[BeetleB]

I've often heard "fair" being referred to as "The F word" in communications circles. The reason is that the word will have many meanings to many people, with all of them being "correct" to some degree. And many of those meanings will be contradictory to one another.

The only meaningful response I can give to your questions is that "No. A fair solution to the problem is not possible". You have to pick what you are optimizing for. Whatever solution you come up with will have elements of unfairness.

The major concerns here are:

1. Whether it's OK for people to jump the queue (current system)

2. Whether diversity is important (currently, yes).

3. Whether it's OK for someone who has contributed with advanced degrees to the country for over a decade to find him/herself without a job and being booted out of the country. (currently, yes - putting the US in the same category as a bunch of Middle Eastern countries).

You're not going to devise a (simple) system that solves all 3.