Debate over Increasing H-1B Limits looms again
Debate over Increasing H-1B Limits looms again
Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 4:08 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
www.ZaZona.com
Corporations are starting a new push to raise the number of H-1B visas
that can be issued per year. They are using classic arguments that have
worked every time they asked for an increase, but there is a slight
shift in how they are framing their case for more visas. They used to
claim that there was an immediate shortage of high-tech workers, but of
course that's hard to sell with the unemployment so high. Their new
tactic is to say that an increase is necessary because there will be a
shortage in the near future.
So why, you may ask, shouldn't the limit stay where it is until the
unemployment of high-tech workers goes down? The corporate HR
departments have a fast answer - they say that there may be plenty of
high-tech workers in the USA but they don't have the skills and/or
education to handle the new technologies. They tidy-up their specious
shortage-shouting with claims that not enough American graduates in
science and engineering aren't produced.
Towards the end of 1999 companies used up their allotment of H-1B
visas, and they used that as their primary argument for nearly doubling
the limit. This sounds like history being repeated:
Industry groups predict that demand for H-1B visas during
this fiscal year will reach about 80,000, because employers
say they are emerging from an economic slumber that had
prevented them from hiring.
Another tactic that is being spearheaded by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch
(he wasn't mentioned in the article) is to exempt students from the
visa limits. This will enable companies to bring students into the U.S.
on J-1 visas, put them to work, and when they graduate the student is
sponsored for an H-1B. American citizens won't have a chance on these
jobs since the J-1 student is grand-fathered into the job. In essence
this idea will result in a very large expansion in the number of
nonimmigrants and it will shut out American students that are competing
for the same jobs.
Now for those that say that H-1B isn't an immigration issue, Tom
Stohler, vice president of the The American Electronics Association,
said that, "The H-1B program has become a bridge to permanent
citizenship."
To read more about Stoher, go to this webpage:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/Skunks.htm#AeANet
http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20031215-093701-8048r.htm
Debate over foreign workers looms again
By William Glanz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 16, 2003
As the economy picks up steam, a long-standing debate over foreign
workers will, too.
Trade groups and immigration attorneys are predicting that U.S.
companies will face a shortage of highly skilled workers early next
year, even while many Americans continue to search for work.
If highly qualified workers become hard to find, it will renew a
debate over the H-1B program, opposed by labor groups that argue that
the visas squeeze out American workers in favor of cheaper labor, but
coveted by companies that want more latitude to hire temporary foreign
workers.
The next debate over the three-year visas, which can be renewed
once, could involve a proposal that would make the number of visas
available last longer.
The debate over H-1B visas has not been waged since the collapse of
the technology industry, which shed almost 500,000 jobs last year.
The economy has shown signs of improvement, including growing at an
8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two
decades.
"As the economy improves, we'll see these issues come front and
center again," said Sandy Boyd, chairwoman of American Business for
Legal Immigration.
A sympathetic Congress gave U.S. companies a temporary solution to
address labor shortages when it increased the number of visas
available, and scores of companies relied on them to hire foreign
workers and to bolster work forces.
In fiscal 1999, lawmakers boosted the number of visas available
from 65,000 to 115,000. Two years later they increased it again, making
195,000 visas available each fiscal year through Sept. 30, 2003.
But this year, the federal government made just 65,000 visas
available under the H-1B program. That is the same number of visas
available before the technology boom, the phenomenon that caused
businesses to clamor for more visas. Industry groups predict that
demand for H-1B visas during this fiscal year will reach about 80,000,
because employers say they are emerging from an economic slumber that
had prevented them from hiring.
"We're probably going to run out in spring, and U.S. industry is
going to be at a disadvantage," said Jeff Lande, vice president at the
Information Technology Association of America, an Arlington trade group
that supports increasing the number of H-1B visas.
Corporations argue that the visa program gives them access to
highly skilled workers who aren't readily available in the country.
Colleges and universities simply aren't producing enough American
graduates with degrees in math, science and engineering, according to
trade groups.
But many unions oppose increasing the number of foreign workers
that companies can hire. The program lets companies give jobs to
foreign workers that could be given to unemployed Americans, said Vin
O'Neill, senior lobbyist for the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers Inc.
Unions also argue that companies endorse the visa program because
they can pay temporary foreign workers less than American workers and
keep down costs.
"The whole idea of temporary workers has become standard operating
procedure," Mr. O'Neill said.
Instead of relying on the H-1B program, unions want U.S. companies
to work harder to persuade Congress to fix immigration laws.
That's just what the technology industry -- and others that are
increasing their use of H-1B visas, such as schools and the
fast-growing health care industry -- wants to do.
An estimated 65 percent of the 78,000 people who received an H-1B
visa in fiscal 2002 already were in the United States. Most of them
probably were college graduates here, said Thom Stohler, vice president
at AEA, a trade group in the District representing technology
companies.
Supporters of the H-1B program are beginning to say that those
students shouldn't count against the number of visas Congress makes
available each year because many of them are likely to stay in the
United States once they obtain permanent residency. Because the
immigration process can take years, students and their U.S. employers
use H-1B visas to keep them here and working until they become
citizens.
"The H-1B program has become a bridge to permanent citizenship,"
Mr. Stohler said.
Exempting graduates from U.S. colleges who plan to stay here could
prevent companies from using all the visas long before the end of the
fiscal year.
It also could prevent another bitter battle between labor groups
and companies that want to hire foreign workers.
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