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Technology Stocks : Satyam Infoway Ltd-(Nasdaq:SIFY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (975)	3/1/2000 12:22:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1471

OT Bill would raise high-tech visas Posted at 8:31 a.m. PST Wednesday, March 1, 2000 BY MICHELLE MITTELSTADT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- A visa program for foreigners with prized high-tech skills would be increased by 45,000 this year under legislation introduced today by the chairman of the House immigration subcommittee. The proposal by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is far smaller than a Silicon Valley-backed version introduced last month in the Senate that would boost the H-1B program by nearly 300,000 visas over the next three years. The booming high-tech sector says it needs hundreds of thousands of new workers immediately. But Smith says his plan for a one-time boost of 45,000 visas, which would raise this year's allotment to 160,000, is sufficient. ``Our bill seeks to solve an immediate problem,' Smith said. ``It will meet the anticipated needs of the high-tech industry without overreaching and threatening an increase in the number of foreign workers to the point of putting at risk the wages or jobs of American workers and students.' Republican Reps. Tom Campbell, whose California district includes Silicon Valley; Bob Goodlatte of Virginia; and Chris Cannon of Utah are co-sponsors of the bill. The bipartisan Senate bill offered by the chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee and its immigration subcommittee would raise the H-1B allotment to 195,000 annually for three years. An industry trade group, the Computing Technology Industry Association, claims nearly 269,000 high-tech jobs are now unfilled. The problem costs U.S. businesses $4.5 billion a year in lost productivity, according to the association. -San Jose Mercury