WASHINGTON, D.C.— Along with other long-term solutions to America’s serious shortage of highly skilled employees, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) praised policymakers who support raising the cap from its current 65,000 limit on H-1B visas for highly educated and skilled employees.

“We are grateful to those members of Congress who have acknowledged the significant and growing shortage of highly skilled employees needed to keep America on the leading edge of innovation,” says NAM president and CEO John Engler. “We thank these leaders for taking steps to remedy this threat to U.S. economic growth and global competitiveness.

“Manufacturers will continue to push for bipartisan immigration reform that permanently solves the inadequacies of both the H-B visa and employment-based green card systems,” Engler says.

“In addition to insufficient H-1B visa numbers, the employment-based green card system—which allows highly educated foreign-born employees to remain in the United States—is plagued by backlogs and multi-year waiting times. The NAM supports efforts to provide a permanent fix to these programs that will meet the growing and unmet need for highly skilled employees in the manufacturing and broader economy,” concludes Engler.