Tech industry: Obama immigration order falls short of what's needed

BOSTON, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The United States needs to increase the number of visas for immigrants with high-tech skills, industry leaders said.

They said the executive order signed by President Obama does not fulfill their need to allow skilled employees to come to the United States and remain there.

"In order to get at the real issue, the number of visas for these groups has to be expanded fairly dramatically," Paul Guzzi, the chief executive officer of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, told the Boston Globe.

Obama's plan includes creating special founders' visas for foreign entrepreneurs who build companies in the United States.

Thomas Ketchell, 26, started Hstry, an education technology company, with two other foreign nationals. While the company is based in Boston, its founders are forced to split their time between the city and Europe because they do not have visas allowing them to live in the United States.

"It should be a lot easier, considering what we are offering U.S. students," he said.

On the other side of the country in San Francisco, Laks Srini, from India, co-founded Zenefits with Parker Conrad. Srini was working for a U.S. company and said Conrad had to hire him as Zenefits' database manager to allow him to switch jobs.

In addition to forcing him to take a title that does not reflect his standing in the company, Srinii said the shortage of visas has slowed Zenefits' hiring. The company is considering moving some of its operations to Vancouver because Canada is more open to high-tech immigrants.

"When you're a start-up, you live and die by speed," Srini told the New York Times.

In his speech on immigration Thursday night, Obama promised significant changes for high-tech workers.

"I will make it easier and faster for high-skilled immigrants, graduates, and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, as so many business leaders have proposed," he said.

The proposed changes included making it easier for people with H-1B visas to change jjobs and allowing their spouses to work.

But administration officials said they cannot increase the number of visas by executive order, and must instead wait for congressional action. The number is currently 85,000, including 20,000 reserved for people with advanced degrees from U.S. universities.