analysis of Senate Judiciary Hearing on H-1B

As FAIR has suspected for some time, the high-tech industry

immigration law bar would never sit still for a decline in the

H-1B ceiling from 195,000 to the currently scheduled October 1

of 65,000. That mobilization has now taken place. Less than 30

following a Senate Immigration Subcommittee hearing

sympathetic to serious reforms in both the H-1B and L-1 visa

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) held a full

hearing on "the importance of the H-1B program for the U.S.

Witnesses called for complete removal of the annual ceiling on

H-1B program and Chairman Hatch stated that unemployed tech

should not blame foreigners for the loss of their jobs. He's

the public in general and unemployed high-tech workers in

should blame Senator Hatch and the rest of those in Congress who

cheap foreign labor ahead of the American worker.

FAIR has learned that in the next few weeks the Senate will

legislation to extend for another year the H-1B program status

but with an annual ceiling of 115,000 instead of the 65,000

scheduled to take effect on October 1. The normally sympathetic

Immigration Subcommittee had planned to hold a hearing on

needed in both the H-1B and L-1 program shortly after the

recess. Unfortunately, those plans have been changed and no

are expected until sometime next year, when the scheduled

ceiling is nearly met, and maximum pressure to raise the ceiling

be applied.
This news flash is intended to alert FAIR members, activists,

supporters to be prepared to respond to an alert as quickly

possible when the timing of Senate movement on legislation

clear.

1. Type your zip code into the "Take Action Now" box and send a

faxed message to your Senate and House members. Tell them in

strongest possible terms that the H-1B program needs to be

or eliminated, not made more generous.
2. Follow up your faxes with phone calls. Visit the elected

section of our web site for help contacting your legislators.

* The H-1B program needs to be curbed or eliminated, not made

generous.
* It's outrageous to expand the H-1B program when

unemployment is high and unemployment among high-tech

workers continues soaring to record levels.
* While the program is intended to help employers find scarce

skilled labor unavailable in the United States, many

employers are using the H-1B program to replace American's

cheaper foreign labor.
* On October 1 the annual 195,000 cap on H-1B visas is scheduled

revert to 65,000. No increase above 65,000 as scheduled

acceptable.

http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=913

http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POLICY/2003/091603.html

But Steadman urged Congress to look for a longer-term solution to

lack of qualified engineers and IT workers than raising the H-1B

again. He encouraged Congress to invest more money in programs

encourage U.S. students to study engineering and science. He

asked Congress to strengthen the U.S. Department of Labor's ability

investigate H-1B abuses, as is required in the U.S. Jobs

Act, introduced in Congress in July.

Backers of the H-1B program argued Tuesday that the visas

taking away U.S. jobs, because some technology companies still

find qualified workers for some positions. Ingersoll-Rand has

for more than a year to fill a plastics engineer and an

robotics engineer position, finally settling on a Canadian resident

both cases, said Elizabeth Dickson, advisor of immigration

for the industrial equipment manufacturer.

Intel attempts to find U.S. workers before bringing in a

worker with an H-1B visa, said Patrick Duffy, human resources

for Intel, but more than half of the graduate students in

science programs at U.S. universities are from outside the

It's a matter of what are the mechanisms, how does a hiring manager
in Silicon Valley get a hold of re'sume's? What happens is, you get
a lot of H-1B re'sume's. I had to go out myself, instead of relying
on the Personnel Dept., to go and advertise at several colleges
where I thought I would be able to find some good employees. And lo
and behold, I found a very good one at Cal Poly, Pomona.

http://www.flcdatacenter.com/casesearch.asp

Steadman and Senator Diane Feinstein, a California Democrat,

to abuses of H-1B visas and of a related program, the L-1,

allows companies to transfer employees from outside the U.S. to

high-level positions. Some companies have used the L-1 visas to

IT workers who are then hired out to other companies,

charged, and Feinstein questioned whether some companies

H-1B workers were paying the prevailing wage as required.

workers in California have complained to Feinstein that they've

replaced by foreign workers paid a third of their salary, she said.

Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, said he plans

introduce legislation this week to close loopholes in the L-1

program.

Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, noted that the
sunset of his legislation to expand the H-1B cap to 195,000 will

result in the loss of a $1,000 fee per H-1B application, which has
been used for training and scholarship programs in the U.S.