The Politics Of H-1BThe Politics Of H-1B

Both the Senate and the House have immigration bills pending with common provisions to raise the number of H-1B visas allotted annually to foreign workers--tech workers included--from 65,000 to 115,000, with options to increase that number by 20%. But with midterm election campaigns at full throttle, it's unlikely Congress will pass immigration-reform legislation soon. Still, those H-1B provisions make some tech workers uneasy. "Sometimes we think these things are dead, then someone slips something through at 5 p.m. on a Friday," says Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, which opposes raising the H-1B cap.

Proponents still hold out hope. Microsoft's director of federal government affairs, Jack Krumholtz, says Congress might pass H-1B provisions as part of another bill or as separate legislation during a lame-duck session before new members are sworn in next January, depending on election outcomes. At Microsoft, "we have a couple thousand open technology positions we're not able to fill," he says. "There's increasing pressure to look for other avenues," Krumholtz adds, including doing work outside the United States if talent can't be found here.