U.S. to Sharply Cut Number of High-Tech Work Visas

Reuters ^ | September 22, 2003 | Alan Elsner

[AntiGuv]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is about to cut the number of employment visas it offers to highly qualified foreign workers from 195,000 to 65,000, immigration experts said on Monday.

Unless Congress acts by the end of this month -- and there is little sign it will do so -- the change will automatically take effect on Oct. 1. Employers, especially technology companies, argue the move will hurt them and the economy.

The change will affect the number of H1-B visas that can be issued each fiscal year. The visas are mostly used to bring high-tech experts from Asia, especially from the Indian sub-continent, to work in the United States for up to three years.

"The fact that Congress doesn't seem anxious to act reflects the political climate, with a lack of jobs for Americans," said New York immigration lawyer Cyrus Mehta.

"The pressure to change the limit will build up again when the economy picks up."

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the issue last week. Republican chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah noted that many U.S. high-tech workers are unemployed and the committee needed to find ways of helping them without hurting the country's ability to compete globally.

Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy said: "Given the weakness of our current economy, and the rising unemployment we have experienced under President Bush's stewardship, many who supported the increase in 2000 now believe that 65,000 visas are sufficient."

But Patrick Duffy, Human Resources Attorney for Intel Corporation, said finding the best-educated engineering talent from around the world was critical to his company's future.

"We expect that we will continue to sponsor H-1B employees in the future for the simple reason that we cannot find enough U.S. workers with the advanced education, skills, and expertise we need," he said.

Elizabeth Dickson, director of immigration services for the Ingersoll-Rand Company, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said: "In the near-term, we simply must have access to foreign nationals. Many of them have been educated in the United States. By sending them home, we are at best sending them to our own foreign plant sites, and at worst to our competitors."

Immigration attorneys expect the new rules to set off a scramble by companies to fill their slots early before the ceiling is reached. How quickly that happens depends on the state of the economy, they said.

[mabelkitty]

One more campaign issue off the table...
Look for a huge WMD documen dump next summer....

[.cnI redruM]

It would be like the Ford Escort. The code would be written in China, India and COsta Rica for all we know, but the cardboard box the vendor sold it in would be made in the US, hence it would be an American product.

[HamiltonJay]

Not true, only H1B rule is they have to "attempt to hire an american for 6 months before hiring an H1B employee".. which was NEVER enforced.. I worked for start up after start up that wasn't 6 months old who had H1B's doing jobs I could hire an american for at the drop of a hat, but its cheaper to have the quasi slave labor of the H1B more often than not.... the whole thing is a scam.

[=Intervention=]

Your rational self-interest would tell you that there are fewer cultural barriers to surmount with hiring your own countrymen. It would also tell you that trust and security are greater with your countrymen than with new immigrants. If you don't have even a basic loyalty or concern for your country, your rational self-interest would tell you to run fast, because the angry mobs of exploited workers are coming to burn down your immigration import house.

[HamiltonJay]

When the law that allowed them to come here "legally" is dubious at best. The premise of the H1B was that there were not enough skilled american workers to fill the jobs, so we HAVE to let in foreigners who have no ties to this country, have no interest in immigrating, but only want to hit the lotto fora few years and go back to india to live off their spoils afterward....

Unfortunately this was never true, there was never a high tech worker shortage, and frankly the H1B program helped cause the economic tech downturn to be even worse than it needed to be.

Immigrants are more than welcome, come here, and become an american... but that was not the goal of any of the H1Bs.

[null and void]

Well kind of... we should have reduced the number to 0 and expelled all those already here, but that's just wishful thinking...

Dude, you're trying to kill me here aren't you?

I can't go back and replace ALL the H1-B's who've replaced me!

I won't work three shifts at three different companies.

I won't! I won't!! I won't!!!!

[trini]

I disagree simply because that has not been my experience. Undoubtedly, there are people who will find a way to flout any rule, however that does not mean thet the rule is inherently flawed.

[SAMWolf]

Still too many coming in.

[trini]

Immigrants are more than welcome, come here, and become an american... but that was not the goal of any of the H1Bs.

Well, I know many people who have used the H1-B visas for exactly that, to stay and become US citizens.

[oceanview]

that is already occurring at warp speed anyway. It should be the next thing targetted, but the Rs don't realize it is decimating their voter base, and the Dems are happy to see that occur.

[JustAnAmerican]

And as an additional note to #43, any H1B recepient's spouse and dependent minor children cannot accept employment, but can attend school in the United States.Servants of an H-1B visa holder can receive a B-1 visa. And the idiocy goes on and on.

[brianl703]

Practically all vehicles today have components made in various countries. Take the Ford Explorer. The 4.0L V6 engine in that vehicle is made in Germany.

On the other hand BMW uses GM transmissions (presumably made in the USA) in some of their cars.

And, of course, the car radio in either of those is likely to be made in Mexico.

[yonif]

Unless Congress acts by the end of this month -- and there is little sign it will do so -- the change will automatically take effect on Oct. 1.

Let's see what happens. This is not set in stone. However, this is a good move that will help Americans get jobs.

[BushisTheMan]

Because people came to work here in the United States during the dot.com hey day and then took jobs for less money than the Americans who do the same job. Therefore, Americans got laid off and foreigners got to stay and do their jobs. Now go home and stay home!

I know of lots of jobs that are being done overseas by these people and they are doing a crappy job because there is no American quality control person watching over them. So, people receiving the code or the testing results are complaining big time because defects are not being caught. They seem to get lazier when they are in their own countries doing the work.

[HamiltonJay]

You disagree because your experience has been different in what way? That you have seen a company actually face the fines and penalties for violating the 6 month rule? Or that your experience is that companies have obeyed the 6 month rule?

I have worked WITH DOZENS of companies, and H1B was never anything more than a way to get cheap basically slave labor.. .there was NEVER a shortage of tech employees in the US, even at the height of the boom.

[null and void]

The real culprit is government regulation that makes hiring an American employee so expensive; this is but a short term hold on immense downward pressure on labor wages.

The simplest solution is hyperinflate the Dollar.

Suddenly US wages become competitive on the world market.

Quality US products compete at par with crap built in 2-1/2 and 3rd world countries.

Hordes who have tried to manipulate their currency against the Dollar are stuck with all the lower value Dollars they've been hoarding...

(As a bonus everyone gets every penny they ever put in social security.)

[HamiltonJay]

Well, I know many people who have used the H1-B visas for exactly that, to stay and become US citizens.

Perhaps you do, but your personal interaction does not a justification make... show me the statistics of those who have taken their H1B and turned it into a citizenship... it is an infinatesimally small number. Most come here for the "big money" for a few years, and have no intention of immigrating. In fact I know of only 1 person in my life that came here via H1B and naturalized... nearly every one I have ever spoken too has no intention of staying or immigrating.

[trini]

I disagree because I have actually seen companies obey the 6 month rule and I have actually seen companies pay the foriegn workers at the going market rate. I am not saying that your experience never existed, I am simply saying that mine have been different.

[CasearianDaoist]

But those are subsidiaries...just tax them too. YO\ou are goin to see budgetary descrepencies. These are public companies...they have to file with the SEC. I am saying follow the money...do not follow the code. Besides, it is really hard to hide things in a CMMI level 5 shop. All of the metrics, the configuration management, the requirements management, architecture documentation, etc. would give it away. If it did not then they could not get their certification. A board would be whacky to sign of on a shop that was not CMMI or ISO certified, and whackier still to not control the configuration/QA management as the vendor would just resell the code. Both the legal risk and the market risk ould not be worth it.

[JohnGalt]

I'm 29 and won't be seeing any of that cash the Greatest Pilfering Generation is collecting and dumping into slot machines as we speak, but good points on the monetary side of the problem.