Intel Corp. (INTC) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) mayhave help in their multiyear effort to bring more high-skillworkers from overseas into the U.S. under a bill RepresentativeZoe Lofgren introduced today.

Lofgren, a Democrat from California, introduced a bill thatwould provide green cards, or permanent residence, to moreforeign students who earn at least a master’s degree in scienceor engineering at U.S. universities. It also gives green cardsto foreign entrepreneurs who start companies employing five ormore U.S. citizens.

Technology companies, from Intel and Microsoft toInternational Business Machines Corp. (IBM), have backed efforts tomake it easier for scientists and engineers from abroad to cometo the U.S. many scientists come to the U.S. for their post-graduate education and leave when they can’t get a visa to stay,said Peter Cleveland, Intel’s vice president of global publicpolicy.

“We drop the ball when we let these individuals take thiseducation elsewhere,” he said in a phone interview. “We shouldhave them stay here and work for Apple, work for Facebook, workfor Intel.”

Graduates with master’s degrees and higher in science,technology, engineering and math who get jobs related to theirdegrees would qualify for green cards under Lofgren’s bill.Entrepreneurs from abroad would get a temporary residence andcould petition to stay permanently after two years if theirbusinesses are still open and employing U.S. citizens.

Lofgren is looking for a Republican to co-sponsor the bill.

“I hope we will have Republican support,” she said in aphone interview today.

The bill is broader than past efforts, said Ron Hira, anassociate professor of public policy at the Rochester Instituteof Technology, citing other bills that haven’t been passed. In2009, Representative Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona,introduced a bill that would have allowed in more foreigngraduates with doctorate degrees. It never left the HouseJudiciary Committee.

“There’s a lot more master’s than Ph.Ds,” Hira said.

Current laws cap the number of employment-based green cardsat 140,000 per year. under the bill, the green cards forgraduates and entrepreneurs wouldn’t count against the quotas.

The bill also would keep workers’ spouses and children fromcounting against caps and reclassify some workers, such asfashion models, to other visas.

The bill “would not only make it easier for U.S. companiesto hire the workforce they need but will address the concerns offoreign-born workers who must deal with the challenges anduncertainties of the immigration system,” Intel said in an e-mailed statement. About 6 percent of Intel’s 45,000 domesticemployees are on visas, Cleveland said last month.

Companies would pay a fee of about $2,000 to get graduatesthe green cards, which would fund the visa program, as well asscholarships for U.S. students in science, technology,engineering and math.

“We ought to keep the best and brightest and we ought toeducate the American students,” Lofgren said. “The two are notin opposition to each other.”

Intel and other companies have lobbied for green cards forforeign scientists and engineers.

“We’re highly dependent on very, very high-skilledengineers,” said Brian Toohey, president of the SemiconductorIndustry Association, which represents companies such as IBM andTexas Instruments inc. “We don’t have enough engineers at theright skill level in this country.”

When graduates from abroad find jobs at U.S. companies,they often first apply for temporary visas, such as H1-Bs. Theprocess of turning that into a green card can often take up to adecade, during which employees can’t leave their jobs, Clevelandsaid.

Some companies abuse the H-1B program by using it to importcheap labor in place of local workers, Lofgren said at aCongressional hearing in March. The bill gives the Department ofLabor more oversight to ensure companies pay the prevailingwages, she said. It also keeps them from charging fees torecruit workers.

“These individuals get frustrated,” Cleveland said.“They think to themselves, ‘Why not go back to Chengdu or goback to New Delhi and create the next big company there?’”

To contact the reporter on this story:Katie Hoffmann in New York at khoffmann4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net.

Intel, IBM May Benefit From Green-Card Bill for Skilled Workers

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