65,000 More H-1B Visas

Last month, Bill Gates came to the Hill to offer his testimony on STEM education and related business issues, such as H-1B Visa limits. His testimony, which we discussed in detail here, was before the House Science and Technology Committee. The day after he testified, committee member Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) proposed the “Innovation Employment Act" (HR 5630), a bill to double the H-1B Visa cap to 130,000 per year. The timing was likely intentional (and understandable) for Rep. Giffords, since Mr. Gates made a consistent case for such an increase during the hearing.

While Giffords’ bill would not require proposals that we have previously written about, such as an increased H-1B Visa fee to fund college scholarships in STEM-related fields, it would make some changes for foreign graduate students in STEM fields. Currently, there is an annual 20,000-person limit on the number of foreign graduate students, in any field, who can remain in the US to work under an H-1B Visa. Rep. Giffords’ bill would remove this cap for those foreign graduate students in STEM fields who receive their graduate degrees from US institutions. However, the 20,000-person annual cap would remain for foreign graduate students who do not receive their graduate degrees in the US.

The Innovation Employment Act was referred to the House Judiciary Committee soon after it was introduced. You can read more about the bill in this PC World article on the subject. Keep track of the bill status, and that of other STEM education-related bills, using our comprehensive STEM Ed. Bill Database.

Update: A related bill, S 2868, was introduced April 16 that deals with the visa lottery system. As stated in the press release by the sponsor, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), it would establish a "new lottery program that prioritizes visas to applicants with an advance degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics."