Gates to Urge Lawmakers to Raise H1-B Visa Limits

On Wednesday, Gates' scheduled testimony before the House Science and Technology Committee will amplify the call for major overhauls in education and immigration laws to help the U.S. technology industry stay competitive globally.

Congress has heard the requests before, especially about increasing the cap on H1-B visas, which are granted to skilled foreign professionals. While a Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) spokesperson said there's been a "real effort" by Congress and the Bush administration to move the ball forward on broad immigration reform, they have failed.

Welcoming Great Minds

Gates, who visits Washington about once a year, is also expected to meet privately with policy makers during his visit, said Jack Krumholtz, Microsoft's managing director for government affairs. He declined to identify them.

The Microsoft cofounder has long championed such reforms -- especially raising H1-B visa cap -- and made a similar case before a Senate committee a year ago.

"We have to welcome the great minds in this world, not shut them out of our country," Gates said last year in testimony. "Unfortunately, our immigration policies are driving away the world's best and brightest precisely when we need them most."

Krumholtz thinks the changing political climate makes for a more responsive audience this time around.

"He sees this (appearance) as an opportunity in the political season ... to put out a call to both the Congress and to the current administration with an eye toward the new administration," Krumholtz said.

A Hot-Button Issue

Not everyone sees the climate as warming to Microsoft's position. Roger Kay, a technology analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates, said an election year may be a difficult time to advance the issue, as it could be labeled a threat to American jobs. Democrats, relying on support from labor groups, might not want to push for legislation that lets more foreign professionals in this country.

The hot-button issue for the technology industry has been to find high-skilled workers in the United States and overseas.

The industry has long pushed for the H1-B visa cap to be raised from its current level of 65,000. In 2007, the quota was filled on the first day applications were accepted.

Krumholtz, who expects the same thing to happen this year, said it's an issue on which Microsoft and its rivals, including Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) , Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) and others agree. Microsoft last year wasn't able to get the visas for roughly a third of the people it had planned to hire, he added.

Issues Gates Is Passionate About

Gates will also urge for educational reforms to encourage more students to get into math and science. Last year, Gates said American high schools have one of the lowest graduation rates among industrialized nations.

"It's not an either or proposition," said Krumholtz. "We need to do both."

However, Gates will also touch on positive developments, such as a Philadelphia high school that focuses on using the latest technologies and another effort to provide tech skills to the U.S. work force, Krumholtz added.

While Gates is expected to devote most of his time toward his philanthropic foundation starting in July, he will remain chairman of the company he founded.

Krumholtz said he doesn't know what Gates plans to do in the future, "but I can speak to the fact that I know these are issues that he is very passionate about."

He does know what Gates is doing one day into the future. On Thursday, he will deliver a keynote speech to a sold-out Northern Virginia Technology Council.