retreat in June, led by celebrity yoga teachers and sisters Andrea and Christina Curry. Prices start at $5,118 for a single-occupancy room.  The Singapore-based luxury hotel and resort group COMO, which owns Parrot Cay, offers similar retreats at private island resorts in the Maldives, Bhutan and Bali.

The number of ultra-luxe yoga retreats around the world can be overwhelming, so The Financialist has chosen five of the best, each with its own unique spin on “om.”

YOU CRAVE: A true Indian yoga retreat, minus the ashram austerity.

Try: Shreyas

Located in the lush countryside an hour outside Bangalore, Shreyas offers up a traditional yoga retreat without sacrificing personalized service or luxury. Guests can enjoy a spa with a wide variety of rejuvenating treatments, a tranquil infinity pool and Jacuzzi, a home theater, comfortable guest cottages and tasty vegetarian food.

All staff members – gardeners and CEO alike – are yoga enthusiasts and follow an ancient philosophy to ensure their guests’ needs are met.

“The staff at Shreyas follows the Indian spiritual tradition of atithi devo bhava, meaning ‘the guest is divine,’ in every aspect of their service,” says Balasundar, the head of the yoga program, who goes only by his first name. “Our guests’ stays are customized according to their preferences, based on a detailed wellness consultation with our in-house Ayurvedic doctor.”

Rates for the spring/summer season start from $280 per night for a single occupancy garden tent.

YOU CRAVE: Getting back to nature while refining your tree pose.

Try: Luna Lodge.

Luna Lodge is a serene eco-retreat located on a secluded 150-acre property on Costa Rica’s pristine Osa Peninsula. Yoga classes are held on a covered platform overlooking the rainforest’s verdant canopy and the Pacific Ocean.

Scarlet macaws, howler monkeys and sloths roam free, and visitors are encouraged to sample mangos, papayas and avocados from trees on the property. Guests stay in thatched-roof bungalows with private decks and can enjoy spa treatments, eco-tours and inventive cuisine made with ingredients grown on-site.

Luna Lodge runs on hydropower and solar energy, employs local people and participates in a variety of conservation projects to save water and energy and minimize waste.

“I built Luna Lodge as an eco-lodge, but yoga is such a big part of my life,” says owner and resident yoga teacher Lana Wedmore, who opened the facility in 2000. “For me, yoga and nature go hand in hand.”

Rates for the summer season start from $235 per night for one person.

YOU CRAVE: Loosening up alongside Hollywood’s finest.

Try: Maya Tulum.

The former hippie town of Tulum in Mexico has become a vacation destination for the haute bohemian glitterati, as well as an international yoga hotspot boasting dozens of eco-chic spas and retreats. Among the most renowned is Maya Tulum, a wellness resort with 45 thatched-roof cabanas within 50 meters of the beach. Sign on for the Mind, Body, Spirit Program, complete with healthy vegetarian and seafood meals, cultural excursions, spa treatments and yoga classes. Or just choose individual classes by instructors schooled in a wide variety of yoga practices.

With 3,500 square feet of yoga space, Maya Tulum hosts more than 50 yoga retreats each year, as well as daily classes.

Rates for the summer season start from $110 per night.

YOU CRAVE: France. It’s that simple.

Try: Domaine de La Grausse

Located on a 17-acre estate in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Domaine de La Grausse is a fully restored 18^th century chateau with an acclaimed yoga program. Dagmar Bere, the resident yoga teacher, oversees twice-daily yoga and meditation classes in two large studios – one on the top floor of the chateau overlooking the estate and the other in a renovated stone barn.

Guests can explore the Ariège valley – which Dagmar describes as “France’s best kept secret and the center of ancient spiritualism ” – and the medieval pilgrim pathway of Saint Jacques de Compostelle. The area also offers mountain biking and horseback riding, as well as waterfalls and cave paintings dating back to 12,000 B.C.

Rates for the summer season start from €440 ($570) per week for a double en suite bedroom.

YOU CRAVE: A little adventure with your exercise.

Try: Solyoga

Solyoga is a group travel company that combines yoga, culture, nature and food to create what founder Ben Crosky, a former tour guide and yoga fanatic, describes as a well-rounded experience that “offers something fulfilling, immerses us in learning and helps us find the blessings in each thing that we do.” On each trip, experienced yoga teachers lead groups of about 20 people for an average of six days.

Among the upcoming trips: Epic Iceland (Aug. 31-Sept. 8) intersperses daily yoga classes with swimming in hot springs, blueberry picking, watching the Northern Lights and glacier hikes. A yoga and culinary adventure at a boutique hotel in Northern Italy (Sept. 14-22) includes invigorating daily yoga classes, wine tastings, hiking and risotto cooking lessons. Next fall, Solyoga is organizing a sensual trip to Buenos Aires (Oct. 20-26) that will allow participants to challenge their bodies through yoga and tango lessons, and then reward themselves with local food and wine.

Rates for the trips mentioned start from $2,195 for a double occupancy. 

Photos courtesy of Shreyas, Luna Lodge, Maya Tulum, Domaine de La Grausse and Solyoga.

What makes any generation fascinating is the way history intrudes during its formative years and shapes how its members relate to the world. The Greatest Generation was shaped by the sacrifices of World War II, developing a resolve that served it well after the war ended. Baby boomers reaped the benefits of the economic prosperity that followed the war, and as a result, displayed an unprecedented optimism about the future.

Millennials, the generation born between 1979 and 1994, have experienced both privileges and challenges while coming of age. Although coddled at home, they saw their country attacked on Sept. 11, and in 2008 they witnessed the near collapse of the global financial system.

If history were a reliable guide, millennials would have responded to these crises as earlier generations did, by turning inward and rallying around the flag. However, there are several factors that make this group different. Technology, from cellphones to the Internet, put them in touch with the rest of the world at a moment’s notice. Their networks include virtual acquaintances, and physical proximity is no longer the most important predictor of their relationships.

The result is a generation that feels a real connection to the rest of the world. Zogby polls consistently show that nearly one in three millennials (32 percent) prefer to be called “citizens of the planet Earth” – more than any other age cohort.

Their outward-looking perspective makes millennials America’s First Global generation. While the lingering effects of the Great Recession may have dampened their optimism, it has not affected their internationalism. First Globals are much less likely than all other age groups, for example, to argue that American culture is superior to other cultures.

Their tolerance stems from their diversity. Two in five First Globals are ethnic minorities, compared with just 27 percent of baby boomers and 20 percent of those born during the Great Depression and World War II. They are also the first generation to attend fully integrated schools, a trend that includes their university studies, with 15 percent of college students nationwide self-identified as ethnic minorities.

Acceptance is a hallmark of the generation. Their overwhelming support for marriage equality has helped push the subject into the political mainstream, and their experience with diversity means they will not need expensive sensitivity training seminars. They are the transition to the next America, and perhaps a transition to a new relationship between America and the rest of the world.

They certainly have global ambitions. An April 2013 poll showed 35 percent of First Globals were likely to “live and work in the capital of a foreign country.” In July 2012, 71 percent of First Globals told Zogby pollsters that it was very important or somewhat important “to have the opportunity to do something that changes the world.” They want to work for companies that share their values, so companies with global ambitions and well-defined values are magnets for First Globals.

I have high hopes for our First Global generation. In a transformative era, they are not bound by obsolete habits. They are ready to plunge in and make their world a better place, and they possess the skills to navigate the dynamic world of new technologies. But to live up to its potential, this generation needs to be understood, respected – and unleashed.

John Zogby is founder of the Zogby Poll and senior analyst at Zogby Analytics. He is co-author with Joan Snyder Kuhl of the forthcoming e-book First Globals: Understanding, Managing, and Unleashing Our Millennial Generation (Spring 2013).

Photo of  U.S. Peace Corps volunteers teaching in Morocco courtesy of the Peace Corps . 

“I don’t want the next job-creating discoveries to happen in China or India or Germany,” he said, after arguing in his State of the Union address that it was time to boost R&D to a level “not seen since the height of the Space Race.”

After all, Washington’s $3.8 billion down payment on the Human Genome Project yielded $796 billion in economic benefits, including 310,000 new jobs, according to a recent study. In the end, the project provided a $140 return for every dollar invested, Obama noted in his SOU speech.

In 2014, the roughly $100 million annual budget for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) will be spread across a number of government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm.

Rafael Yuste, co-director of Columbia University’s Kavli Institute for Brain Science, told The Financialist that he envisioned at least six business opportunities in a diverse group of industries, including consumer electronics and pharmaceuticals, that could emerge from BRAIN-related research.

On the medical front, a better understanding of the brain could help researchers craft effective therapies to fight neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Yuste said. Recent data published in Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology, estimated that nearly 14 million people in the U.S. alone would be diagnosed with the degenerative disease by 2050 – triple the current number.

Researchers also hope to create enhanced brain-computer interfaces that use sensors to read the brain’s electric signals. These could eventually allow paralyzed people to move objects using only their thoughts.

Promising work is already happening in this arena. Researchers at Brown University’s Brown Institute for Brain Science, for example, inserted 96 electrodes into a tetraplegic stroke victim’s motor cortex. The electrodes tapped into the electrical activity created by the participant’s neurons firing away and sent signals to two robotic arms. The participant was able to drink a cup of coffee unassisted. Researchers hope that stimulating larger clusters of neurons could allow more complicated movements.

“This technology could become so sophisticated that eventually you could be able to drive a car, for instance, without using your hands, by just wearing a helmet,” said Yuste.

BRAIN could also lead to an array of improved medical devices, especially as neuroscience advances increasingly incorporate nanotechnology. Earlier this year, for example, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new retinal prosthetic developed by California-based Second Sight Medical Products Inc. that restores partial sight to those with light-sensitive, damaged retinas.

Yuste acknowledges that the biggest breakthroughs may be 15 years away, a time frame he says could have been shorter if the government had offered more funding. Yuste says that discoveries will likely impact medicine first, but could eventually trickle down to foster cutting-edge consumer electronic goods.

“All consumer electronics rely on the interface between the human and the screen,” Yuste said. “So, all these technologies that we are proposing to develop will enhance the information that you can read out of the brain, or bring into the brain, and this has the potential to revolutionize consumer electronics.”

But first, the BRAIN initiatives must overcome immense scientific challenges. Scientists have managed to make a complete map of only one organism’s brain circuitry: the roundworm, which has just 302 brain cells. The map of the fruit fly’s 150,000-neuron brain is nearly complete, and next up is a mouse, which could have as many as 75 million neurons. That undertaking is expected to take at least five years.

By contrast, human brains have an estimated 86 billion neurons with between 100-500 trillion interconnections. That staggering complexity dwarfs by several orders of magnitude the Human Genome Project’s task of sequencing 2.9 billion base pairs, the building blocks of the DNA double helix.

Given the daunting task, some scientists are concerned the program is being oversold. They worry the lack of timely results might undermine vital public support for the billions of dollars needed, probably over the span of several decades, before the research yields tangible benefits.

In a nutshell, Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, told The Financialist: “Don’t overpromise.”

“The genome mapping, I think, was worth doing,” Caplan said. “But it has left many in Congress and some on the industry side saying, ‘Where are the goodies’?”

BRAIN’s official mandate calls for a complete mapping or recording of neural activity. But some, including Partha Mitra, director of the Mouse Brain Architecture Project at Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., have said it is critical to accomplish the more fundamental task of creating a physical map of the brain before researchers can begin to understand the vast and complex network of neural connections. Mitra is overseeing the team mapping the mouse brain.

The public, said Michael Carroll, a computational neuroscientist at the Chicago Children’s Hospital, must understand the BRAIN undertaking for what it is: “a basic science infrastructure development initiative” meant to jump-start the development of tools and technologies that can unlock breakthroughs further down the road.

Defenders of the BRAIN undertaking point to a long list of technologies that trickled out of earlier government-funded basic science initiatives – CAT scans, GPS technology, computer chips and the Internet, to name a few.

“One can learn from history that you cannot predict the future,” Yuste said. “It may be the real economic benefit is something no one can imagine right now.”

The most likely solution to this problem, according to analysts at Credit Suisse, isn’t a second bail-out but instead that European institutions offer Portugal a credit line until the country can make a full return to debt markets.

This is important because the strict budget cuts imposed as part of the EU-IMF aid package have begun to wear on the national psyche, triggering large demonstrations across the country in recent months as unemployment remains high and growth sluggish. Further unrest could spread across the region, fuelling further rebellion against bail-out inspired austerity.

“The credit line is the most appropriate instrument to provide to the country because (Portugal) has one foot in the market (having already refinanced some bonds), and the goal with the credit line is to support a full return to the market,” Credit Suisse analyst Axel Lang told The Financialist.

“It is an instrument that is less costly for the core countries to provide because it’s a precautionary credit line that may or may not be used by Portugal,” said Lang, who said a final decision on the matter isn’t likely until after the German elections in September.

Portugal is expected to face an estimated €12 billion (about $15.8 billion) funding gap in 2014, when its €78 billion bailout ends and as it struggles to pull itself out of a brutal recession. The country’s GDP contracted by 1.8 percent in the last quarter of 2012, and Credit Suisse expects the economy to shrink by 3 percent in 2013. Unemployment remained at 17.5 percent for the third straight month in March, according to Eurostat.

“Domestic demand is really under strong pressure,” Lang said. “At the moment, they rely on external trade, and the export sector is still pretty small for the size of the country…One of the problems is that the main trading partner is Spain, which is also not in great shape.”

European officials have already lowered Portugal’s deficit target for this year from 6 percent of GDP to 5.5 percent. The decision reflects a softening attitude toward deficits that favors a greater focus on implementing structural reforms, which Portugal has done fairly well, Lang said. The country introduced labor market reforms last year, for example, to make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers.

The burden of austerity is still a heavy one, however, and it could get worse. Portugal’s Constitutional Court recently rejected €1.3 billion in scheduled budget cuts for this year. While Lang believes the government will have a fairly easy time filling in the gaps this year, the following years may be more difficult. The government recently pledged cuts of €2.8 billion in 2014, followed by €1.9 billion more over the following two years.

“This will have to be done in a context of weak economic background, continued rising unemployment, social discontent and ultimately, political risks,” Lang wrote in his research note. Portugal’s finance minister has already acknowledged that spending will affect hospitals, schools and other areas.

In response to the growing frustrations about belt-tightening, Portugal’s leaders have been trying harder to foster growth. Recently, officials announced broad measures to cut corporate taxes and provide incentives for foreign companies to set up shop in Portugal.

“They want to have a better environment for firms to operate in because it’s a very small economy,” Lang said “They basically want to replicate the Irish model,” in which a few large companies establishing themselves in Portugal could change the employment outlook and make the country seem like a viable place to do business.

Ultimately, whether Portugal gets a credit line from Europe or not, reversing its status over the past decade as one of the slowest-growing euro-zone economies, is key to the country’s long-term success – and it won’t happen overnight.

Photo of May Day demonstrations in Portugal courtesy of AP – Francisco Seco

Slavery and the civil rights era were also marked by brutal injustice anathema to the republic’s   core values, but that injustice has been tempered in the national memory by an obsessive focus on the people who fought to put things right. Today’s history textbooks give Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King pride of place when discussing slavery and civil rights, respectively. They remember significantly less about the Jim Crow South.

Fortunately, we have books like Gilbert King’s “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America” to remind us about the harsh social realities dictating life in America’s Deep South in the years preceding the civil rights era. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, King endeavors to tell the story of four black men falsely accused of kidnapping and raping a white woman in rural Florida in 1949. The accusations motivated an extensive manhunt in which one of the suspects was shot to death and the other three were taken into custody and severely beaten.

Thurgood Marshall, who was chief attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at the time, decided to use the case against the three men to undermine the legal foundations of the Jim Crow South. Even with representation by an NAACP staff attorney, however, one of the men was sentenced to life in prison and two were given the death penalty. Marshall appealed the two death sentences all the way to the Supreme Court, winning a new trial for the men in 1951. But while being transported to a preliminary hearing, they were shot by Sheriff Willis McCall. McCall said the handcuffed prisoners attacked him. One man died. The other claimed McCall fired without provocation.

The book’s events play out like a Greek tragedy, with any flicker of hope that justice will prevail quickly extinguished by the general oppressiveness of the times. King, greatly aided by his unprecedented access to both FBI files on the case and the NAACP’s own legal records, is able to tell the story in minute detail, giving it the feel and flow of a great fiction thriller. Unfortunately, though, the story is all too true, providing “Devil in the Grove” a moral heft beyond anything even the best fiction writers could produce.

Of course, in the publishing world, quality does not always translate into popularity, and King’s book is saddled with the burden of being simultaneously very easy and very difficult to read. It is undoubtedly a page-turner, but the pages tell the story of a time and place that does not fit easily into America’s conception of itself. “The Devil in the Grove” shines a light on a dark chapter in history, and the revelations are inarguably terrifying. They are also what make the book an immeasurably rewarding read that simultaneously challenges one of America’s most closely held national myths and illuminates the path to becoming a nation that more closely resembles its ideal self.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

But due to the current U.S. immigration system, the next great tech entrepreneur may not live in America. Instead, he or she may be competing against American companies.

To understand a major problem with U.S. immigration laws, consider Srikanth Chunduri, an Indian engineering school graduate with a master’s in engineering management from Duke University.

Chunduri could have worked comfortably on an H-1B temporary work visa for three years at Mitchell Madison Group, the New York City management consultancy that hired him after graduation. He could have then renewed his visa for another three years before becoming eligible to apply for a green card.

But as hundreds of thousands of highly skilled immigrants have found, temporary work visas can become golden handcuffs. A promotion within the same company or the offer of a better job elsewhere requires workers to procure new visas, starting the difficult application process all over again.

Chunduri had another problem – an entrepreneurial itch he was keen to act on while still in his 30s. But even if he invested his life savings to start a company and hired American workers, current U.S. laws would not allow his company to legally hire its founder. He would need to be a permanent resident, and the application process for this status can take 10 to 15 years.

“Psychologically, because you know there is that uncertainty, you start looking out for alternative opportunities to come back to your country of origin,” said Chunduri, who moved to Mumbai in 2008 after his first year on an H-1B visa to start eMart Solutions, an e-commerce company.

“Almost everyone who has come back to India has started companies,” Chunduri said of friends in similar situations. “They are all technology companies, and most would have preferred to have stayed in the U.S.”

There are no reliable figures on how many frustrated immigrants have returned home, but Vivek Wadhwa, Chunduri’s former professor and research director at Duke’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization, estimates the U.S. has lost roughly 300,000 skilled workers from India and China alone in the last five to seven years.

“I think we have lost an entire generation of startups – we have planted the seeds abroad for Google-class companies to be started in other countries,” said Wadhwa, author of the 2012 book, “The Immigrant Exodus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent.”

“We won’t see these companies for another five to seven years, but the seeds have already been planted – we are going to face unprecedented competition.”

A growing focus on how immigration policy impacts U.S. competitiveness offers the best chance in years to update the country’s immigration laws.  Politicians of all stripes are realizing that entrepreneurs create jobs, and immigrants are twice as likely to start companies than native-born Americans, notes Audrey Singer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“The U.S. is now feeling more pressure to keep up … competitiveness because of the changing nature of economies around the world,” she told The Financialist.

Until recently, immigrant-founded startups accounted for more than half of new companies in Silicon Valley – twice the rate for the rest of the country. But according to a new study by the Kauffman Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting education and entrepreneurship, the proportion of immigrant-founded businesses in Silicon Valley dropped from 52.4 percent to 43.9 percent between 2006 and 2012.

“For several years, anecdotal evidence has suggested that an unwelcoming immigration system and environment in the U.S. has created a ‘reverse brain drain’ – this report confirms it with data,” Dane Stangler, the foundation’s research and policy director, said in a statement.

A key Senate bill drafted by a bipartisan group of senators incorporates portions of an earlier bill known as Startup 3.0 and would roll out the welcome mat for foreign entrepreneurs. The bill would eliminate per-country caps for employment-based immigrant visas and grant green cards to foreign students who earn post-graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM).

Alex Nowrasteh, a policy analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute, said the broad consensus on smoothing the way for highly skilled immigrants to stay in the country could sweeten a more contentious provision in the bill: a pathway to legal status for millions of undocumented workers.

Tech companies that complain about the difficulties of attracting and retaining highly skilled workers are pushing for reform. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for example, heads a pressure group advocating for change.

But even though applications for this year’s allotment of 85,000 H-1B visas exceeded the cap within a week of being opened, the fastest rate since 2008, not everyone is convinced the U.S. faces a shortage of high-tech workers. The Economic Policy Institute says there are more than 9 million people in America with STEM degrees, but only about 3 million work in their fields largely because an influx of foreign workers has suppressed pay levels.

“If these skills are so valuable and in such short supply, salaries should at least keep pace with the tech companies’ profits, which have exploded,” Ross Eisenbrey, vice-president of the Economic Policy Institute, argued in a recent New York Times op-ed.

Meanwhile, Chunduri says he is considering setting up a San Francisco office to serve clients such as Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. He’d even like to relocate his headquarters there – but immigration laws would have to change first.

“From a business standpoint, it makes 100 percent sense for me to move my headquarters to the U.S., but I can’t,” Chunduri said. “I wouldn’t know if I might be told to move my headquarters back to India in two years.”

Photo of FWD.us President and Founder, Joe Green, and Aditya Agarwal, VP of Engineering at Dropbox, speaking at the  recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference about why immigration reform is critical to the tech community.

Photo courtesy of FWD.us