Google has urged Congress to fix the US immigration system. The company said US companies will likely lose highly-skilled foreign workers to rival countries if the US does not raise the annual cap of H-1B visas, which allow companies to hire foreigners with certain credentials to hold US jobs for up to six years.

Speaking before a Congressional House Judiciary oversight subcommittee hearing on immigration, Google’s Laszlo Bock, vice president of people operations, said:

“We believe that it is in the best interests of the United States to welcome into our workforce talented individuals who happen to have been born elsewhere, rather than send them back to their countries of origin.”

Google’s success, like that of most technology companies, depends on attracting the best and brightest employees, Bock said. He disclosed that 8 percent of its workforce have H-1B visas, and come from 80 different countries. He estimated that 75 percent of those hires have degrees from US universities.

 “It is no stretch to say that without these employees, we might not be able to develop future revolutionary products like the next Gmail or the next Google Earth,” Bock is quoted as saying by news.com.

Bock joined the rank of high tech executives urging Congress to increase the annual number of visas and reduce the backlog of green card applications, as an alternative to losing high qualified foreign workers to competitors outside the US.

The cap is currently set at 65,000, and foreign workers are usually snapped up immediately.

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Entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 12:03 am under Google.

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