WASHINGTON:Driven crazy by US immigration policy, Microsoft Corp. executives decided to drive some of their employees north. Unable to land enough visas for a third of the foreign-born engineers and computer scientists it wanted to hire — many of them newly minted graduates of US universities — the Washington-based company opened a software development centre just over the Canadian border in 2007. About 150 people now work in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Our immigration system makes it very difficult for US firms to hire highly skilled foreign workers,” Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told Congress in March as he pleaded for more visas. “At a time when talent is the key to economic success, it makes no sense to educate people in our universities, often subsidised by US taxpayers, and then insist that they return home.”

Frustrated by the limited number of these so-called H-1B visas for highly skilled foreigners awarded each spring in a lottery, US technology executives have tried to find ways around the problem while lobbying to increase the annual cap.

Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Intel Corp. and other large companies have opened or expanded research facilities outside the United States. And some companies have resorted to gaming the system: filing multiple applications, along with the $1,570 to $3,320 filing fee, for each potential hire to boost the odds of winning one of the coveted visas.

“You can imagine our frustration,” said Robert Hoffman, vice president of government affairs at Oracle, which, like Microsoft, insisted it has not filed duplicate applications. “We have 1,000 job openings at Oracle we can’t fill because of the arbitrary nature of visas and the arbitrary way they are selected.”

Efforts to increase the annual allotment of visa have become entangled in the even more volatile debate over border security and immigration reform that is stalled in Congress as well as concerns by some lawmakers that jobs are being taken from US workers.

“This is an outsourcing visa,” said Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, a California advocacy group that opposes more H-1B visas. Berry said it’s cheaper for companies to hire foreign college graduates than older US workers.

Last year, US immigration officials received about 150,000 applications for the 65,000 annual allotment of visas on the first day companies could file, forcing them to pick winners in a lottery.

California technology companies, as well as financial institutions, culinary institutes and health-care providers, have pushed Congress to raise the annual limit on the visas. Temporarily increased to as high as 195,000 during the Internet boom, the cap dropped to its original 65,000 level in 2004 as job demand declined. Companies apply for the visas for prospective employees who have at least a bachelor’s degree in a variety of specialised fields. The visas are good for three years and can be renewed for another three. Recipients often apply for permanent residency during that time. While companies scramble to try to fill their jobs, potential workers are left in limbo.

“I’ve invested so much money into my degree, I should be given a fair chance to work here for some time,” said Akbar Hajiani, 28, a graphic artist from India who recently earned his bachelor’s degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He has been working for a Virginia graphic and production design company under a one-year extension of his student visa, and the company plans to apply for an H-1B to keep him in the US.

Gates cited a recent study that estimated 140,000 jobs are vacant at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies and that for each H-1B visa requested, technology companies hire five additional employees.

With little hope for more visas for the upcoming year, US officials have closed the duplicate application loophole. The immigration service received at least 500 duplicate applications last year, said spokesman Peter Vietti. This time, companies will forfeit the filing fees for any they submit.

“If I were a Fortune 500 company and I wanted to make certain that one of my workers — or how about several — were able to obtain an H-1B, it would be a drop in the bucket for me to file 15 to 20 applications on behalf of one person to put the numbers in my favor,” he said.

Last year, some companies waited until June to apply, after prospective employees earned their degrees. But the visas were long gone by then. Intel doesn’t take any chances. When it finds a doctoral student it wants to hire, it files the application early under the applicant’s earlier degrees.

Intel expects to submit about 400 applications, said Jenifer Verdery, the company’s director of workforce policy. Last year a majority of its applicants received visas. This year is anybody’s guess. “We could get all or none,” she said.

Immigration policies

US

In 2007, the Senate failed to pass a Bill that sought to make changes to border security, work-site enforcement and a guest-worker program. It also would have allowed illegal immigrants to gain legal status. But this month, the House approved a Bill that would speed visa processing for foreign artists and musicians.

UK

The government rolled out a points-based immigration system for workers from outside the European Union, looking at education, earnings, age, command of English and other factors. The new system replaced more than 80 different ways of coming to work in Britain with five tiers and makes sure that Britain receives only the migrant workers it needs. The other changes: biometric information, citizenship tests, higher age limits for foreign brides, a new border police force.

Australia

The Kevin Rudd government is looking at changes to visas for foreign workers to meet the shortfall of skilled workers.

Australia has a points-programme, where more points are awarded for very good English skills.

Singapore

Its immigration policy has been described as one that tries to maximise the economic benefits of immigration while minimising its social and economic costs. Skilled workers, professionals and entrepreneurs are encouraged to take up permanent residence and citizenship may be granted after two to ten years of residence. Unskilled foreign workers, on the other hand, are permitted to work only for limited time periods, after which they are expected to return home.

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