The Optional Practical Training program that would be one of the key points of U.S. President Barack Obama's immigration overhaul is expected to benefit information technology companies in the United States that have been complaining of skilled manpower shortage.

The program would open the door for foreign students to work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics companies beyond the cap of 29 months placed by existing laws.

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Although the giants of Silicon Valley have not issued any reaction to Obama's reform, which continues to draw criticism from the Republican Party, the benefit that the reforms would have on the U.S. IT industry is viewed by observers as a way for relations between Silicon Valley and the White House to improve since it was badly battered by the NSA spying and mass data collection incidents.

Besides foundations that have backed the immigration reforms, tech groups also supported the changes with groups estimated to have spent $140 million in 2013 to lobby Congress, Foreign Policy quotes data from the Center for Responsive Politics, while individual contributions by tech executives reached $23.6 million in 2014.

These tech associations include FWDus established by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the Internet Association which counts Google and Amazon as members and TechNet which was established by Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr.

Meanwhile, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt gave a $527,214 donation to various political causes such as $250,000 to the Democratic Senate Majority PAC and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel contributing $150,000 to the Mayday PAC of Lawrence Lessig.

However, the Council on Foreign Relations believes that two memoranda signed by Obama in his Air Force One office after he arrived at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas offers only "moderate benefits" to the tech industry in the U.S.

The council pointed out that while it allowed the tech foreign workers to stay and work longer in the U.S., the cap for H-1B visa for highly skilled experts still at 65,000, reports Zee News.

The Obama-initiated reforms would not only save about 5 million illegal migrants from deportation but also provides an easier and faster route for highly skilled migrants, degree holders and enterprising individuals to remain in the U.S. and get employed the legal way.

TagsImmigration Reform, Barack Obama, foreign IT workers