Employers’ requests for the limited number of H1-B visas that allow foreign skilled workers to work and live here has wildly exceeded the supply. After all, the visas allow employers to hire foreigners, rather than bid up wage rates to attract American citizens, or incur the cost of training Americans to do the job. And the visas are free.

Any institution other than government would decide that the way to bring supply and demand into balance is a.) issue more visas, or b.) auction off the existing supply to the highest bidders. Not our government, which has decided on a lottery: “A computer-generated process will randomly select the number of petitions needed to meet the caps…” No need to decide which company would benefit the most—in saved cost or added product value. And no need to confront the longer-run problem that sooner or later these foreign workers are supposed to go home. On the other hand, limiting the number of visas keeps Silicon Valley millionaires and billionaires in the position of supplicants, annually petitioning contribution-hungry Congress and the president to increase the number of H1-B visas available, each one hoping to win the inevitable lottery.