The proposed immigration reform, which has sparked a heated debate across the United States, has not only raised hopes for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, it has also thrilled Chinese students now studying in American colleges and universities.

According to the proposals put forward by some Democrat and Republican senators as well as President Barack Obama, the US will offer more work visas and green cards to high-level professionals and foreign students with advanced degrees, especially STEM students, that is, those in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Washington has been tightening its immigration policy since the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, making it more difficult for foreign professionals and students to find jobs and live in the US. But the policy has been criticized by many and described by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as "national suicide".