Hardbeatnews, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Mar. 9, 2007: World’s richest man and chairman of Microsoft, William Henry Gates III, is bashing what he sees as restrictive U.S. immigration policies.

Gates this week appeared before the Senate’s committee on health, education, labor and pensions and insisted that the policy cap on skilled workers allowed into the country annually was "driving away the world's best and brightest precisely when we need them most."

Gates, whose company employs many foreign skilled programmers, insisted that the US technology industry is suffering from a lack of skilled workers while demand for them is on the rise. "It makes no sense to tell well-trained, highly skilled individuals, many of whom are educated at our top colleges and universities, that the United States does not welcome or value them," he told the Senate committee. "America will find it infinitely more difficult to maintain its technological leadership if it shuts out the very people who are most able to help us compete."

Current immigration policy limits US visas for skilled foreign workers to 65,000 annually.

“America cannot maintain its innovation leadership if it does not educate world-class innovators and train its workforce to use innovations effectively," warned Gates. – Hardbeatnews.com