H-1B visa

The White House is following up on an offer made by President Barack Obama this week to help find a job for an unemployed semiconductor engineer in Texas.

The H1-B visa program, like most elements of America's immigration policy, generates plenty of criticism. In congressional testimony this year Texas Instruments human resources senior vice president Darla Whitaker said the program "limits employer flexibility, and diminishes productivity," and the Government Accountability Office, Congress' own investigative arm, conceded that "as currently structured," H1-B visas "may not be used to its full potential, and may be detrimental in some cases."

House Republican leaders and President Barack Obama were each holding town hall style meetings today in Silicon Valley to talk about the economy.

Eighteen IT workers in California have filed a lawsuit against their former employer claiming they were replaced by H-1B workers from India and then laid off in violation of the state's anti-discrimination laws.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has proposed changes to the H-1B visa application process that it hopes will prevent problems during times of heavy demand.

A federal government shutdown could disrupt business travel for people who need a visa to enter the U.S., as well as an H-1B visa.

An unemployed U.S. IT worker flew from Miami to Washington to attend a hearing on general issues surrounding H-1B visas.

With the cap on H-1B visas reached last week, proponents have renewed calls for raising the cap. But two leading critics of the the program may be getting ready to seek new restrictions on the use of foreign labor.

In the history of the H-1B visa program, few have played a role as important as that of Gene Sperling, who last week was appointed by President Obama to head the National Economic Council.

Peri Software officials say the company's move to hire only U.S. workers for domestic offices is unrelated to its recent settlement of U.S. charges it violated H-1B visa rules.

This article is part of our special report on the 20th anniversary of the H-1B visa, which also includes first-person accounts from five IT workers who have been directly affected by the H-1B program and visual and interactive tools to help you analyze H-1B visa data.

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit aimed at stopping the federal government from restricting the use of H-1B visas by IT staffing firms.