Frances Cox or Eric Thomas 202-822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 11, 2007

Compete America Endorses Call by Governors to Ease Visa Crunch for Highly Educated Foreign Professionals

Bipartisan Group of State Leaders Urge Congressional Action This Year

Click here for a copy of the letter.

Washington D.C. – Compete America today endorsed a letter by a bipartisan group of governors calling on Congress to enact reforms to the H-1B visa and employment-based (EB) green card systems.  The letter was signed by 13 Democratic and Republican governors, many representing the nation’s major high tech centers, and was delivered to the leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The letter, signed by the governors of Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming stated:

“While we concentrate on building a highly skilled and competitive workforce … today, we and our nation face a critical shortage of highly skilled professionals in math and science to fill current needs.   Until we are able to address this workforce shortage, we must recognize that foreign talent has a role to play in our ability to keep companies located in our state and country; and, therefore, need to ensure the increased availability of temporary H1-B visas, and permanent resident visas (green cards)…

“…If states like ours are to remain world leaders in innovation and intend to continue to see the job growth that is so vital to our economies, we must keep our employers in our states and ensure there is a skilled workforce in this country to fill their immediate needs.  While wholesale immigration reform may not be possible in the 110th Congress,  we urge Congressional action this year that recognizes states’ immediate need to recruit and retain professionals in key sectors, while we continue to produce here at home the skilled workforce our companies need in the long-term.”

To view the complete letter, and for more information on how highly educated immigration benefits America, please visit www.competeamerica.org. 

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of corporations, educators, research institutions and trade associations concerned about legal, employment-based immigration and committed to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce necessary to ensure continued innovation, job creation and leadership in a worldwide economy.