News

High-Tech Lobby Hoping For Gains From Immigration Debate

Increase sought on H-1B visas for high-tech workers from cap of 65,000 per year to 115,000 per year.

(Washington) -- High-tech firms eager to import more engineers, computer buffs and other skilled workers are waiting anxiously to see if their needs will be met as Congress grapples with overhauling immigration law.

As senators began work Monday on an immigration bill, officials from tech companies, universities and trade groups gathered in a Senate meeting room to tick off some of their top priorities: adding more visas for high-tech workers and making it easier for tech-savvy foreign students to come to the U.S. and stay.

They aren't the issues that have grabbed headlines, like fencing off the U.S.-Mexico border or what to do with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country. But high-tech officials say they are essential at a time when the U.S. is creating more technology jobs but producing fewer college and university graduates with engineering degrees.

"I have trouble filling high-tech jobs in remote areas, and even in metropolitan areas finding the right person," said Woody Sessums, a vice president at Cisco Systems, Inc. "We want the very smartest, the most high-level engineers to come here and stay, and we have to compete globally."

Sessums was among the speakers at a Monday forum organized by the University of California Washington Center, the California Institute for Federal Policy Research and TechNet, a high-tech lobby group.

An immigration bill the House passed in December did not contain any of the main provisions high-tech companies are seeking. They are more hopeful about what might come out of the Senate, although the two measures would then have to be reconciled.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has proposed allowing more of the popular H1-B visas that go to high-tech workers. Congress capped the six-year H-1B visas at 65,000 per year in 2004, and for the past few years that cap has been met even before the beginning of each fiscal year.

Specter would increase the cap to 115,000, with more increases possible depending on demand.

"We don't have enough homegrown scientists and people who are well-trained in math and science, and what happens is those jobs are offshored or outsourced to places like India and China," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said as the Judiciary Committee debated the issue Monday. "It represents a real challenge to American competitiveness."

Specter's legislation also would change how foreign students are dealt with, creating a new visa for students in science, technology, engineering and math and allowing them to take a job after they graduate and apply for permanent residency. Currently foreign students must pledge to leave the U.S. after completing their studies.

"A lot of that innovation, talent and invention is now pushed to other countries," said Tod Loofbourrow, president and chief executive of Authoria, Inc., a Massachusetts company that focuses on recruitment and work force productivity.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has introduced his own immigration bill and promised to bring it up on the Senate floor Tuesday if Specter's committee doesn't pass a bill Monday. Frist's bill contains the same provisions on high-tech and student visas as Specter's.

"Hopefully there's enough support in the Senate for this that we can get this through while they're arguing about the other issues," said Victor Johnson, associate executive director at the Association of International Educators.

Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.