IEEE-USA asks for rollback of H-1B visa quotas

Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 9:34 AM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

IEEE-USA underestimates the number of H-1B visas issued, but they are
finally acknowledging that exempts should be counted. Keep in mind that
IEEE is an international organization that doesn't oppose H-1B and may
not endorse IEEE-USA's activism on the issue.

Here are the correct numbers.

Visas issued for 2002

215,000 exempts from Cap

79,100 H-1B visas issued to date
18,000 pending H-1B applications

312,000 Total Visas Issued

IEEE-USA asks for rollback of H-1B visa quotas
By Margaret Quan, EE Times
Feb 7, 2003 (11:50 AM)

URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030207S0035

MANHASSET, N.Y. IEEE-USA is protesting the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service's continuing issuance of H-1B visas to foreign
workers while unemployment levels remain high for electrical engineers
and computer scientists.

The INS issued 79,100 first-time H-1B visas in the 2002 fiscal year
ended Sept. 30, according to agency statistics. The U.S. Department of
Labor reported that 120,000 electrical engineers and computer
scientists were unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2002.

In addition to the first-time H-1B visas issued in fiscal 2002, the INS
allowed "[an] estimated 215,000 extensions and initial H-1B visas
granted in exempt categories such as non-profits, laboratories and
colleges," the IEEE-USA said in a statement. That swelled the number of
H-1B visas "to more than 294,000" for the fiscal year, the group said.

IEEE-USA President Jim Leonard said he believes "It's time for Congress
to lower the H-1B visa quota back to 65,000 from its current level of
195,000," said IEEE-USA president Jim Leonard. "This will happen
automatically if no new legislation is approved."

Congress raised the number of H-1B temporary visas that INS could issue
to foreign workers in the late 1990s at the height of economic and
industry expansion. The unemployment rate for EEs was 1.3 percent in
2000, but has more than tripled since then. "The large pool of guest
workers makes it much more difficult for skilled U.S. workers to find
jobs," Leonard said.

Twenty-six thousand electrical and electronics engineers and 94,000
computer scientists were to be unemployed in the United States in the
fourth quarter of 2002. The unemployment rate for EEs in that quarter
was 3.9 percent, down slightly from 4.0 percent in the third quarter.
The unemployment rate for computer scientists was 5.1 percent in the
fourth quarter, up from 4.6 percent in the third quarter.

IEEE-USA noted that Despite a grim job outlook for the U.S. high-tech
work force, "industry has petitioned, and government has granted
799,700 new or renewal H-1B visas in the past two years," IEEE-USA
said. "This includes 163,600 new visas in 2001 and 342,000 in exempt
categories. And when FY '02 ended, another 18,000 new H-1B applications
were pending."

EE Times could not verify IEEE-USA's statistics with the INS by press
time.

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