What if the H-1B visa experience — the lottery, the waiting, the uncertainty about whether to buy a sofa or commit to a relationship — could be experienced in a game? Journalist and game developer Alison Yang did exactly that. Yang talks to Immigration Nerds host, Lauren Clarke, about her upcoming simulation game h1b.life, which drops players into the daily reality of navigating the U.S. immigration system, managing money, legal costs, social support, and mental health, all while outcomes can still spin on a slot machine you don’t control.

Resource Links:

https://h1b.life/

https://www.wired.com/story/made-in-china-a-new-game-turns-the-h-1b-visa-system-into-a-surreal-simulation/

HOST: LAUREN CLARKE

NEWS NERD: ROB TAYLOR

PRODUCER: ADAM BELMAR

A confidential government paper recently surfaced in Ireland with a striking conclusion: the country needs migration to keep hospitals open, taxes flowing, and its economy afloat — even as public pressure mounts to tighten the rules. Host Lauren Clarke sits down with Katie McDermott, Managing Director of EIG's UK and Ireland offices, to unpack what that tension looks like on the ground in Dublin.

Katie walks through Ireland's demographic math — a worker-to-pensioner ratio set to fall from 4.5 to 2.3 by 2051 — and what it means for employers competing for global talent in a system that's growing more complex, not less. They also get into the concept of "social license" for immigration, why the economic argument alone isn't enough to move public opinion, and what corporate clients navigating both the UK and Irish systems need to be thinking about right now.

Resource Links:

Book review: In Our Interest: How Democracies Can Make Immigration Popular | Law Gazette

Monitoring Report on Integration 2024 Asylum and Migration Overview 2024: Ireland

GUEST: Katie McDermott, EIG Managing Director, UK & Ireland

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

One year into the current administration's immigration agenda, the American Immigration Lawyers Association has done the accounting — and the findings are striking. In this episode, Lauren Clarke sits down with Shev Dalal-Dheini, AILA's Senior Director of Government Relations, to walk through the organization's new A Better Way on Immigration policy brief series, the first wave of which examines what has actually happened to legal immigration pathways since January 2025.

The conversation covers the administration's systematic dismantling of congressionally-authorized immigration programs — from TPS cancellations affecting 700,000 people, to paused adjudications leaving millions of applicants in limbo, to the closure of legal pathways for families, workers, and allies. Shev and Lauren also dig into the real-world consequences for U.S. employers, universities, hospitals, and communities — and what it means for America's long-term economic and national security competitiveness when other countries, from Canada to China, are actively recruiting the talent we're pushing away.

GUEST: Shev Dalal-Dheini, Senior Director of Government Relations, AILA

HOST: Lauren Clarke

NEWS NERD: Rob Taylor

PRODUCER: Adam Belmar

Resource Links: AILA: A Better Way on Immigration Policy Briefs