Eric Thomas or Frances Cox 202/822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 10, 2008

Compete America Applauds Senator Cornyn for
Introduction of “Global Competitiveness Act of 2008"

Bipartisan Bill Would Make More H-1B Visa and Employment-Based Green Cards Available to Help Stem U.S. Talent Crisis

Washington D.C. – Compete America today applauded the bipartisan introduction of the “Global Competitiveness Act of 2008” (S. 2839) by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).  The legislation would recapture unused H-1B visas and employment-based (EB) green cards from previous years and increase the number of H-1B visas from 2009 – 2011.  The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).

“We applaud Senator Cornyn for his leadership on legislation that is an important step toward achieving permanent reform of the immigration system for highly educated professionals,” said Paula Collins, Vice President for Government Relations at Texas Instruments and Co-Chair of Compete America.  “U.S. employers are facing increasing barriers to hiring and retaining the talented workers they need to keep America’s innovation economy strong, and this bipartisan bill is a recognition that a permanent solution must be passed this year.”

The introduction of this bill comes just days after the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the FY 2009 allotment of temporary H-1B visas for highly educated foreign-born professionals was exceeded by applications received during the filing period that began on Tuesday, April 1, 2008.  H-1B visa “winners” will once again be determined by random lottery.

Among other provisions, the Cornyn bill would:

• Recapture 150,000 unused H-1B visas, and redistribute them over a 3 year period;
• Increase H-1B visa levels from 65,000 to 115,000 for fiscal years 2009 through 2011;
• Increase the U.S. advanced degree cap for H-1B workers with master’s degrees or higher from 20,000 to 30,000 for fiscal years 2009 to 2011; and
• Recapture approximately 218,000 unused employment-based permanent resident visas (green cards).

In addition, the bill provides for certain common-sense enforcement procedures, which Compete America has long-supported as a way to root out bad actors and abusers of the employment-based visa system.

“This bill would help those current employees stuck in multi-year EB green card backlogs as well as new hires affected by the random H-1B visa lottery,” continued Collins.  “Again, we thank Senator Cornyn for his leadership on fixing the H-1B visa and EB green card systems, and we urge Congress to make permanent reforms this year.”

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.

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