Reforms demanded as H-1B visa limit reached

News.com ^ | 2/19/2004 | Ed Frauenheim

[hotdogjones]

Reforms demanded as H-1B visa limit reached Last modified: February 18, 2004, 12:27 PM PST By Ed Frauenheim Staff Writer, CNET News.com

The federal government has received enough H-1B visa applications to meet this year's cap, prompting one business group to call for reform of the controversial guest worker program.

No new petitions for first-time employment in 2004 will be accepted starting Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said this week. The cutoff means that the annual cap of 65,000 new workers has been reached less than five months into the fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

The news prompted a quick response from American Business for Legal Immigration, a coalition of 200 corporations, universities, research institutions and trade associations.

"Our goal is to keep the U.S. economy growing and keep U.S. jobs in America. Sometimes this requires hiring a limited number of highly educated foreign professionals to fill technical or specialized positions," Sandy Boyd, chair of the group, said in a statement on Wednesday. "Reaching the 2004 visa limit less than halfway through the fiscal year is clear evidence that the system needs to be fixed."

The H-1B visa program allows skilled foreign workers, such as programmers, into the United States for up to six years. U.S. employers do not have to attest that they sought U.S. workers to fill the job before applying for a visa, but they are supposed to pay the prevailing wage to the guest worker. The cap does not apply to institutions of higher education or related nonprofit groups, or to nonprofit research groups or governmental research organizations.

Many H-1B visas go to technology professionals. One-third of the approved visa applications in 2002 were for system analysts or programmers, though that figure was down from half of all approved visa petitions in 2001, according to CIS.

Congress raised the annual cap for H-1B visas to 195,000 for 2001, 2002 and 2003. In the wake of a recession and major technology industry layoffs, Congress let the cap drop to 65,000 for this year.

Critics say the program hurts U.S. workers by taking jobs away from them and undercutting wages. The use of H-1B and L-1 guest-worker visas by companies based in India and elsewhere has come under scrutiny for allegedly fueling the movement of technology jobs overseas.

Technology industry leaders, though, defend the H-1B program as a tool to keep U.S. employers competitive. Backers of the guest-worker visas warn that even more IT work would move offshore if they were eliminated.

The American Business for Legal Immigration group on Wednesday suggested that foreign graduates from U.S. advanced degree programs in math, engineering and computer science should be allowed to remain in the country. "U.S. employers should have access to masters and Ph.D. holders whose education was paid, at least in part, through U.S. tax dollars," Boyd said. "It is counterproductive for the U.S. to train foreign scientists and engineers and then send them home to compete against American businesses."

Another proposal that may affect the H-1B visa program is President George W. Bush's plan for a new temporary worker program. Comments from a Bush administration official indicated the proposal may cover high-tech jobs.

[XBob]

15 - boy isn't that the truth: "Maybe the rest of the country can experience the joys of the tourism-based economy like we have in central Florida. Where mom works waiting tables 7 days a week, and dad works days at Disney World and nights at Universal Studios."

Tell washington - Touch the H1B visa limit and die !

[XBob]

http://www.usavisanow.com/h1bnewsquota.html

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - USCIS Reaches H-1B Cap

Washington, D.C, February 17, 2004.-- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet this year's congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 new workers.

After today, USCIS will not accept any new H-1B petitions for first-time employment subject to the FY 2004 annual cap.

USCIS has implemented the following procedure for the remainder of FY 2004:


USCIS will process all petitions filed for first-time employment received by the end of business today.


Cap-subject H-1B petitions that are currently pending with the USCIS will continue to be processed.


USCIS will return all petitions for first-time employment subject to the annual cap received after the end of business today.


Returned petitions will be accompanied by the filing fee.


Petitioners may re-submit their petitions when H-1B visas become available for FY 2005.


The earliest date a petitioner may file a petition requesting FY 2005 H-1B employment with an employment start date of October 1, 2004, would be April 1, 2004.

Petitions for current H-1B workers do not count towards the congressionally mandated H-1B cap. Accordingly, USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:


Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States.


Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers.


Allow current H-1B workers to change employers.


Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.


USCIS also notes that petitions for new H-1B employment are not subject to the annual cap if the alien will be employed at an institution of higher education or a related or affiliated nonprofit entity, or at a nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization.


USCIS will continue to process H-1B petitions for workers from Singapore and Chile consistent with their free trade agreements which allot 1,400 H-1B visa numbers to Chile and 5,400 H-1B visa numbers to Singapore for FY 2004. This limit has not been reached.

If you (The Employer) can answer YES to any of the following 6 questions, then your petition IS NOT subject to the annual quota:


Are you an institution of higher education as defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965, section 101(a), 20 U.S.C. section 1001(a)?


Are you a nonprofit organization or entity related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education, as such institutions of higher education are defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965, section 101(a), 20 U.S.C. section 1001(a)?


A nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization, as defined in 8 CFR 214.2(h)(19)(iii)(C)?


Is the beneficiary of this petition a J-1 nonimmigrant alien who received a waiver of the 2-year foreign residency requirement described in section 214(1)(1)(B) of the Act?


Has the beneficiary of this petition been previously granted status as an H-1B nonimmigrant in the past 6 years and not left the U.S. for more than a year after attaining such status?


If the petition is to request a change of employer, did the beneficiary previously work as an H-1B for an institution of higher education, an entity related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education, or a nonprofit research organization or governmental research institution defined in questions 1, 2 and 3?

Students in F-1 Status who missed the Quota:


In the past, the USCIS has allowed those in F-1 status who have a pending H-1B Petition but missed the quota to stay in the US in legal status (you may volunteer, but not receive a paycheck) until October 1st.


We will have to wait and see if the USCIS issues the same instructions. Please check back to this page for updates.

[XBob]

http://www.aila.org/newsViewer.aspx?bc=273&docID=12310

AILA Press Release: H-1B Cap Reached Signals Change Needed
2/18/2004
American Immigration Lawyers Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEB
February 3, 2004

Contact: Judith Golub
(202) 216-2403
jgolub@aila.org
or Julia Hendrix
(202) 216-2404
jhendrix@aila.org



H-1B Cap Reached Signals Change Needed
AILA Calls on Congress for Immediate Change to Visa Program
The U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services yesterday announced that it will not accept any more new applications for the H-1B visa program, stating that the congressionally mandated FY 04 cap of 65,000 workers had been reached 5 months into the fiscal year.

Many U.S. companies, as well as medical and educational institutions, utilize H-1B visas to employ highly educated foreign professionals in the United States, making the H-1B program vital to America's economy. These highly educated foreign professionals allow U.S. employers to develop new products, create groundbreaking research, implement new projects, expand operations, create new jobs, and compete in the global marketplace.

The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire, on a temporary basis, highly educated foreign professionals for "specialty occupations." Examples include doctors, engineers, professors, accountants, researchers, medical personnel and computer professionals. Besides using these foreign professionals to obtain essential skills or rare and unique knowledge, U.S. employers use the program to acquire special expertise in overseas markets, trends or distribution (therefore allowing U.S. businesses to compete in global markets), or to alleviate temporary shortages of U.S. professionals where they occur in specific occupations.

The H-1B visa is a tool to keep the U.S. economy vibrant and keep jobs in America. As evidenced by reaching the cap so early in the fiscal year, H-1B professionals remain essential to fill specific positions in companies across the country. As the U.S. economy improves and demand increases, U.S. employers will need increased access to these professionals. If the H-1B program cannot give U.S. employers such access, the consequence could be detrimental to America's economy. Such rigidity would limit America's supply of these important professionals, thereby hampering our nation's economic vitality. The result will be American jobs lost and American projects losing out to foreign competition.

AILA calls on Congress to fix this untenable situation by supporting an H-1B program that reflects our nation's need for these professionals and allows U.S. employers access now and in the future to the talents of these highly educated foreign professionals.

# # #

Founded in 1946, AILA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides its Members with continuing legal education, information, and professional services. AILA advocates before Congress and the Administration and provides liaison with the DHS and other government agencies. AILA is an Affiliated Organization of the American Bar Association.

[XBob]

Here are the real culprits -

http://www.aila.org/

The American Immigraton Lawyers Assocaiation - who is supporting and profiting from all the influx of immigrants.

Shameless and brazen:

A couple of form letters here from their web site, to get congress to prevent immigration laws from being enforced:

http://capwiz.com/aila2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=3434991

I strongly urge you to oppose the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act (H.R. 2671). This bill would require state and local police to enforce federal civil immigration laws or lose certain critical funding.

State and local police have worked hard to gain the trust of immigrant residents and convince them that it is safe to contact local law enforcement. By turning all police into immigration agents, the CLEAR Act will discourage immigrants from coming forward to report crimes and suspicious activity, making our streets less safe as a result.

The CLEAR Act improperly shifts the burden of federal immigration law enforcement to local police and would cost billions of dollars to implement. In these times of scarce local resources, this dramatic restructuring of enforcement responsibilities makes no sense from a financial or public safety perspective.

This is why state and local police departments nationwide strongly opposed, and advocated against, a similar Justice Department policy last year. Local law enforcement agencies are in the best position to evaluate and prioritize their allocation of resources, and have publicly stated that these policies will tie their hands and prevent them from doing their duty.

I ask that you work to oppose and defeat H.R. 2671.

===

I strongly urge you to oppose the Homeland Security Enhancement Act (HSEA) (S. 1906). This bill would require state and local police to enforce federal civil immigration laws or lose certain critical funding. It also contains troubling provisions related to driver's licenses and other identification documents.

State and local police departments nationwide strongly opposed, and advocated against, a similar Justice Department policy last year. These law enforcement agencies are in the best position to evaluate and prioritize their allocation of resources, and have publicly stated that policies, such as those included in S. 1906, would tie their hands and prevent them from doing their duty. For instance, state and local police have worked hard to gain the trust of immigrant residents and convince them that it is safe to contact local law enforcement. By turning all police into immigration agents, the HSEA will discourage immigrants from coming forward to report crimes and suspicious activity, making our streets less safe as a result.

The HSEA improperly shifts the burden of federal immigration law enforcement to local police and would cost billions of dollars to implement. In these times of scarce local resources, this dramatic restructuring of enforcement responsibilities makes no sense from a financial or public safety perspective. The HSEA also contains provisions that would deny funding to States that issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, and would prohibit the federal government from recognizing identification cards issued by the consulates of foreign governments and driver's licenses issued to aliens by the States unless such licenses expire on the date that immigration status expires. These provisions would have the perverse effect of making us less, not more, safe. States are responsible for the safety of their roads and highways and the best way to ensure that is to require driving licensure of all residents, regardless of immigration status. Moreover, secure consular identification cards and/or driver's licenses can help U.S. law enforcement officials identify people who lack other appropriate documentation.

For these reasons, I urge you to strongly oppose S. 1906.
AILA, 918 F Street, NW, Washington DC 20004

[sixmil]

Wow, another self-fulfilling prophecy from the unilateral free trade / open borders corporate beggars and liars guild. So, let me get this right, in orde to be a part of this guild, I have to throw out common sense and adopt the pseudo intellect which says:

• Deficits are good
• People losing their jobs is good
• Having to change jobs every few years is good
• Jobs moving overseas is good
• A weak dollar is a good
• Importing workers is good
• Americans are stupid and lazy
• People from the developing world are geniuses and hard workers
• High wages are bad for the economy
• Cheaper is always better
• Subsidizing business is good
• Unemployed workers will have better jobs waiting for them
• There are many jobs that Americans just won't do
• Cheaper prices are more important than high paying jobs
• Increasing minimum wage is bad, setting an average wage is good, and setting a maximum wage is bad
• It makes no difference how free your trading partners are, you must unilaterally provide a free market to them
• You are better off employing yourself
• You can train yourself for the jobs of the future at your local community college
• Job training is the responsibility of employees, not employers

[Happy2BMe]

Ping on post #24 - The American Immigration Lawyer's Association.

This is where the illegals get their protection and political clout to continue to rape our nation.

Activism time.

[Happy2BMe]

Thank you for posting / exposing those employers.

That list of powerful (lobbying) companies is a perfect example why our illegal migrants come to this country - they are hired by these very same people.

Wanna make a bet that the (American) Immigration Lawyers Association actively supports and defends these companies from threats of increased scrutiny by our INS?

[Penner]

The American Business for Legal Immigration group on Wednesday suggested that foreign graduates from U.S. advanced degree programs in math, engineering and computer science should be allowed to remain in the country. "U.S. employers should have access to masters and Ph.D. holders whose education was paid, at least in part, through U.S. tax dollars," Boyd said. "It is counterproductive for the U.S. to train foreign scientists and engineers and then send them home to compete against American businesses   hire Americans."

[JustPiper]

Ping

[B4Ranch]

I found one that I cam agree with! One from nineteen!

"Job training is the responsibility of employees, not employers."

For top wages I do believe that the employee should take on a large part of self-training, or you will work as an assistant to someone who is better trained. It's not your employers job to send you to trade school or college. If retraining is necessary because the industry is changing and your employer wants to assist in your training fine, but the main responsibility is yours.

[DustyMoment]

Yeah, I'm in favor of"fixing" the system. I'm about to change my name to Vijay Pradesh so that I can get one of those high paying jobs that "Americans don't want".

[B4Ranch]

"Is this whole country turned upside down or what?"

Yes, it is. What was once national pride is now viewed strictly as profit or loss within international companies. The hyphonated titling has assisted in this. Until we all become Americans again, which I doubt will ever happen, we won't see a change.

The CPI just came out for January. It is +$0.5%. A little inflation is what we are needing but I would have been happier with a +$0.3% because this will take a big bite out of our Presidents solidarity as the year progresses. The last thing we as a country or he needs to control the economy is have the interest rate start to climbing.

This of course does have positive effects also, it will slow down the mad rush to spend every dollar in the Treasury.

[Wolfie]

I don't understand why they're taking ANY H1-Bs, when so many qualified Amercians are out of work. But then, I guess that makes me one of Neal Boortz's "unpatriotic" Americans.

[TXBSAFH]

They are right it does need reforming, we are letting in way to many h1b's. We need to cut it to about 20000 a year.

[looscnnn]

"Free traders want system to be "fixed"."

Fixed so they can bring more foriegners in. How about hiring Americans first? The reason the limit was met so soon is because they are using the visas first, instead of the last as intended.

[johnb838]

I'm getting tired of getting the finger.

The immigrant lobby gives me the finger, they'll do what they want.

The homosexual lobby gives us the finger, they'll marry if they want and the hell with the law or the will of the people.

The rats give us the finger, they'll say anything, do anything to get power, and the hell with the soldiers and the lives they are causing to be lost with their sedition.

The Episcopal Church is giving me the finger. They'll consecrate a gay bishop and normalize homosexuality, and the hell with what I or anybody else think about it.

I'm getting really tired of being given the finger.

[Jim Cane]

It seems pretty strange --- one minute they say they need countless people to move in who have no education at all --- to do those hard-work jobs that Americans won't do --- because Americans need high-skilled jobs. Now they need countless people to move in who have a lot of education --- because Americans are too stupid to do those jobs.

Yep. Americans are stupid and lazy. Productivity rates are through the roof... Longer average work weeks despite lower median incomes... Wage deflation accompanied by energy and housing inflation...Higher incidents of elipse abuse and sentence incompletion...

[TopDog2]

If you are over the age of 50, you could get trained up the wazoo, and you still wouldn't have a chance of getting hired.

[B4Ranch]

Very likey true. I'm 56 and retired thank goodness.

[B4Ranch]

Dear Mr. President, Sir, Are you listening to the voters?