(from New Jersey Business – A publication of NJBIA)
When it comes to immigration law, there’s only one thing on the mind of New Jersey employers in key industries: H1-B visas. These are the Holy Grail for New Jersey’s pharma, medical and technology employers who need a growing number of software engineers and information technology experts.
“The limits on H-1B visas are crippling and very destructive,” notes Patrick McGovern, a partner and an immigration law specialist at Genova Burns, a law firm headquartered in Newark.
US employers with these needs simply can’t find enough technology professionals to staff their offices. US colleges and universities are not graduating enough people with the required skills. Recognition of this problem is growing on US campuses and on a federal and state level, and there’s a great deal of talk right now about improving STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math) at all levels. Meanwhile, private industry is setting up “boot camps” in software engineering in cities all over the country.