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Mr.
Robert B. Johnson
1409 Rachel Lane
Buffalo Grave, Illinois 60089
Dear
Mr. Johnson:
Thank
you for contacting me regarding increasing the number of
non-immigrant professional specialty visas, commonly known as
H-1B visas, issued to highly skilled foreign workers.
As
you may know, a recent Department of Labor (DOL) study estimated
that over the next ten years, 1.3 million new jobs related to
computers and information technology will be created. This same
study estimated that American universities and colleges would only
produce about a quarter of the graduates needed to fill these
positions. In addition, technology industry experts have testified
before: Congress that thousands of jobs in their companies have
gone unfilled for lack of skilled workers. These factors seem to
point to a large and growing labor shortage among high-tech
workers. Under current law, a United States employer may legally
bring an alien to the U.S. for a specific purpose and a temporary
period of time under the H-1B visa workers program.
I
feel that increasing the number of available H-1B visas will make
American businesses more competitive in the global marketplace. It
seems unreasonable for the federal government to severely restrict
U.S. companies in their hiring of foreign professionals when there
are so few qualified American workers to fill these positions. At
the same time, however, we must work to improve our domestic
workforce training programs to ensure that we are not reliant upon
alien labor sources in the future.
The
H-1B visa category is limited by law to no more than 65,000 new
admissions each year. In 1998, Congress enacted legislation to
temporarily increase the number of H-1B visas to 115,000 visas for
1999 and 2000. In mid-March of this year, the Immigration and
Naturalization Services (INS) announced that the fiscal year (FY)
2000 ceiling of 115,000 would be reached by June. Many in the
business community, notably in the information technology area,
are again urging that the ceiling be raised, and legislation to do
so has been introduced.
As
you may know, House Judiciary Immigration and Claims Subcommittee
Chairman Lamar Smith introduced H.R. 4227, which would eliminate
the numerical limit on H-1 B visas for FY2000 and would allow for
temporary increases in FY2001 and FY2002, if certain conditions
are met. These requirements include adding a $40,000 minimum
salary, filing W-2 forms, new reporting requirements, and
anti-fraud provisions funded by a $100 fee. It would give the U.S.
Secretary of State responsibility for maintaining records on H-IB
non-immigrants. A number of other bills have been introduced on
this subject, and it is difficult to know what provisions will be
included in the fraud versions of these bills. I will continue to
monitor this issue with the interests of the business community
and American workers in mind.
I
appreciate the time you took to contact me o his important matter.
I hope that you will continue to feel free to communicate with me
whenever issues of concern to you come before the Congress.
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