The cap on H-1B visas must go, says New York mayor

In a speech late last month at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce offices in Washington, Bloomberg said that "temporary visas like the H-1B program help fill critical gaps in our workforce, but the numbers are too few and the filing process too long and unpredictable."

Bloomberg has long called for eliminating the visa cap to ease access to employment-based green cards. He's also an advocate of altering visa policies to attract foreign entrepreneurs and encourage foreign students to stay in the U.S.

His latest comments come at a time when demand for H-1B visas is relatively light -- as is IT hiring overall. Before the recession, all available year-long visas were snapped up in a week.

In his speech, Bloomberg didn't address arguments from H-1B opponents, who view the visa as a way for companies to bring in low-cost employees or displace U.S.-based workers through offshore outsourcing.

Instead, he said that foreign workers are critical to U.S. economic success.

Bloomberg contended that the rapid exhaustion of H-1B visas in the early 2000s caused "critical shortfalls" in the software industry and in fields like engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals, medical research and aerospace. "[It's] absurd to deny American companies access to the workers they need," he said.