The debate over temporary visas issued to highly skilled workers is not unique to the United States. In Germany, for example, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder recently proposed a plan to issue 20,000 (10,000 a year for two years) temporary work permits, valid for up five years, to highly skilled, non-European Union workers to ease the perceived shortage of IT staff.

According to Magnus Lofstrom, a research associate at the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, industry estimates indicate that there are about 75,000 jobs currently available in the IT sector. The temporary immigrants are expected to come mostly from India and Eastern Europe, says Lofstrom and, although the proposal has not yet been approved, he expects some version of it (with the quota intact) to be passed by the summer.

At 9.8 per cent, Germany has an overall unemployment rate that is more than twice that of the United States. “The higher unemployment rate makes the proposed increase in immigration more vulnerable to criticism,” says Lofstrom. “Many Germans feel that it is wrong to look abroad when there are so many unemployed German workers.”

The somewhat improved German economy, which has shaved almost one per cent off the jobless total in a year, might make Schroeder's proposal more palatable, says Lofstrom. But the question of whether Germany can entice 20,000 foreign IT workers to its shores is a valid concern, he says.