MTM Interviews Neivandt About Foreign Technology Workers

David Neivandt, associate vice president for research and graduate studies and director of the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering at the University of Maine, was cited in a MaineToday Media story about the state lagging behind in hiring foreign technology workers. The story reported that, despite a shortage of technically skilled professionals in Maine, businesses have, for the most part, not utilized the federal H-1B visa program that allows them to hire foreign guest workers with expertise in science, medicine, computers and engineering. Colleges and universities in Maine appear to be the exception. Neivandt said that in 2001, when he came to the U.S. from Australia, he obtained a visa in a few months. One major drawback, he said, is that spouses may not work unless they obtain their own H-1B visas.