Gates to Senate: More Visas

Microsoft's chairman testified in Washington on the need to admit more skilled workers to boost U.S. competitiveness. Reform proposals are on the way

by Peter Elstrom

As the U.S. Congress prepares to introduce legislation for immigration reform, William Gates III, chairman of Microsoft (MSFT), traveled to the Senate to share his thoughts on maintaining the country's competitive edge while fixing a broken visa system.

The exchange got underway with plenty of mutual admiration. "It is an honor for me to appear before you today to share my thoughts on the future of American education, the development of our workforce, and other policies necessary to ensure America's continued competitiveness in the global economy," Gates said in his opening remarks before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee on Mar. 7.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) expressed his gratitude for Gates' visit. Several Senators applauded the work that Gates has done through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve U.S. schools. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he didn't have any questions for Gates. "I just want to personally express my regard for you," Hatch said.

But once the pleasantries were finished, Gates was sharply critical of the current U.S. policies on immigration. He said the existing programs for both temporary and permanent workers were a disservice to the country, U.S. companies, and the workers themselves. "Unfortunately, America's immigration policies are driving away the world's best and brightest precisely when we need them most," he said. "The terrible shortfall in our visa supply for the highly skilled stems not from security concerns, but from visa policies that have not been updated in over a decade and a half. We live in a different economy now. Simply put: It makes no sense to tell well-trained, highly skilled individuals—many of whom are educated at our top colleges and universities—that the United States does not welcome or value them. For too many foreign students and professionals, however, our immigration policies send precisely this message."

Visas Wanted

One problem that Gates homed in on is the shortage of temporary work visas for skilled workers. The number of such H-1B visas is capped at 65,000, down from 195,000 a few years ago. The limit has prevented many companies such as Microsoft from bringing to the U.S. workers that they want to hire. Compete America, a group of tech companies that includes Intel (INTC), Motorola (MOT), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), has also been pressing for an increase in the cap and President George W. Bush has said he supports such a move (see BusinessWeek.com, 2/26/07, "Fresh Ideas for the Immigration Debate").

Gates told senators that the shortage of H-1Bs is hitting a critical point. In the last government fiscal year, the supply of such visas lasted less than eight weeks after the filing period opened. For fiscal 2008, Gates said, the allocation of H-1Bs is likely to run out in the very first month. "This year, for the first time in the history of the program, the supply will run out before the year's graduating students get their degrees," he said. "This means that U.S. employers will not be able to get H-1B visas for an entire crop of U.S. graduates. We are essentially asking top talent to leave the U.S."

There has been a push to change the criteria for the H-1B visas, in addition to increasing the number available. Some of the most active applicants for the visas are outsourcing companies, including Infosys Technologies (INFY), Wipro (WIT), and Accenture (ACN) (see BusinessWeek.com, 2/8/07, "Work Visas May Work Against the U.S.").