Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates appears to have opened a can of worms by stating that the annual cap for H-1B visas should be raised. To recall H-1B visas are issued to foreigners who are employed in specialty fields such as technology.
Currently the cap on H-1B visas is 65,000 with an additional 20,000 cap exempt visas, making up a total of 85,000 visas per year. There have been strict restrictions on these visas due to security concerns post 9/11. However, Mr. Gates has other opinions, "The whole idea of the H1B thing is don't let too many smart people come into the country. Basically, it doesn't make sense," he said at a at a Library of Congress panel discussion on Wednesday. Gates feels that the congress is being very conservative, "It's very dangerous because you get this reaction: 'Okay, the world is very competitive, let's cut back on trade; the world is very scary, let's cut back on visas,'" he said.
Microsoft is just one among several technology driven companies who are aggressively campaigning to lift the H-1B visa restriction so that they may get a chance to hire skilled foreign labor. In the last year 'Compete America'-a coalition of over 200 corporations, universities, research institutions and trade associations in the United States had pressed hard for increasing the cap on the visa.
However, there are those who feel that Corporate America is ignoring home grown talent. Commerce Department undersecretary for technology Phil Bond says that last year there were 5.7 per cent of information technology employees out of work last year as against 5.5% of all workers. He says that unemployment among US computer engineers exceeds unemployment in other industries.
At the moment though, Gates et al are looking for some ways to get talent into America from other
countries, but based on initial reactions in the Congress, this looks a little bit tough even for the Microsoft man.
