NEWS CONTACTS: Eric Thomas or Frances Cox (202) 822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 29, 2006

Start of New Fiscal Year Means U.S. Employers Must Still Wait 12 More Months for H-1B Visas

Compete America Cites Urgent Need for Visa Reform This Year

Washington, D.C. - With the federal government set to begin its new fiscal year on October 1, 2006, U.S. employers are faced with an additional 12 months without the ability to hire highly educated foreign professionals - including foreign student talent graduating from U.S. universities.

Under current law the H-1B visa program, which was designed to provide U.S. employers access to top worldwide talent, is capped at 65,000 visas per year, down from 195,000 in FY '03. In 2004, Congress created an exemption for 20,000 foreign nationals earning advanced degrees from U.S. universities. Both the 65,000 pool and the 20,000 advanced degree allocation for FY '07 were reached in June and July, respectively - meaning no additional new hires until October 2007.

FY '07 marks the eighth time in the last ten years that the H-1B visa cap has been reached before the end of the fiscal year, and the second consecutive year the cap has been reached prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year.

"The demand for qualified engineers, scientists, teachers and medical professionals is obvious, yet U.S. employers are being handcuffed by an outdated and arbitrary visa system," said Lynn Shotwell, Executive Director of the American Council on International Personnel and Compete America Chair. "U.S. competitiveness is suffering when U.S. employers are denied access to top talent."

Shotwell pointed to the recently released World Economic Forum (WEF) "Global Competitiveness Index," which concluded that U.S. economic competitiveness fell significantly over the last year, in part because of a decreasing talent pool for employment due to immigration restrictions. WEF dropped the United States from first to sixth in its annual assessment.

"Congress still has time to fix the broken system for highly educated foreign workers," Shotwell continued. "The Senate has already approved measures to raise the H-1B cap and make important changes to the employment-based green card system. We urge the House to move forward with similar provisions this year."

As part of comprehensive immigration reform, the Senate passed all provisions contained in the "SKIL Bill" (S. 2691; H.R. 5744), which would provide a remedy for both the H-1B and EB green card crises.

"Highly educated foreign workers have a long history of contributing to the U.S. economy, driving technological advances, and creating U.S. jobs. Antiquated visa restrictions are anti-competitive and counterproductive. The SKIL Bill offers the best method for fixing the system," Shotwell concluded.

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of more than 200 corporations, universities, 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.

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