Gates warns US not to drive out foreign talent
By Stephen Foley in New York
Thursday, 8 March 2007
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the world's richest man, told lawmakers in the US yesterday to allow more skilled foreigners to stay in the country, warning that if they did not, "America's economic future is in peril".
Testifying to Congress, Mr Gates said there was a critical shortage of science graduates which could hurt the competitiveness of pioneering technology companies.
It "makes no sense" that foreign students who apply for US student visas must prove they intend to leave once they receive their degree. "If we are going to invest in educating foreign students ... why drive them away just when this investment starts to pay off for the American economy?" he said. "I see the negative effects of these policies every day at Microsoft."
Mr Gates is the most high profile of a string of technology company executives who have argued for a relaxation of America's immigration laws.
The Microsoft chief, whose charitable foundationprovides hi-tech equipment to schools, among other causes, also criticised the US schools system, describing students as "digital natives caught up in an industrial-age learning model".
The Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee, chaired by veteran Democratic senator Edward Kennedy, has been holding hearings under the title "strengthening American competitiveness for the 21st century".
Mr Gates said the government's annual allotment of H1B visas, for foreign professionals employed by US companies and universities, ran out in the first four months of the 2006-07 year. He predicted the 2007-08 supply will run out even sooner, meaning that Microsoft for the first time will not get H1B visas for any graduating students this year.