Importing intellect

When the chief executives of the world’s largest computer processor and software companies both say there is not enough technological brainpower to go around, Congress should pay attention.

That’s what happened on Tuesday, when Andy Grove, chairman of Intel, and Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, urged a congressional committee to find ways to increase the number of computer and electrical engineers graduating from U.S. universities. Both also urged Congress to increase the number of alien high-technology workers admitted to the United States each year, under the special H1-B visa.

The H1-B visa allows specially trained workers, such as computer programmers, doctors, engineers and the like, to come to America, for up to six years, for jobs that U.S. companies cannot fill with U.S. citizens. To get the visa, an employer must prove he has tried and failed to hire a U.S. citizen for the job, and that the failure was due to a shortage of talent. The employer then shells out $500 for each visa money that the federal government then puts into training domestic workers.

The intent is clear: Government policy is to put American workers first for American jobs. But, at least when it comes to high technology, that noble goal could be harmful to the overall American economy. The government allows for 115,000 H1-B visas each year. As of March 21, the government had met that quota and cut the visa program off. In less than three months, the supply of brainpower that America’s new economy requires has been cut off. And it’s been cut off because of an arbitrary number.

According to Mr. Grove, himself an immigrant from Eastern Europe, the number of high-tech graduates from U.S. universities declined from 1988 to 1998, even as demand for such services rose dramatically over the last decade. Someone has to fill the gap, because, as Mr. Gates told Congress on Tuesday, “The lifeblood of our industry is not capital equipment but human capital.”

It’s shortsighted for the government to harm the ability of U.S. companies to retain their position as world leaders in high technology by refusing to allow entry for the kinds of people needed the keep America on top, especially when, as Mr. Gates pointed out, many of those being denied visas to work here got their university educations here. The H1-B visa cap should be either increased or lifted. The federal government can again decrease the number of such visas if, and when, U.S. graduates can fill the intellectual void. Until then, the 115,000-visa cap only threatens to let other nations surpass the United States in the economy of the future.