http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/biztech/04/27/gates.immigrants.ap/index.html

Technology executives have argued they are unable to find qualified
American workers.


Microsoft Chairman: End overseas hiring limits
Wednesday, April 27, 2005 Posted: 5:26 PM EDT (2126 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates urged the Bush
administration and lawmakers Wednesday to abolish immigration limits on
foreign engineers who can be hired by U.S. companies, a sensitive subject
among American technology workers watching their own jobs increasingly move
overseas.

During an infrequent visit to lobby personally for changes in federal
policy, the world's richest executive said the government should eliminate
the limit of 65,000 for overseas workers who can be hired each year by
American firms under specialty "H1-B" visas aimed at drawing engineers,
scientists, architects and doctors to the United States.

"The whole idea of the H1-B visa thing is, don't let too many smart people
come into the country," Gates said during an invitation-only panel
discussion at the Library of Congress. "The thing basically doesn't make
sense."

Responding to a question about policy changes Gates would make if he were
king, Gates said he "probably will get myself in trouble on this one." He
endorsed more intensive study of nuclear power, improvements to U.S.
schools and higher research spending by government.

"I'd certainly get rid of the H1-B visa cap," Gates added. "That's one of
the easiest decisions."

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 U.S. labor groups and
unemployed computer engineers.

"Anybody who's got good computer science training, they are not out there
unemployed," Gates said. "We're just not seeing an available labor pool."

The Commerce Department undersecretary for technology, Phil Bond, cautioned
Gates during his talk that unemployment among U.S. computer engineers
regularly exceeds unemployment in other industries. "The politics of that
are real," Bond said. Government figures showed 5.7 percent of information
technology employees were out of work last year versus 5.5 percent of all
workers.

The debate over U.S. technology companies hiring more foreigners occurs in
the wake of the 2001 terrorism crackdown on immigration and amid increasing
concerns about the theft of U.S. corporate secrets. The Bush administration
has set up a counterintelligence office and published a first-ever strategy
for preventing espionage against U.S. companies and the government.

"We still have to focus on border security," Rep. David Dreier, R-
California, told Gates at his talk. "We can't be so naive as to believe
there is not a very serious border security problem with which we have to
contend."

Some labor groups criticized Gates' remarks.

"It's increasingly difficult for U.S.-based programmers to find work," said
Marcus Courtney, organizer of the Seattle-based Washington Alliance of
Technology Workers. "There is no support in the American public for
completely abolishing the H1-B visa program and allowing companies to
import foreign labor for these high-paying jobs."

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