Computerworld
July 17, 2012
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, may be getting ready to support legislation to grant green cards to holders of advanced degrees in the so-called STEM fields.
Smith, the gatekeeper on immigration bills in the House, is being urged to take action by a broad coalition of groups, including some of the largest technology companies — Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft, as well as the IEEE-USA.
Smith is signaling his willingness to bring a bill forward, and has been working on the issue for a while. The release of a letter late last week from tech companies may have served as a catalyst for movement on green card legislation.
