H-1B visas gobbled up
H-1B visas gobbled up
Date: Thursday, April 05, 2007 2:39 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1670 -- 4/05/2007 >>>>>
Employers just gobbled up every single H-1B visa that was allocated for
fiscal year 2008 - all 85,000 of them. Of course the actual number of visas
issued will be approximately double the total because so many categories
are exempt from the cap.
Employers and lobbyists will use the fact that the visas were used up so
quickly as an excuse to pressure Congress to raise the yearly cap. This
newsletter has a sampling of the deluge of articles that are coming out to
bolster the campaign to raise the H-1B cap. As usual the mainstream media
is pushing the corporate point of view.
Article #6 is surprisingly good, especially considering it was published by
CNET. Article #1 is the only sane article of the bunch, but that's because
it was written for the John Birch Society.
Article 1:
http://www.jbs.org/node/3317
H-1B Visa Cap Popped After One Day
Article 2:
http://www.competeamerica.org/editorials/20070404_jobs_immigrants.html
Jobs and Immigrants -- The Wall Street Journal
Article 3:
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5589733?nclick_check=1
Demand for H-1B visas exceeds limit
Article 4:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/nationworld/washingtonbureau/article_1640569.php
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Cap for foreign worker visa reached
Article 5:
http://news.com.com/Does+H-1B+surge+mean+cap+should+be+raised/2100-1022_3-6173386.html
Does H-1B surge mean cap should be raised?
Article 6:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2111302,00.asp
Year's Supply of H-1B Visas Tapped Out on Day One
Article 7:
http://origin.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5595792?source=email
Businesses seek more work visas
Article 8:
http://news.com.com/Does+H-1B+surge+mean+cap+should+be+raised/2100-1022_3-6173386.html
Does H-1B surge mean cap should be raised?
Article 9:
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3669726
H1-B Visas: One And Done
Article 10:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=296942
Special visas bring stampede
1, +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.jbs.org/node/3317
H-1B Visa Cap Popped After One Day
By Mary Benoit
Created 2007-04-04 15:46
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:
Over 150,000 applications flooded U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
on Monday for H-1B visas -- the controversial work permits that allow
foreign workers with bachelor's degrees to remain in the United States for
up to 6 years.
Follow this link to the source article: "Annual H-1B visa cap met--already
[1]"
COMMENTARY:
The congressionally-mandated cap for H-1B visas is 65,000. That is, 65,000
foreign workers with advanced degrees, who are allowed to enter the United
States legally for up to a 6 year term. Monday marked the first day where
new applicants could apply for the visa in 2008. As of Monday afternoon,
however, the 65,000 limit had already been doubled. In fact, by the end of
day Monday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [2] (USCIS)
received a whopping 150,000 applications.
Some argue that the surge of H-1B applicants indicates that some changes
are needed on Capital Hill. Last year it took two months for USCIS to
receive enough H-1B applicants to meet its annual quota. This year it took
less than a full day! The remedy, some members of Congress say, is to
simply raise the number of H-1B visas to fulfill the needs of applicants.
Many of the workers entering the United States on an H-1B visa are in the
high-tech job field. These foreign workers are willing to accept jobs for a
lower wage than many Americans, narrowing the job potential for American
professionals quite considerably. If Congress chooses to raise the visa cap
to meet the demand of foreigners, would any pre-set cap ever suffice?
The current House bill H.R. 1645 [3] (the Security Through Regularized
Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007, or STRIVE Act) would allow
for a total of 115,000 H-1B visas to be issued for the 2008 Fiscal Year.
The STRIVE Act, however, would not only grant an over-abundance of
guest-workers via the H-1B visa, it would also provide a path to
citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants [3]who are already residing
within the United States.
Instead of Congress seeking to expand the number of foreign workers in our
country, they first must address the illegal immigration crisis that we are
facing today. Congress should provide veto-proof support for increasing our
Border Patrol, and not cave-in to the demands of foreigners by granting
them legal status, or by flooding the job market with an even greater
number of workers on the H-1B visa program.
Mary Benoit is a Research Associate for the John Birch Society.
2, +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.competeamerica.org/editorials/20070404_jobs_immigrants.html
Jobs and Immigrants
Editorial
The Wall Street Journal
April 4, 2007
While politicians haggle over immigration reform, the U.S. economy's demand
for workers foreign and domestic continues to grow. On Monday U.S.
officials began accepting applications for the 85,000 available H-1b visas
-- the kind that go to foreign professionals -- for the fiscal year
starting in October. By Tuesday, the quota had been filled, making this the
third straight year that the cap was reached before the fiscal year had
even begun.
It's another example of the disconnect between immigration policy and labor
market realities. A common assumption of immigration critics is that alien
workers are either stealing American jobs or reducing home-grown wages. But
both notions are flawed, according to a new and illuminating study by
economist Giovanni Peri for the Public Policy Institute of California.
Using Census data, Mr. Peri analyzed the effects of immigrant labor on
California, home to some 30% of all foreign-born workers in the U.S. The
University of California at Davis economist found "no evidence that the
inflow of immigrants over the period 1960-2004 worsened the employment
opportunities of natives with similar education and experience." As to
wages, Mr. Peri found that, "during 1990-2004, immigration induced a 4
percent real wage increase for the average native worker. This effect
ranged from near zero (+0.2%) for wages of native high school dropouts and
between 3 and 7 percent for native workers with at least a high school
diploma."
This means immigrants not only aren't "stealing" jobs; they're helping to
boost the pay of native U.S. workers. These findings aren't as shocking as
they might first seem once you consider the abilities that immigrants bring
here, and how they compare with those of U.S. natives.
Most immigrants fall into one of two categories: unskilled laborers with
less than a high-school diploma and skilled professionals with advanced
degrees. In 2004, 67% of California workers who lacked a high-school
diploma were foreign born, as were 42% of those with doctorates. By
contrast, across the entire U.S., natives are concentrated between those
two extremes: They comprise just under a third of workers without a
high-school diploma and only 28% of those with Ph.D.s.
What this means is that immigrants on balance serve as complements rather
than perfect substitutes for U.S. workers. For the most part the two aren't
competing for the same jobs, so rather than displacement what we're getting
is a bigger economic pie. This dynamic has resulted in a more efficient
domestic labor market, greater investment, higher overall economic growth
and more choices for consumers.
"In nontechnical terms," writes Mr. Peri, "the wages of native workers
could increase because the increased supply of migrants is likely to put
native workers in jobs where they perform supervisory, managerial,
training, and in general interactive and coordinating tasks, which makes
them more productive." More workers also mean more consumption, so
"immigration might simply increase total production and demand without
depressing wages."
It turns out that immigrants compete most directly with other recent
immigrants. Mr. Peri found that "Foreign born workers already here sustain
the largest losses in real wages, losing between 17 and 20 percent of their
real wage" from 1990 to 2004.
It's true that most immigrants compete for jobs more directly with
low-skill U.S. natives. But even here the job preferences differ, with
foreigners more likely to be found in agriculture, while less-educated
natives tend toward manufacturing. Mr. Peri finds that even unskilled
foreign workers have a slight positive effect on the wages of their native
counterparts. Other economists, such as George Borjas of Harvard, have
found a slight negative effect in this cohort. In any case, and considering
the overall net economic gains, any immigration reform designed to protect
this small (and shrinking) subset of unskilled native workers would seem
short-sighted at best.
As Congress prepares to give immigration policy another go, expect to hear
lots of talk about the dire consequences of immigrant labor. The facts --
and the California experience -- argue otherwise.
3. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5589733?nclick_check=1
Demand for H-1B visas exceeds limit
LOTTERY WILL DETERMINE WHICH REQUESTS FROM EMPLOYERS ARE ACCEPTED
By Michele R. Marcucci
MediaNews
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:04/04/2007 01:41:20 AM PDT
The scramble for tech-worker visas ended Tuesday as immigration officials
announced they hit the cap for next year's H-1B visas Monday, the first day
companies could apply for them.
Representatives of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the
agency had received a record 150,000 applications as of late Monday
afternoon for the 65,000 visas available for the 2008 federal fiscal year,
which starts Oct. 1. Immigration officials decided to accept all the
applications received both Monday and Tuesday, and will place them in a
computer-generated lottery to determine who will receive the visas, which
are for architects, engineers, computer programmers and other skilled
workers.
It's unclear whether an additional 20,000 visas set aside for workers with
a master's degree or higher are gone, too.
The lottery will not take place for several weeks, according to the
immigration agency. And that has businesses and the attorneys representing
them waiting anxiously to find out whether they can make planned hires.
San Francisco attorney Gali Schaham Gordon, who said last week that she'd
be working through Saturday to get her clients' applications out, said all
of her applications made it in on time. "However, as you can imagine, I
have some very nervous clients right now," she said.
Robert Hoffman, Oracle's vice president of government and public affairs
and co-chair of Compete America, a coalition of businesses, universities
and others pushing for reform for the program, was dismayed the cap was hit
so quickly.
"A significant number of exceptionally skilled individuals who will be
graduating this year from U.S. colleges and universities will be shut out
of the U.S. job market, and not for a lack of jobs but for a lack of
visas," he said.
Hoffman said Oracle filed H-1B applications, but the company doesn't know
yet how many will be accepted.
Hoffman said the quick closing of the H-1B visa window signifies the system
for bringing in foreign workers has hit an "absurd" level of dysfunction.
He, Gordon and others said it heightens the urgency for immigration reform.
They are pushing Congress to increase or remove the cap for the
employer-sponsored visas and also for green cards for the workers.
An immigration-reform bill introduced last month in the House of
Representatives could nearly triple the number of the visas available and
more than double the number of green cards for visa holders.
The White House also has issued an immigration-reform proposal, which would
issue employment visas based on a point system reflecting the U.S.
economy's needs. But it's unclear how that would change the number of
H-1Bs, said Bob Sakaniwa, associate director of advocacy at the American
Immigration Lawyers Association.
Opponents of the program have contended that the system is abused by
companies, some seeking to hire cheap foreign labor at the expense of
American workers.
A bill introduced last week by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Chuck
Grassley, R-Iowa, would crack down on the use of H-1Bs, requiring companies
to increase efforts to hire American workers before bringing in foreign
labor and issuing additional restrictions on the use of the visas.
4. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/nationworld/washingtonbureau/article_1640569.php
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Cap for foreign worker visa reached
Tens of thousands of companies will be unable to hire high-tech employees
from overseas.
By DENA BUNIS
The Orange County Register
WASHINGTON It took just hours Monday for federal officials to log in about
150,000 applications for visas for high-skilled workers to come to the
United States, more than double the 65,000 permits that became available on
April 2.
Citizenship and Immigration Services has closed the application period and
will use a lottery system to determine which employers will get to bring in
the workers they want. Companies that don't get the visas they want now
won't be able to apply again until April 2008.
H-1B visas are designed for high tech foreign workers coveted by American
industry. Congress sets the 65,000 cap and lawmakers have allowed another
20,000 permits for foreign nationals with masters or doctoral degrees from
U.S. colleges and universities.
"There's a kind of hysteria out there and there are going to be a lot of
disappointed companies who have been patiently waiting,'' said Mitchell
Wexler, an Irvine immigration lawyer. "Now the odds are one in three that
they can get still get the talent they need.''
Last year it took two months for the cap to be reached. Wexler said there's
a lot of pent up need and that's why it took just hours this time.
H-1Bs have increasingly become a controversial visa. Employers complain
that the numbers are so restrictive that companies will have to move
projects offshore so take advantage of the talent in such places as India
and China. They insist if the American workers were available they'd hire
them.
"The H-1B is way more expensive than hiring an American,'' Wexler said.
"They would not have to pay me and pay the immigration service for the
privilege of paying this foreign national what they'd pay an American,''
Wexler said.
But Norman Matloff, a computer science professor at UC Davis says the
average H-1B visa holder in the computer field earns $50,000 a year while
the average American worker doing the same job earns about $80,000.
The reaching of the cap within hours, Matloff said, "validates the
insatiable thirst for cheap labor. The employers wrote the law. They are
the ones with the clout in Congress. It's a thoroughly corrupt program.''
Congress has periodically raised the H-1B cap and usually along with it
provided money for education and training in an effort to grow a base of
American talent for these jobs. The cap was at an all time high of 195,000
in 2004.
But over the years the demand for the H-1B visa has continued to expand,
particularly when the economy is strong, Wexler said.
Microsoft's Bill Gates has been on Capitol Hill this year urging lawmakers
to raise the cap and a slew of immigration overhaul bills include
provisions doing just that. The bipartisan immigration overhaul bill
introduced in the House last week would raise the H-1B cap to 180,000 and
exempt foreign nationals with advanced degrees from any cap.
Contact the writer: (202) 628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
5. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2111302,00.asp
Year's Supply of H-1B Visas Tapped Out on Day One
April 4, 2007
By Deborah Perelman
Breaking yet another record of H-1B visa depletion, the entire supply of
specialized-occupation temporary worker visas for the 2008 fiscal year were
exhausted the first day they were available, the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services) announced April 3.
The H-1B supply for the 2007 fiscal year was exhausted on May 31, 2006,
just two months after they'd been made available, a record year for demand.
The cap was reached for 2006 fiscal-year visas in August 2005.
An anticipated heightened fervor around filing season this year prompted
the USCIS to announce Mar. 27 that any applications received before the
first day of filing, April 2, would, by default, be rejected.
By the first afternoon of filing, the agency reported that it had received
about 150,000 applications, or enough to reach the cap for the 2008 fiscal
year, and set it as the "final receipt date." It said that computers would
be used to pick visa recipients from the application pile at random, and
the remainder would be rejected and their filing fees returned.
Petitioners were told that they could resubmit petitions on April 1, 2008,
when H-1B visas would become available for the 2009 fiscal year, the
earliest date for which an employer may file for employment with a start
date of October 1, 2008.
The record-breaking speed of visa depletion is expected to only add fuel to
several large technology companies' lobbying of Congress to raise the cap.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on March 7, urging the commitee be
more welcoming to foreign high-tech talent.
"We need to attract and retain the brightest, most talented people from
around the world. This will not happen until we reform our immigration
policies for highly skilled workers. America should be doing all it can to
attract the world's best and brightest, who can help us create more jobs
and prosperity. Instead, we are shutting them out and discouraging those
already here from staying," said Gates in Washington.
To read more about Microsoft and H-1B visas, click here.
Others have criticized the U.S. immigration policy for not being more open
to the world's talented workers, arguing that they are taking themselves
out of the competitive race.
"The product and research companies lose out on highly skilled
foreign-educated professionals who find the H-1B visa an easy way of making
their skills available to them. Since information and expertise must be
utilized or suffer obsolescence, these 'foreign' experts might join
European firms, thereby giving them a boost over the U.S. ones," wrote
Aaman Lamba, publisher of Desicritics.org, a political blog with a focus on
Southeast Asia matters, in an editorial April 4.
6. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://news.com.com/Does+H-1B+surge+mean+cap+should+be+raised/2100-1022_3-6173386.html
Does H-1B surge mean cap should be raised?
By Anne Broache
http://news.com.com/Does+H-1B+surge+mean+cap+should+be+raised/2100-1022_3-61
73386.html
Story last modified Wed Apr 04 15:22:25 PDT 2007
This week's record-setting avalanche of applications for H-1B visas is
undeniable. Now in dispute: what caused it and what should happen next.
On Tuesday, the U.S. government announced that this year's limit on H-1B
visas had already been reached after only one day, the first time in
history the annual cap had been reached so quickly. Since 1990, American
employers have relied on the visas to hire skilled foreign workers for up
to six years, often in computer- or engineering-related jobs.
The reason for the surge matters: Congress is expected to hold hearings on
raising the limit later this year, and will surely question why the quota
was reached so instantly. Technology companies argue the surge is further
proof that the quota must be increased, while opponents say there are
enough Americans to do those jobs already.
High-tech companies say the visas are critical to filling voids in their
workforces and have been lobbying for Congress to raise the cap, which
currently stands at 65,000 (but climbs just above 100,000 when a number of
exemptions are taken into account). Critics say the program has depressed
U.S. wages and put qualified Americans out of jobs.
For lawyers who counsel clients on how to apply for H-1Bs, the record-high
150,000 applications reportedly received by U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services by Monday afternoon--the first day it began accepting
them--was a natural response to what they said is an ever-narrowing window
in which visas remain available.
"The fact that industry is now capable of putting through a staggering
number of H-1B applications in just one day is the best illustration yet of
why we need an H-1B quota."
--John Miano, Programmers Guild founder For the fourth straight year, the
cap was reached before the start of the next fiscal year. Two years ago,
USCIS determined in early August that it had received enough applications
to meet the cap for the next year's batch of the work permits. Last year,
the agency had stopped accepting new applications by late May--less than
two months after it opened the application window.
"Many people figured out that, if the pattern continued, the 'run out' day
would be the first day that anyone could file--namely, April 2," said
Crystal Williams, deputy director of programs for the American Immigration
Lawyers Association.
Fear of missing out on the visas likely prompted many employers to
"frontload" their applications rather than spreading them out over many
weeks or months, said Peter Roberts, co-head of the immigration practice at
the Stamford, Conn.-based law firm McCarter & English.
"I know that was the advice to my clients: You can't run the risk of
waiting and then not being able to employ this individual," said Roberts,
whose firm mostly works with companies in the financial services and
manufacturing industry.
Programmers Guild founder John Miano had a different take. The run on the
visas is nothing short of "an organized campaign to exhaust the quota as
quickly as possible," motivated by the hope that Congress will be persuaded
that more visas are necessary, he said.
That's precisely the wrong approach, said Miano, whose group supports
restrictions on H-1Bs in an effort to combat perceived displacement of
American workers and depression of salaries.
"The fact that industry is now capable of putting through a staggering
number of H-1B applications in just one day is the best illustration yet of
why we need an H-1B quota," he said. "Industry has proved it will not be
self-policing when it comes to H-1B numbers."
Unemployment low in tech
High-tech industry advocates of additional H-1B visas said their companies
are in a particularly tight spot because U.S. unemployment levels in the
computer science and engineering fields are far lower than the nationwide
average while the number of job openings is growing, leaving firms little
choice but to recruit foreigners.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures cited by Oracle vice
president Robert Hoffman, the unemployment rate in February 2007 was 2
percent for computer and mathematical occupations and 1.7 percent for
architecture and engineering occupations. That's far below the 4.9 percent
national rate, although it's about equal to the 1.9 percent rate for all
"management, professional and related occupations." Meanwhile, the
Department of Labor estimates that the number of new jobs created in math
and computer science fields will have grown to about 100,000 by 2014.
"This tells us there is significant demand and a shrinking pool of
qualified professionals," Hoffman said.
The employment rates present a serious challenge to American high-tech
firms, particularly in combination with recent statistics showing that more
than half of advanced degrees in engineering and technology at U.S.
universities are awarded to foreigners, Hoffman said.
The timing of this year's shortage is particularly troubling because it
occurred long before a new class of international university students
received their U.S.-based degrees, said Kara Calvert, director of
government relations for the Information Technology Industry Council.
ITIC's members include Apple, Dell, Cisco Systems, Intel and Microsoft.
"Our companies cannot submit applications for prospective recruits until
they have a degree in hand, which means this new crop of talented
individuals may be forced to return home after receiving their U.S.
degrees," she said. "Even more troubling is the real possibility that these
U.S.-educated workers may begin innovating for our (overseas) competitors."
It's misguided to say there's a connection between the state of the U.S.
labor market and the surging demand for H-1B visas, argued Ron Hira, a
Rochester Institute of Technology professor and former board member of
IEEE-USA, which lobbies for checks on the visa system on behalf of American
engineers.
"The argument they make is these U.S. workers just don't exist, but you
can't conclude that based on H-1B demand," said Hira, who has also authored
a book and reports criticizing the H-1B system. "H-1B demand is completely
decoupled from the labor market because they don't have to look for U.S.
workers."
Another reason why foreigners may be attractive to U.S. companies is that
they are only required to pay them the "prevailing wage," which is often
lower than the market wage, Hira said. The Senate bill would change the way
"prevailing wage" is determined in a way designed to raise the minimum
payout.
"We really don't know why there is so much demand for these H-1B workers,"
Hira said, "but there are good reasons why companies would prefer foreign
workers over U.S. workers."
7. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://origin.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5595792?source=email
Businesses seek more work visas
By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated:04/04/2007 09:33:55 PM MDT
High-tech companies and other businesses are pushing Congress to increase
the number of visas available for skilled foreign workers after immigration
officials announced this week that the 65,000 visa cap had been reached in
a matter of hours.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said more than 150,000 H-1B
petitions were received Monday, the first day companies could apply.
Applications received Tuesday have not been tallied.
Officials plan to conduct a computerized lottery of the applications
received on both days and notify the recipients of the results. The drawing
is not expected to take place for several weeks because of the high volume
of petitions.
"It's just nuts," said Los Angeles immigration attorney Carl Shusterman,
who sent his client's H-1B applications by FedEx on Friday. "Sixty-five
thousand as a cap is just an artificial number that was agreed to by
Congress years ago. It is not in sync with the labor market."
This was by far the fastest that the visa cap had been reached, said Sharon
Rummery, a USCIS spokeswoman. Last year, visas ran out in May and the
previous year, in August. They are six-year visas.
Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., proposed legislation
that would increase the cap on H-1B visas to 115,000 and would exempt from
the cap certain individuals who have earned an advanced degree in science,
technology, engineering or math in the United States. Under the
legislation, the cap could be increased in subsequent years to as many as
180,000.
8. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://news.com.com/Does+H-1B+surge+mean+cap+should+be+raised/2100-1022_3-6173386.html
Does H-1B surge mean cap should be raised?
Baseball, technology and immigrants
America embraces foreign-born ballplayers, but not engineers, much to the
dismay of big business, says Fortune's Marc Gunther.
By Marc Gunther, Fortune senior writer
April 5 2007: 10:02 AM EDT
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Imagine if the baseball season had begun this week
without such foreign-born stars as Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Justin
Morneau and the latest Japanese import, pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and his
mysterious "gyroball."
It wouldn't be as much fun, would it? Fans want to see the most skilled
players compete - immigrants and Americans.
So why is it that people don't want skilled immigrants to compete for jobs
in the multibillion-dollar technology industry?
They view these immigrants as a threat. CNN anchor Lou Dobbs argues
permitting more educated, foreign-born engineers, scientists and teachers
into the country would force many qualified American workers out of the job
market.
That may be true in baseball, where the number of jobs on big league
rosters is fixed. That's not necessarily so in technology, where people
with skills and ambition help expand job opportunities. Immigrants helped
start Sun Microsystems, Intel (Charts), Yahoo! (Charts), eBay (Charts) and
Google (Charts). Would America be better off if they'd stayed home?
"This is not about filling jobs that would go to Americans," says Robert
Hoffman, an Oracle (Charts) vice president and co-chair of a business
coalition called Compete America, which favors allowing more skilled
workers into the United States. "This is important to create jobs. It's not
a zero sum game."
This week, as it happens, is not just opening week of the baseball season.
It's the week when employers rush to apply for the limited number of visas,
called H-1B visas, that became available on April 1 to allow them to
temporarily hire educated, foreign-born workers. This year, Congress has
allowed 65,000 of these H-1B visas, plus another 20,000 for foreign-born
students who earn advanced degrees from U.S. universities. After obtaining
guest-worker visas, employees can then seek green cards that allow them to
stay in the United States
FedEx and UPS did a brisk business last weekend because the visas are
awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. The first 65,000 are already
gone. The 20,000 earmarked for graduates of U.S. universities will be
distributed in a month or two, experts say.
This makes it very hard for companies to hire foreign-born graduates of the
U.S.'s top schools. More than half the graduate students in science and
engineering at U.S. universities were born overseas.
"It's sending a signal to the best international students that they may not
want to make their career in the United States," says Stuart Anderson,
executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a
research group. (Anderson, an immigration specialist, also wrote a study of
baseball and immigration that's available here as a PDF file.)
Expanding H1-B visas is a top priority for U.S. tech firms. Bill Gates,
Microsoft's (Charts) chairman, told Congress last month: "I cannot
overstate the importance of overhauling our high-skilled immigration
system.... Unfortunately, our immigration policies are driving away the
world's best and brightest precisely when we need them most."
CNN's Lou Dobbs was unimpressed. "The Gates plan would force many qualified
American workers right out of the job market," he fretted on the air after
Gates testified. "There's something wrong when a man as smart as Bill Gates
advances an elitist agenda, without regard to the impact that he's having
on working men and women in this country."
It's not just Dobbs. Internet bulletin boards and blogs are filled with
complaints about foreign-born engineers. The U.S. branch of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the leading society of engineers,
brought about 60 engineers to Washington last month to ask for reforms to
the H-1B program. IEEE-USA supports a bill proposed by Senators Dick
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, that
is designed to crack down on companies that use the guest worker program to
displace Americans from jobs.
As it happens, most of the largest users of the H1-B program are not
American companies but foreign firms that want to move jobs out of the
United States. Seven of the 10 firms that requested the most H1-B visas in
2006 were outsourcing firms based in India, which use the visas to train
workers in the United States before they are rotated home, according to Ron
Hira, an engineer who teaches public policy at the Rochester Institute of
Technology. Indian outsourcing firms Wipro and Infosys were the two top
requestors of H1-B visas.
In a paper for the Economic Policy Institute, Hira says that expanding H-1B
visas without improving controls will "lead to more offshore outsourcing of
jobs, displacement of American technology workers (and) decreased wages and
job opportunities" for Americans. He told me: "Bill Gates talks about how
you are shutting out $100,000-a-year software engineers. But if you look at
the median wage for new H1-B workers, it's closer to $50,000."
Asked about that, Jack Krumholtz, who runs Microsoft's Washington office,
said the average salary for Microsoft's H1-B workers is more than $109,000,
and that the company spends another $10,000 to $15,000 per worker applying
for the visas and helping workers apply for green cards. "We only hire
people who we want to have on our team for the long run," he said.
It seems clear that Microsoft - along with Oracle, Intel, Hewlett Packard
and other members of the Compete America coalition - do not use the guest
worker program to hire cheap labor. They just want to hire the best
engineers, many of whom are foreign born.
So what to do? Everyone seems to agree that the H1-B program needs fixing.
(Even Hira, the critic, says the United States should absorb more
high-skilled immigrants.) Whether Congress can fix it is questionable. The
guest-worker program is tied up in the debate over broader immigration
reforms.
But guess what? Just last year, Congress passed the Compete Act of 2006,
which stands (sort of) for "Creating Opportunities for Minor League
Professions, Entertainers and Teams through Legal Entry." Yes, that law
made it easier for baseball teams to get visas for foreign-born minor
league players.
If the government can fix the problem for baseball, surely it can do so for
technology, too.
9. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3669726
April 4, 2007
H1-B Visas: One And Done
By Roy Mark
One day after the opening of the H1-B visa program process, the 2008
allotment of 85,000 H1-B visas is already gone. Last year it took a month.
Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS), said the agency received more than 150,000
applications for the program, which allows U.S. companies to sponsor
foreign scientists, engineers and programmers for up to six years of U.S.
employment. Bentley said there are now approximately 400,000 H1-B visa
workers in the United States.
The increasingly controversial visas are highly favored by the technology
industry to fill what it claims is a chronic shortfall in American tech
talent. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has repeatedly urged Congress to do
away with H1-B caps entirely. Critics, though, contend companies use the
program to hire talent at below-market rates to replace U.S. workers.
"Because of arbitrary visa caps, we are now in the position of graduating
thousands of the world's top innovators, engineers and scientists and
telling them they cannot work in the United States," said Robert Hoffman,
vice president for government and public affairs at Oracle and co-chair of
Compete America, a coalition, which also includes Microsoft and Intel,
pushing for H1-B visa reform.
Hoffman said the European Union makes it significantly easier for companies
to hire foreign-born talent. "They are laying out the red carpet for high
tech. The competition for talent is global." Compete America wants Congress
to increase the H1-B visa cap to 115,000.
U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are two
lawmakers unconvinced by tech's arguments for raising the H1-B cap. The two
introduced legislation earlier this week that would overhaul the entire
program to give priority to American workers and crack down on employers
who misuse H1-B visas.
The legislation would require all employers seeking to hire an H1-B worker
to certify they have made a good faith effort to hire American workers
first and that the H1-B visa holder would displace an American worker.
Under the bill, employers must first advertise the job opening for 30 days
on a Department of Labor Web site before applying for H1-B workers.
Grassley and Durbin also want to mandate U.S. employers pay H1-B visa
workers prevailing U.S. wages. In addition, the bill would authorize and
fund Department of Labor audits of any company using the H1-B program.
"Our immigration policy should seek to complement our U.S. workforce, not
replace it," Durbin said in a joint statement with Grassley. "Some
employers have abused the H-1B [program]to bypass qualified American job
applicants. This bill will set up safeguards for American workers, and
provide much-needed oversight and enforcement of employers who fail to
abide by the law."
Oracle's Hoffman said the senators' bill is based on the false premise that
highly skilled, foreign-born college graduates are competing with U.S.
workers. He noted the unemployment rate for U.S. math and science jobs is 2
percent. According to the Department of Labor, the unemployment rate for
engineering jobs is 1.7 percent.
"The difference here is in perspective," Hoffman said, "They want to make
it harder for the U.S. to recruit workers. They want to make it an
either/or situation."
Hoffman said existing laws are in place to protect American workers and an
increase in the number of H1-B workers would increase funding to enforce
the law. The current H1-B fee for a sponsoring company is $1,500, with $500
of the fee dedicated to fraud prevention and detection. The other $1,000 is
used for U.S. job training and scholarships or grants for mathematics,
engineering or science programs administered by the National Science
Foundation.
Hoffman also insisted Oracle and other members of Compete America are
paying "prevailing [U.S.] wages or what we offer, whichever is higher."
He also voiced concerns that the Grassley-Durbin bill would raise the
"burden bar" for U.S. companies to participate in the H1-B visa program.
"We are certainly open to ways to better enforce the program," Hoffman
said. "[The bill] would make it too burdensome for employers."
Grassley, though, said the legislation is all about protecting American
workers.
"We're closing loopholes that employers have exploited by requiring them to
be more transparent about their hiring, and we're ensuring more oversight
of these visa programs to reduce fraud and abuse," he said. "A little
sunshine will go a long way to help the American worker."
10. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=296942
Special visas bring stampede
BY TARA MALONE
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, April 01, 2007
On the eve of a key immigration date to apply for visas, pent-up demand
could erupt this week involving foreign professionals hoping to work here
and suburban employers who want to hire them.
Federal immigration officials expect an avalanche of requests Monday, the
first opportunity for businesses to apply for professional, highly skilled
worker visas. They say the 65,000 visas available to foreigners with
specialized skills could be gone in days."We're totally freaked out,"
immigration attorney Shirley Sadjadi said from her Elgin office.
The strain reveals another crack in an immigration system widely dismissed
as broken. Industry leaders and corner office executives fault a visa
supply - needed to recruit foreign talent and compete in a global market,
they say - that falls short of demand for professionals from other
countries, and has for years.
"It makes no sense to tell well-trained, highly skilled individuals, many
of whom are educated at our top universities, that they are not welcome
here," Microsoft magnate Bill Gates told Congress last month.
Yet, proponents of stricter immigration controls contend recruiting
international talent simply supplants homegrown talent. The problem is not
one of supply, they say, but of unchecked demand.
"We're not saying there should be no access to foreign labor, but there
needs to be some oversight. The way it's set up now it's the fox guarding
the henhouse," Federation for American Immigration Reform spokesman Ira
Mehlman said.
In 2006, federal officials doled out 65,000 of the so-called H-1B visas by
May. Never before had the visa cap been reached so quickly. In 2005, the
visas were gone by August and in 2004 by October.
Braced for the possibility of being immediately inundated with more
requests than they can fill, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services plan
a lottery if more than 65,000 petitions arrive Monday.
"It's a random selection," agency spokeswoman Marilu Cabrera said.
Loopholes exist, to be sure. Universities, nonprofit and government
research institutions - such as the University of Chicago-overseen Argonne
National Laboratory - are exempt from the cap. And an extra 20,000 visas
exist for workers with U.S. graduate degrees.
Because of the exceptions, the actual number of visas issued, is far higher
than the 65,000 cap. Between October 2004 and September 2005, 267,155 visas
allowing foreign professionals to work here for a three-year span were
granted or renewed, federal records show. Of those, 27,683 - or
10fpercent - went to college and university employees.
Yet, other companies looking to fill professional positions they prove
cannot be staffed locally are bound by the cap. A late petition could shut
them out for more than a year.
"This year, it's the worst ever. If it stays open a week, that'll surprise
me," immigration attorney Steve Navarre of Des Plaines said.
Navarre delivered 30 petitions to the express mail station at O'Hare
International Airport Friday to ensure Monday delivery.
"If I could walk them on the plane myself, I would," he said.
Neither the concern nor the caps that incite it are new.
The Immigration Act of 1990 limited the influx of skilled, professional
workers from abroad. The idea was to give a three-year permit open to
renewal to workers who had, at minimum, a college degree or comparable
experience in the field. Updated visas are not counted toward the yearly
limit, Cabrera said.
The 65,000 ceiling stuck through the 1990s, but from 2000 to 2004,
lawmakers opened the door wider, granting up to 195,000 visas yearly. In
2004, the visa pool again dropped to 1990 levels, where it remains today.
An immigration reform bill unveiled this month in Congress would ratchet up
the visa cap to 115,000 yearly and keep an additional 65,000 in reserve.
Critics such as Mehlman say that would just exempt U.S. firms from "having
to invest in training their existing labor force."
The so-called Strive Act sponsored by Illinois Democrat U.S. Rep. Luis
Gutierrez also preserves the exception for higher education and government
research institutions so long as they do not overly rely on H-1B workers.
Experts call this "the 15 percent rule."
With this standard in mind, DuPage County's Argonne National Laboratory
recruits 7.8 percent of its 1,775 scientists from abroad, Visa
Administrator Nancy Griparis said.
An H-1B visa led Ray Chen from China to Elgin. When Wanxiang American Corp.
- affiliated with a Chinese car parts company - opened its office in the
Fox Valley, Chen joined them.
"So far, I'm good. I don't have trouble so far," Chen said. "Probably
renewing should be much easier than to get it the first time."
tmalone@dailyherald.com
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