Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, on Wednesday warned
that restrictions on the number of skilled workers allowed to
enter the US put the country’s competitiveness at risk.
The comments marked the latest attack on restrictive US immigration
policies by the technology industry, which is facing a shortage
of skilled workers even as demand for their skills is increasing.
Speaking before the Senate committee on health, education, labour
and pensions, Mr Gates said that tighter US immigration policies
– governed partly by concerns over terrorism – were
“driving away the world’s best and brightest precisely
when we need them most”.
“It makes no sense to tell well-trained, highly skilled
individuals, many of whom are educated at our top colleges and
universities, that the United States does not welcome or value
them,” Mr Gates said. “America will find it infinitely
more difficult to maintain its technological leadership if it
shuts out the very people who are most able to help us compete.”
Mr Gates said that other countries were taking advantage of restrictive
US policies by catering to highly skilled workers who would otherwise
choose to study, live and work in the US.
“Our lost opportunities are their gains,” he said.
“I personally witness the ill effects of these policies
on an almost daily basis at Microsoft.”
Mr Gates’s comments on immigration were part of a broader
warning over the state of US competitiveness.
Mr Gates said he felt “deep anxiety” about the US’s
ability to remain competitive if it did not act quickly to improve
education, invest in basic science research, and reform its immigration
policies.
“America cannot maintain its innovation leadership if it
does not educate world-class innovators and train its workforce
to use innovations effectively. Unfortunately, available
data suggest that we are failing to do so?.?.?.?especially in
our high schools.”
Mr Gates called on Congress to loosen rules that prevent many
foreign students from settling once their studies in the US are
complete. He also suggested that Congress speed the process of
obtaining permanent resident status for highly skilled workers.
Immigration reform emerged as a key issue among voters in last
year’s mid-term elections. However, most of the debate has
focused on illegal immigration and whether the US should create
a guest worker programme for low-skilled immigrants.
The US currently limits visas for skilled foreign workers to
65,000 a year, while the number of green cards, required for permanent
resident status is limited to 140,000 a year.
Mr Gates acknowledged concerns over US job losses resulting
from immigration but sought to distinguish between the need to
encourage more highly skilled workers to enter the US and the
broader debate on immigration reform.
“These reforms do not pit US workers against those foreign
born,” he said. “Far from displacing US workers, highly
skilled foreign-born workers will continue to function as they
always have: as job creators.”
