Friday, April 29 2005 12:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Warning that US risked losing competitive ground to India and China, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has urged the Bush Administration to relax visa restrictions so that more foreign workers could be hired to fill technology jobs in America.

Tight visa restrictions on foreigners and declining interest of American students in computer science were posing enormous difficulties for software giant Microsoft to hire people in the US, Gates told a technology panel at the US Library of Congress in Washington on Wednesday (Apr 27, 2005).

If this was not reversed, he warned, US risked losing competitive ground to India and China.

This would happen over time, if a dearth of scientific talent in the US translates into a great erosion of the traditional American advantage in software and technical innovation, he said. "There is no doubt that the US' relative position will decline even if we do all the right things."

The combination of tighter visa restrictions and increasing opportunity in rapidly growing economies in India and China means that more foreign students who study at US universities are returning home to work rather than seeking jobs in the United States, Gates said.

China, he noted, is generating four times as many new engineers annually as the United States.

Gates called on the Bush Administration and Congress to relax visa restrictions so that more foreign workers could be hired to fill technology jobs.

Tighter restrictions on foreign workers were imposed after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US.