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发帖数: 25 | 1 The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, testified at a Congressional Hearing
today (March 12, 2008) before
the House Science & Technology Committee. The following is the portion of
his testimony concerning
the urgently needed changes to US Immigration Law and how current
immigration policies are harming
the United States.
Prior to practicing Immigration Law, Attorney Harrington served as a counsel
to the House Science
Committee for more than three years (1997-2000). He hopes you find the
inform | h********n
发帖数: 25 | 2 The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, testified at a Congressional Hearing
today (March 12, 2008) before
the House Science & Technology Committee. The following is the portion of
his testimony concerning
the urgently needed changes to US Immigration Law and how current
immigration policies are harming
the United States.
Prior to practicing Immigration Law, Attorney Harrington served as a counsel
to the House Science
Committee for more than three years (1997-2000). He hopes you find the
information interesting and
helpful.
Mark Harrington, Immigration Lawyer
www.markharringtonlaw.com
email: m**[email protected]
Addition information about the hearing can be found at www.house.gov/science.
BILL GATES ON US IMMIGRATION LAW (March 12, 2008): “The second set of
policies that we must
consider if we are going to address the shortage of scientists and engineers
centers on our immigration
rules for highly skilled workers. Today, knowledge and expertise are the
essential raw materials that
companies and countries need in order to be competitive. We live in an
economy that depends on the
ability of innovative companies to attract and retain the very best talent,
regardless of nationality or
citizenship. Unfortunately, the U.S. immigration system makes attracting and
retaining high-skilled
immigrants exceptionally challenging for U.S. firms.
Congress's failure to pass high-skilled immigration reform has exacerbated
an already grave situation.
For example, the current base cap of 65,000 H-1B visas is arbitrarily set
and bears no relation to the
U.S. economy's demand for skilled professionals. For fiscal year 2007, the
supply ran out more than
four months before that fiscal year even began. For fiscal year 2008, the
supply of H-1B visas ran out
on April 2, 2007, the first day that petitions could be filed and six months
before the visas would even
be issued. Nearly half of those who sought a visa on that day did not
receive one.
This situation has caused a serious disruption in the flow of talented STEM
graduates to U.S.
companies. Because an H-1B petition generally can be filed only for a person
who holds a degree,
when May/June 2007 graduates received their degrees, the visa cap for fiscal
year 2008 had already
been reached. Accordingly, U.S. firms will be unable to hire those graduates
on an H-1B visa until the
beginning of fiscal year 2009, or October 2008.
As a result, many U.S. firms, including Microsoft, have been forced to
locate staff in countries that
welcome skilled foreign workers to do work that could otherwise have been
done in the United States,
if it were not for our counterproductive immigration policies. Last year,
for example, Microsoft was
unable to obtain H-1B visas for one-third of the highly qualified foreign-
born job candidates that we
wanted to hire.
If we increase the number of H-1B visas that are available to U.S. companies
, employment of U.S.
nationals would likely grow as well. For instance, Microsoft has found that
for every H-1B hire we
make, we add on average four additional employees to support them in various
capacities. Our
experience is not unique. A recent study of technology companies in the S&P
500 found that, for every
H-1B visa requested, these leading U.S. technology companies increased their
overall employment by
five workers.
Moreover, the simple fact is that highly skilled foreign-born workers make
enormous contributions to
our economy. A recent survey by Duke University and the University of
California − Berkeley found that
one quarter of all start-up U.S. engineering and technology firms
established between 1995 and 2005
had at least one foreign-born founder. By 2005, these companies produced $52
billion in sales and
employed 450,000 workers.
The United States will find it far more difficult to maintain its
competitive edge over the next 50 years if
it excludes those who are able and willing to help us compete. Other nations
are benefiting from our
misguided policies. They are revising their immigration policies to attract
highly talented students and
professionals who would otherwise study, live, and work in the United States
for at least part of their
careers. To address this problem, I urge Congress to take the following
steps.
First, we need to encourage the best students from abroad to enroll in our
colleges and universities
and, if they wish, to remain in the United States when their studies are
completed. One interim step that
could be taken would be to extend so-called Optional Practical Training (OPT
), the period of
employment that foreign students are permitted in connection with their
degree program. Students are
currently allowed a maximum of 12 months in OPT before they must change
their immigration status to
continue working in the United States. Extending OPT from 12 to 29 months
would help to alleviate the
crisis employers are facing due to the current H-1B visa shortage. This only
requires action by the
Executive Branch, and Congress and this Committee should strongly urge the
Department of Homeland
Security to take such action immediately.
Second, Congress should create a streamlined path to permanent resident
status for highly skilled
workers. Rather than allowing highly skilled, well-trained innovators to
remain for only a very limited
period, we should encourage a greater number to become permanent U.S.
residents so that they can
help drive innovation and economic growth alongside America's native-born
talent. While some foreign
students will undoubtedly choose to return home after graduation, it is
extremely counterproductive to
prevent them from remaining here to contribute their talents and expertise
to our economic success if
that is what they would like to do.
Third, Congress should increase the cap on visas. The current cap is so low
that it virtually assures that
highly skilled foreign graduates will leave the United States and work
elsewhere after graduation. By
increasing the number of visas granted each year, Congress can help U.S.
industry meet its near-term
need for qualified workers even as we build up our long-term capability to
supply these workers
domestically through education reform.
Ultimately, however, if we are to align our immigration policy with global
realities and ensure our place
as the world's leading innovator, Congress must make additional changes to
our employment-based
immigration system.
The current system caps employment-based visas − or "green cards" &#
8722; at 140,000 per fiscal year.
Because that number includes spouses and children of applicants, the actual
number of visas available
for workers is far fewer than 140,000. Moreover, the number of green cards
issued to nationals of any
one country cannot exceed 7% of the total number of visas issued in a given
fiscal year. These two
factors have caused multi-year backlogs for thousands of highly skilled
individuals and are having a
chilling effect on America's ability to attract and retain great talent.
I urge Congress to pass legislation that does away with per-country limits
and significantly increases
the number of green cards available in any fiscal year. Failure to do so
will add to the already years-
long wait for green cards and only encourage talented foreign nationals who
are already contributing to
innovation in U.S. companies to leave and take their talents elsewhere.
Innovation is the engine of job
growth; if we discourage innovation here at home, economic growth will
decline, resulting in fewer
jobs for American workers.
I want to emphasize that the shortage of scientists and engineers is so
acute that we must do both:
reform our education system and reform our immigration policies. This is not
an either-or proposition.
If we do not do both, U.S. companies simply will not have the talent they
need to innovate and compete.
END OF BILL GATES TESTIMONY CONCERNING U.S. IMMIGRATION |
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