Gates, Grove ask senate for more foreign engineers

Microsoft chief Bill Gates along with Intel chairman Andy Grove visited

Washington DC to lobby the US Congress for an increase in the number of

foreign engineers allowed to work in the United States. "If there is

anything that can help the technology industry move at light speed in the next

couple of years, it's the H-1b issue," Gates told the Joint Economic

Committee.

H-1b visas allow foreign high-tech workers to come to the US and work for up

to six years. Currently, only 115,000 H-1b visas are granted each year. The

high-tech industry wants to see that ceiling raised to around 200,000.

Democrats have held up the passage of the proposal insisting that companies

that hire the H-1b workers can show they are not simply using the foreigners

as a source of cheap engineering talent. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott

told Grove and Gates that he will try to pass a Senate bill to raise the limit

on visas to 195,000. "We are going to ask consent that it be considered

this week without amendments."

In the long term, Grove said the visa increase is only a temporary fix for the

shortage of qualified technicians. "I am very thankful for the short-term

relief that the H-1b visa provision has been given, but it is basically

bailing out the boat with a little cup. The long-term answer has to come to

making substantial changes to our scientific and technical education system,"

Grove said.

Added Gates, "We are recruiting at the highest possible level in the US

and believe the supply is just not there to meet the demand. It's an imbalance

that cannot be addressed domestically without changes to the US education

system that will take years to produce results."