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During a speech Wednesday afternoon to DuPont employees in Delaware, President Bush said he is urging Congress to expand the number of H-1B visas, so-called "technical professional" visas, which are set aside for foreign professionals with college degrees. The yearly quota for the highly sought visas fills very quickly.
"I want you to know I understand that we need to make sure that when a smart person from overseas wants to come and work in DuPont, it's in our interests to allow him or her to do so. We've got to expand what's called H-1B visas," the president said. "It makes no sense to say to a young scientist from India, you can't come to America to help this company develop technologies that help us deal with our problems."
The H-1B visas are currently capped at 65,000 and efforts to increase its availability have been unsuccessful. Last year, a legislative effort to increase the number to 115,000 failed.
Advocates say the program helps keep U.S. companies from moving operations abroad, while opponents argue that it displaces American workers with foreigners who would work for less pay.
Legislation to make more H-1B visas available has yet to be introduced in the 110th Congress.