More Idiotorials and Articles Favoring H-1B Increase
More Idiotorials and Articles Favoring H-1B Increase
Date: Monday, August 22, 2005 6:16 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
by Rob Sanchez
August 22, 2005 No. 1319
The barrage of newspaper articles that support an increase in H-1B continues unabated. This is all part of CompeteAmerica's coordinated campaign to get the yearly cap removed so that unlimited numbers of H-1Bs can be issued.
If you have ever doubted the fact that workers are nothing more than a commodity read this from a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette idiotorial where they compare foreign scientists on H-1B visas to barrels of crude oil:
The secret: American science is as dependent on international
talent as the economy is on foreign oil. Without it, research
and teaching in fields from astronomy to zoology would come
to a screeching halt.
The newspaper claims that the inability of employers to hire more H-1Bs is the reason that more jobs are being shipped overseas. That's a ridiculous claim especially considering that the large majority of jobs that have been offshored are not jobs that H-1B visa holders take. As explained by Hank Zupnick, CIO of GE Real Estate, in order to offshore jobs companies need to bring workers in with H-1B visas to train them. In other words, the Pittsburgh rag got it all wrong because if anything H-1B helps to offshore jobs,
The H-1B cap is not the only reason that businesses outsource
jobs overseas, but it is certainly one of them.
-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"You have to bring people to America to learn your
applications, and that takes time, particularly if
you're doing it with a new vendor for the first time,"
explains GE Real Estate's Zupnick. "You need to
keep employees there long enough to share their
knowledge with their Indian replacements."
... after the transition is complete, CIOs have to
get those employees out of the office if offshoring
is to be a money-saving move.
-- CIO Magazine 2003
When all else fails, the proponents of H-1B and open immigration never fail to bring out the charges of xenophobia:
While immigration law and policy are complicated, and
today infused with security concerns and more than a
touch of xenophobia, it is time to refocus on what is best
for American competitiveness in the 21st century.
The Wall Street Journal published an article that should leave no doubt in your mind that the Bush guest-worker amnesty bill will include provisions to either expand H-1B or to issue some other kind of visa for high-tech workers and scientists. I had to take a double look at the second passage - the Bushies are blaming the H-1B cap for a lack of Middle East "superstars" to come to the U.S. Didn't we have enough of their superstar performances on 9/11?
The White House is planning a new push to change the
nations immigration laws, looking in part for businesses
to lobby Congress to pass measures that give more
foreign-born workers legal status while also toughening lax
enforcement.
The H-1B cap is one example, but is exacerbated by various
barriers erected for foreigners seeking to come to the
United States, especially for students from the Middle East.
We are turning off the spigot on a significant supply of
this next generation's superstars.
That second paragraph starts to make even more sense if you just happen to be also reading the Pakistani Times. This Intel shill probably thinks that Bush is going to help her import some Pakistani computer whizzes!
Tracy Koon, director of corporate affairs for Intel of Santa
Clara said it was seeking a number of highly educated computer
engineers and others and could not find them in this country.
Of course what article about guest-workers would be complete without some hysterical shortage shouting? The US Chamber of Commerce is predicting enormous labor shortages by 2010, and of course you can guess how they intend to solve that crisis!
According to current estimates, the United States will face
a total shortage of 3.5 million workers by 2010, said Bruce
Josten, an official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which
has been lobbying for change in immigration policy for years.
OK, some of you might not have guessed the answer to my rhetorical question above, so what the heck, let's let the Wall Street Journal fill in the blanks for you:
"Our economy is growing faster than the availability of
qualified and willing workers. Immigrants have always
fueled our economy, and that is ever more true as our
population ages," says Terry Holt, a former Bush campaign
spokesman who is helping to organize Americans for Border
and Economic Security. "The economic arguments (for
immigration reform) are very strong and havent been laid
out for people to consider."
Articles Used for this Newsletter
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05230/555586.stm
Editorial: Imported talent / Foreign students are needed to spur U.S. science
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05233/557050.stm
Puts & Calls: Time to reopen the doors
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/08172005/biz_nati/58238.htm
Bush seeking support for immigration plan
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/08/22/top10.htm
Debate over H-1B Visas hots up in U.S.
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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05230/555586.stm
Editorial: Imported talent / Foreign students are needed to spur U.S. science
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Discovering a best-kept secret about science makes it easier to understand alarm bells now ringing because fewer foreign science students are enrolling in American colleges and universities.
One new study, by the National Science Foundation, just reported that enrollment of foreign doctoral students has declined for two straight years. Another report from the National Research Council urged that American universities work harder to recruit foreign doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers.
The secret: American science is as dependent on international talent as the economy is on foreign oil. Without it, research and teaching in fields from astronomy to zoology would come to a screeching halt.
America has cherry-picked the best and the brightest of the world's scientific brains since the 1960s. Pittsburgh helped start the "brain drain" in 1964, when what is now Carnegie Mellon University snatched John A. Pople, one of Britain's greatest scientists. He shared the 1998 Nobel Prize for chemistry.
That sucking sound has gotten louder. In 1964, about 14 percent of Ph.D.s in science and engineering from American schools went to international students. Today it is 33 percent. The most talented scientists often stay in the United States permanently, where they contribute immensely to new discoveries. Fully a third of U.S. Nobel Prize winners, for instance, were born elsewhere.
Universities also need the sheer manpower to staff research labs and teach undergraduate courses. Experts say there aren't enough American-born students to fill those positions. Top students who once chose scientific research are turning to medicine, business and other careers that promise a faster payback.
Strict visa policies for foreign students, imposed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, have eased somewhat. However, some foreign students still think the United States does not want them. Other countries do, and students are taking their brainpower elsewhere.
Universities must do a better job recruiting international students and post-docs, as the National Research Council recommended. The council gave short shrift, however, to another solution: A greater effort to recruit American-born students. Money is a good starting point.
Government agencies like the National Science Foundation should join with industry, private foundations and universities to expand scholarship and other financial incentives for study in science.
They also must make postdoctoral research positions more attractive to Americans by providing better pay, full health care and other benefits and greater assurance that years of hard work will end in full-time employment.
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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05233/557050.stm
Puts & Calls: Time to reopen the doors
The nation and region are paying for more restrictive immigration policies post-9/11
Sunday, August 21, 2005
By Robert Whitehill
The doors to America's workplace slammed shut early this year.
This month, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the cap had been reached on temporary worker visas, known as H-1Bs. This means that from Oct. 1 until Sept. 30, 2006, no more H-1B visas will be issued to qualified foreign personnel.
Employers in Pittsburgh and nationwide will be affected. They are being forced to wait more than a year to legally employ many talented professionals needed to staff a wide variety of highly skilled positions that impact their competitive position in the market.
Here is some background on the problem. H-1B is the entry level professional visa for foreign workers. It is restricted to individuals who have earned a college or university degree or the equivalency, and are working in positions that normally require the level of training, education and experience that aliens have.
H-1Bs are highly sought after and desirable, evidenced by the fact that two months before the beginning of the next fiscal year, they are all gone.
This is not the first time the supply of 65,000 visas has been depleted early. Free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore resulted in set-asides of 6,800 visas, leaving 58,200 for the rest of the world's citizens. Last year, the cap was reached on the first day of the fiscal year -- Oct. 1, 2004.
In March 2005, after six months of immigration limbo, Congress acted to address the cap problem by authorizing 20,000 new visas for aliens with a master's degree or higher from a U.S. institution.
Despite this fix, these important visas are oversubscribed and gone. This problem underscores the continuing attractiveness of U.S. employment for skilled foreigners but the federal government's inability to balance national security with corporate competitiveness.
Faced with the demand for H-1B visas far exceeding the supply in 2000, Congress passed the American Competitive Act of the 21st Century (AC 21). The purpose was to help America keep competitive by allowing knowledge workers to be legally employed here.
The H-1B cap was realistically tripled from 65,000 to 195,000 for fiscal years 2001, 2002 and 2003. Moreover, AC 21 allowed institutions of higher learning and government research facilities to be exempt from the cap. Later, certain physicians also were exempted. For three years there was no cap, but in the meantime, 9/11 changed how Americans perceive foreigners and grant them access to the riches of the U.S. workplace.
Before 9/11, immigration was administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, housed in the Department of Justice. Now, it's run by three agencies in the Department of Homeland Security. This may tell us something about security vs. justice.
As early as 2000, forward-looking U.S. employers were dealing with limitations on the flow of needed workers by establishing work sites overseas. If workers couldn't come easily to the United States, U.S. business would go to them. For example, the computer-services industry was one of the prime movers in lobbying for the passage of AC 21 but today, many of the jobs in that industry have been transferred offshore.
The H-1B cap is not the only reason that businesses outsource jobs overseas, but it is certainly one of them.
American immigration law and policy are damaging America's competitiveness. A recent Financial Times article, "World Turning Its Back on Brand America," reports on a global study ranking the perceived cultural, political and investment potential of 25 leading nations -- the United States came in 11th, while Australia was ranked No. 1.
Interestingly, American respondents to the study gave our country top marks in all categories. Among other conclusions, the study recommends that America's world image would be enhanced through improved immigration policies and practices.
Said another way, how the United States deals with the immigration issue will have significant impact on the future of corporate America.
The current state of the H-1B visa is paradoxical -- it promotes advanced degree, U.S.-educated professionals and scholars, but not advanced degree, internationally-educated professionals and scholars.
A Ph.D. educated at Oxford University may have to wait more than a year to take a position for a U.S. employer, even though the company really needs him now. A Carnegie Mellon University graduate with a bachelor's degree in computer science may have to return home because she won't have authorization to work but needs the income now.
It is clearly is in our long-term self interest to welcome the world's brightest to innovate, create and to learn in the United States. In the post-9/11 culture, immigration law has been used for security and not for business or U.S. "brand" enhancement.
More restrictive immigration laws have a self-fulfilling prophecy: fewer businesses locate here, fewer entrepreneurs invest and begin businesses here and fewer researchers come here to explore. It is bad for Pittsburgh and for America.
The H-1B cap is one example, but is exacerbated by various barriers erected for foreigners seeking to come to the United States, especially for students from the Middle East. We are turning off the spigot on a significant supply of this next generation's superstars.
About 8,000 U.S. schools admit approximate 800,000 tuition-paying foreign students. Immigration's long, hostile delays and invasive security have caused an increasing number of students to go elsewhere. Admissions of foreign students are down in the United States, but booming in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
September will mark the fourth anniversary of the terrorists attacks of September 11. While immigration law and policy are complicated, and today infused with security concerns and more than a touch of xenophobia, it is time to refocus on what is best for American competitiveness in the 21st century.
(Pittsburgh lawyer Robert Whitehill chairs the Immigration Department of Fox Rothschild, a law firm with offices in five states.)
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http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/08172005/biz_nati/58238.htm
8-22-2005
Bush seeking support for immigration plan
By John D. McKinnon
The Wall Street Journal
Complete Business Index
WASHINGTON - The White House is planning a new push to change the nations immigration laws, looking in part for businesses to lobby Congress to pass measures that give more foreign-born workers legal status while also toughening lax enforcement.
But the conflicting interests of President Bushs big-business supporters, who believe the economy needs more workers, and Republican Party conservatives - many of whom have made a top priority of clamping down on illegal immigration in the name of national security - threaten the prospects for a quick deal.
The White House and its allies are looking to businesses for help in selling and supporting a new immigration policy, including funds to pay for a television advertising blitz. Bush allies are organizing a group called Americans for Border and Economic Security to run a public media campaign. The group is being organized by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie.
The importance for Bushs business backers of a revised approach to national immigration policy was underscored again over the weekend, when officials announced they were no longer accepting applications for U.S. visas for high-tech and skilled workers for 2006.
Thats because the years quota of applications has been met already - a month earlier than last year. The so-called H-1B visas are particularly important for companies needing white-collar workers with specialized skills, but Congress in recent years has generally held to a tight limit of 65,000 or so H-1B permits annually.
In recent weeks, White House staffers have met repeatedly with potential supporters among business and conservative groups to consult on President Bushs emerging legislative strategy. Based on the briefings so far, Bushs principles echo a set of proposals he made in January 2004 focusing on a sweeping new guest-worker program. For instance, Bushs advisers say they want a solution that is "comprehensive" - meaning it includes rule changes to ensure an adequate future flow of workers, according to immigration experts.
At the same time, his current position also appears to reach more broadly to include tougher enforcement, and rules out any kind of amnesty for current undocumented workers. But some experts say Bushs bar on amnesty might leave room for illegal immigrants to remain on their jobs while blocking them from the path to citizenship.
Supporters say the issue of changing immigration policy is a vital one for a wide range of businesses that now either depend on unauthorized immigrants or face likely shortages of workers in the future-from agricultural interests to restaurants, hotels and hospitals. According to current estimates, the United States will face a total shortage of 3.5 million workers by 2010, said Bruce Josten, an official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been lobbying for change in immigration policy for years.
"Our economy is growing faster than the availability of qualified and willing workers. Immigrants have always fueled our economy, and that is ever more true as our population ages," says Terry Holt, a former Bush campaign spokesman who is helping to organize Americans for Border and Economic Security. "The economic arguments (for immigration reform) are very strong and havent been laid out for people to consider."
In part because of tight caps on work-related visas, illegal immigration to the United States has soared during the 1990s, and now routinely exceeds legal immigration. Pro-immigration forces estimate that about 500,000 illegal immigrants are added to the U.S. population permanently each year, with most obtaining regular nonseasonal work. Yet only about 5,000 permanent work visas are available for them.
A further 135,000 or so permanent visas are available, but are restricted almost entirely to professionals and other highly skilled workers. More temporary permits are available for high-tech and other skilled workers, and for agricultural and seasonal workers. But because of lax enforcement, many legal temporary workers remain after their visas expire and become illegal residents.
As a result, about 10.3 million or so unauthorized immigrants now live in the United States, vs. about 10.4 million legal permanent-resident immigrants. Thats fueling calls for a crackdown by many conservatives, particularly those who represent working families that feel most pressured by immigration on the job and in their communities.
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http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/08/22/top10.htm
Debate over H-1B Visas hots up in U.S.
Pakistan Times Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON (US): All 65,000 of next fiscal years H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers have been snapped up, the earliest that has ever happened amid conflicting calls for expanding the programme or reducing the number of visas offered drastically.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Service said on Friday it has received petitions for all of the fiscal 2006 H-1B visas that became valid Oct-1.
Last year, the cap for the visa programme, which is designed for foreigners with engineering, computer science and other technical specialties, was not hit until October.
Computer Engineers
Tracy Koon, director of corporate affairs for Intel of Santa Clara said it was seeking a number of highly educated computer engineers and others and could not find them in this country.
She said, "We dont have enough US students going into these programmes, this is a competitiveness issue for us".
A lot of other US companies are in the same boat, according to Harris Miller, president of the Virginia-based Information Technology Association of America.
"The H-1B visa programme is important to US competitiveness in high technology," Miller said in a statement issued on Friday.
"We believe a significant increase is required to meet the need for specialized skills and keep companies and, as a result, jobs for US workers growing at a steady pace."
But Ira Mehlman, a spokesman with the Federation for American Immigration Reform said it was wrong for US companies to be wooing foreigners when there were so many skilled US workers who have been laid off in recent years.
"Something is not right," Mehlman said, "Thats not the way the system ought to work. Go find them, get them back, before you start looking all over the world for workers."
The annual Limit
Congress has adjusted the annual limit on H-1B workers several times in recent years in conjunction with the rise and fall of the economy. It boosted the cap to 115,000 in 2,000 and 195,000 in 2001, but then dropped it to 65,000 in 2004.
Under a law enacted last year, an additional 20,000 H-1B visas can be used for foreign workers with masters or higher degrees from US colleges and universities. So far, 8,000 of those H-1B visas have been allocated for the 2006 fiscal year.
The demand for scaling back the issuance of H-1B visas is being made not only by US organizations and individuals but also lawmakers. The H-1B visa programme has no serious safeguards to protect American workers from being replaced and was abused to provide cheap foreign labour said Tom Tancredo, a Congressman from Colorado.
The H-1B visa limits were set during prosperous economic times but now could not be justified when so many highly trained Americans remained unemployed, he said referring to the six per cent unemployed in the country.
Congress needed to increase domestic worker safeguards, significantly reduce the number of H-1B visas issued, and crackdown on visa violations and fraud, Tancredo said.
In the next 10 years, the US would be losing 800 IT jobs daily, due to offshore outsourcing, and the federal governments H-1B and L-1 guest worker programmes would be decisive in this process, he said.?
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