HindustanTimes.com
New Delhi, April 28, 2005
Indian techies, aspiring for H1B visas, have a saviour in the United States. Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates.
The software giant, which accounts for the largest number of visas under the country's H1B visa programme, is finding it difficult to hire skilled labour within the US and it's boss "certainly wants to get rid of the H1B cap".
"You can't imagine how tough it is to plan as a company where we say, 'let's have this engineering group and staff it.' You get a few and then you go through these periods where nobody can come in," Gates said.
Single largest importer
For over a decade, Microsoft has been the single largest importer in the United States of talented engineers and professionals.
"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," Gates said.
Gates was speaking at a Library of Congress panel discussion with Sen. Patrick Leahy, Rep. David Drier, Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman and Phillip Bond, under secretary of commerce for technology on the Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
H1B visa
An H1B visa is a non-immigrant classification used by foreigners who are sponsored and employed in specialty fields such as technology.
The current H1B ceiling is 65,000 workers per year following caps as high 195,000 employees in the early 1990s.
Restrictions
The cap on H1B visas, prompted by national security concerns and protectionist lawmakers who think the jobs should go to Americans, have been a longstanding sore point for the technology industry.
Gates opined that the core of the problem rests with members in Congress who want to step back to US isolationism.
"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.
Need for more foreign employees
Gates and other leading technology executives have pressed Congress aggressively to let them hire more foreign employees by raising visa limits, but Gates hasn't previously campaigned to abolish the immigration law entirely.
Technology executives have argued they are unable to find qualified American workers, a contention disputed by US labour groups and unemployed computer engineers.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/2005/Apr/28/181_1340060,0002.htm