As many of you know the USCIS reached its limit for Fiscal Year 2008 H-1B visa petitions in a single day. No more petitions for that visa category (with the exception of certain exemptions) will be accepted for this fiscal year. Technology companies, in response to this dire situation, have again raised their voice, calling for a change to the limiting and business-debilitating visa cap.

In Microsoft Corporation’s case, for example, nearly 1/3 of all its 46,000 employees in the U.S. either have work visas or are legal permanent residents. “We are trying to work with Congress to get the cap increased,” said Ginny Terzano, spokeswoman for the technology giant. “Our real preference is that there not be a cap at all.”

Microsoft and other leaders in the high tech industry, such as Intel and Oracle, have grouped together to form Compete America, a coalition/lobbying group that is publicly speaking against the limiting visa cap.

"Our broken visa policies for highly educated foreign professionals are not only counterproductive, they are anticompetitive and detrimental to America's long-term economic competitiveness," said Robert Hoffman, a vice-president at Oracle and co-chairman of Compete America.

“While we need to do more as a nation to encourage American students to pursue degrees in the fields of math, science, engineering and technology, the fact remains that more than one-half of the U.S. advanced degrees in these fields are typically earned by foreign students. U.S. companies must be able to recruit from this talent pool if we are to continue to innovate and create quality jobs here in the United States,” Hoffman stated. “Congress must reform the visa process for highly educated foreign professionals this year.”