Eric Thomas or Frances Cox 202-822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 29, 2007

Skilled Immigrant Crisis Reaches New Heights

Cap on 2008 H-1B Visas to Shut Out Entire Class of 2007

Compete America Cites Need for H-1B Visa and EB Green Card Reform This Year

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is expected to announce that the FY 2008 allotment of H-1B visas will be filled at some early point in April, effectively preventing any new H-1B hires – including scientists, engineers and researchers and other highly educated foreign professionals – for the next 18 months. 

“Hitting the cap this early is unprecedented – and creates a situation in which foreign students graduating from U.S. universities this spring are virtually shut out of the U.S. job market,” said Robert Hoffman, Vice President for Government and Public Affairs at Oracle and Co-Chair of Compete America. “It is counterproductive to attract the world’s top talent to train in our universities, and then send them abroad to compete against us after they are educated.  Our broken visa policies are essentially telling the class of 2007 that they need not apply.”

Hitting the 2008 cap in April is significant because even though foreign students may be employed for 12 months of “optional practical training” following graduation, employment eligibility will expire for most in May or June of 2008, leaving a gap of several months before they can be employed again – or even remain in the United States – when FY 2009 begins on October 1, 2008.  This is the best-case scenario, as there is no guarantee that their prospective employer’s application for an H-1B will even be approved due to visa limits.  No employer or employee can be expected to work around such obstacles.

“Despite the well-documented demand for H-1B visas and employment-based green cards, artificially low visa caps continue to shut out some of the world’s brightest talent, adversely impacting America’s long-term competitiveness,” stated Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs, Chairman of the Board, QUALCOMM.  “Our immigration system for highly educated workers is falling apart just at the time when talented knowledge workers have more choices than ever with competing companies in Europe and Asia.”

The anticipated announcement by USCIS will mark the fourth consecutive year that the cap has been reached on or before the beginning of the new fiscal year, and the earliest point that the cap has been reached in the history of the program. Compounding the problem are the massive, multi-year backlogs in the employment-based (EB) green card system, which prevent U.S. employers from retaining many key employees after their temporary H-1B visas expire.

Compete America supports legislation that would provide a permanent fix to the broken visa system for highly educated foreign professionals – including a market-based H-1B visa cap, a streamlined EB green card process, and the end of arbitrary obstacles to employment and permanent residency for foreign-born master’s and PhD graduates from U.S. universities.

“While we need to do more as a nation to encourage American students to pursue degrees in the fields of math, science, engineering and technology, and QUALCOMM is actively supporting a range of such programs, we must also be able to attract top talent from across the globe. America needs to reform both the H-1B visa and employment-based green card systems by adopting policies that welcome highly educated foreign professionals to live, work and contribute to the U.S. economy.  Congress must act this year,” Dr. Jacobs concluded. 

For more information on how highly educated immigration benefits America, please visit www.competeamerica.org.