The immigration bill also seeks to raise the yearly cap on H1-B visas to 180, 000.
He was permitted to stay on an H1-B visa, but it tied him to his employer.
It plans to foot that bill by increasing significantly the fees for skilled-worker visas (known as H1-B and L-1 visas).
Many of these firms have as much as 80% of their staff in the U.S. on H1-B and other visas.
Mr. JOHN MIANO (Software Consultant): So when employers want an H1-B increase, they tell the public that these are highly skilled workers.
The technology journalist Robert X Cringley has an article criticizing H1-B visas that I think is worth offering a rebuttal to.
FORBES: Misunderstanding the Benefits of High-Skilled Immigrants
For many of these jobs it may be the case that without H1-B workers, the position does not exist at the prevailing wage.
FORBES: Misunderstanding the Benefits of High-Skilled Immigrants
Importantly, he refers later in his piece to outsourcing, which in many cases may be the actual alternative to hiring an H1-B worker.
FORBES: Misunderstanding the Benefits of High-Skilled Immigrants
Critics say H1-B workers take jobs away from Americans and that tech companies would find Americans to take these jobs if the salaries were higher.
It doubles the number of temporary H1-B visas for high-tech workers.
Demand for top tech talent also has prompted the industry to lobby the State Department to give out more H1-B visas to highly skilled foreign-born immigrants.
Earlier this month, U.S.-based employers exhausted the annual 65, 000-person quota for H1-B visas within days of the opening of applications, a sign of the strengthening domestic economy.
Gates testified before the House Committee on Science Technology on Wednesday about what he sees as a need to liberalize rules for H1-B visas for skilled foreign workers.
But Indian outsourcing giants sponsor more than half the 65, 000 skilled-worker permits, known as H1-B visas, that the U.S. issues annually to workers with at least a bachelor's degree.
It stipulates that you have to be a STEM graduate (Science Technology Engineering or Mathematics) with a valid visa within a year of graduation or with a H1-B Visa to qualify.
And most importantly, it authorizes employment for the spouses of H1-B workers so that professionals with great potential are no longer confined to their homes and locked out of the economy.
FORBES: Will Our Leaders Snatch Defeat From the Jaws of Victory on Immigration Reform, Again?
H1-B visas for skilled workers might serve as a model: they can run for two three-year periods, giving both workers and employers time to decide whether they would prefer a permanent arrangement.
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