Reforms demanded as H-1B visa limit reached

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.

Next you get a chance go into a local community college. You won't see that many americans.

From what I was able to pick up from one manager, they look use the H-1B visa program as a social program to show high nice America can be.

Maybe it is time to go to the office in DC and freep it. Here is a list of corporations who support this organization:

Active Matter • Agilent Technologies • Amaram Technology Corporation • American Council on Education • American Council on International Personnel
American Electronics Association • Analog Devices, Inc. • Applied Materials, Inc. • AsiaStudios.com • AssetPlanner • Association of American Universities
Association of Independent Research Institutes • Authentica, Inc. • Authoria, Inc. • Avicon • Axiomatic Design Software, Inc. • Back Bay Interactive • Basis Technology Corporation
Baton Rouge International, Inc. • Best@IT Inc. • Biotechnology Industry Organization • BiT Group, Inc. • Blue Fang Games, LLC • Bluewater Information Convergence, Inc.
Bondi Software, Inc. • BP Amoco Corporation • Brandeis University • BrassRing Systems • Brooks Automation, Inc. • California Institute of Technology • Call Center Services, Inc.
Cambridge Publications, Inc. • CapNet • Cargill, Incorporated • Caterpillar Inc. • CD\Works • Clarity Consulting, Inc. • Clockwork Software Associates Corp. • cMeRun Corp.
College and University Professional Association for Human Resources • Columbia University • CommercialWare, Inc. • Compaq Computer Corporation
Compaque Business Solutions, Inc. • Computer & Communications Industry Association • Computing Technology Industry Association • Concert Technologies Corp.
Cornell University • Data Systems Analysts, Inc. • Dataware • Del Monte Fresh Produce Company • Des Lauriers Municipal Solutions, Inc. • The Digital Dialogue Forum
DSP Software Engineering, Inc. • DuPont • DYS Analytics, Inc. • eComServer, Inc. • EC Cubed, Inc. • EDGE Technical Services, LLC • e-Dialog, Inc. • Electronic Industries Alliance
Electronic Services, Inc. • Eli Lilly and Company • Eliassen Group, Inc. • Enron • ESRI • European-American Business Council • FabCentric, Inc. • Florida State University
Foliage Software Systems • Free Software Foundation • GeoTrust Incorporated • Great Lakes Technologies Group • Greensboro Day School • Group Benefits Shoppers, Inc.
HandsFree Networks • Harris Corporation • Harte-Hanks Data Technologies • Harvard Design & Mapping • Hewlett-Packard • HPC Technologies, Inc. • IBM Corporation
i2 Technologies • iGATE Capital • IIC-Indotronix International Corporation • Incentive Systems, Inc. • InCert Software Corp. • Indiana University
Information Technology Association of America • Information Technology Industry Council • Infovation, Inc. • Intel • International Technology Solutions, Inc. • InterRide Company
The Johns Hopkins University • Jordan Group, Inc. • Kanbay Incorporated • Keane, Inc. • KLA-Tencor Companies • LavaStorm, Inc. • LPA • Magic Hour Communications
Majesco Software Inc. • Massachusetts Software & Internet Council • MessageMachines, Inc. • Microsoft • Milestone Consulting Group • Modalis Research Technologies, Inc.
Moldflow Corporation • Motorola • NAFSA: Association of International Educators • National Association of Manufacturers • National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
National Energy Programs Opportunity Development, Inc. National Retail Federation • National Venture Capital Association • Netegrity, Inc. • Neteos, Inc. • NetScout Systems, Inc.
Network Solutions, A VeriSign Company • Nevo Technologies, Inc. • New Era of Networks, Inc. (NEON) • NorthPoint Software Ventures Inc. • Northwestern Software, Inc.
Northwestern University • The Ohio State University • Oklahoma State University • Optigrab • Oracle Corporation • OrderTrust, Inc. • Owens-Illinois, Inc. • PanAmSat
The Pennsylvania State University The PictureTel Corporation • Pinnacle Software Solutions, Inc. • PlanetSoft, Inc. • Power Industries, Inc. • PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
PrimeResponse, Inc. • Primesoft Consulting, Inc. • ProNetMusic, Inc. • Purdue University • Quadrant Software • R Systems, Inc. • Radnet, Inc. • Redington Solutions USA, Inc.
Regal Computer Systems, Inc. Rockwell • Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey • SAI Universal Business, Inc. • Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International
Semiconductor Industry Association • Silverline Technologies, Ltd. • SmarterKids.com, Inc. • Society for Human Resource Management • SoftLinx, Inc.
Software & Information Industry Association • SpeechWorks International Inc. • SriMurthy.Com, Inc. • Stanford University • STMicroelectronics, Inc. • Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group
StorageTek • Sun Microsystems, Inc. • Super Budget, Inc. • Syncrhonics, Inc. • Syracuse University • TCG Software Services, Inc. • Technology Workforce Coalition
Telecommunications Industry Association • Telcordia Technologies, Inc. • Texas Instruments • Torrent Systems • TRW Inc. • Tufts University • Tulane University • Tvisions Inc.
Unisphere Solutions, Inc. • The University of California • University of Cincinnati • University of Illinois • University of Miami • University of Michigan • University of Minnesota
University of Missouri-Columbia • University of Southern California • The University of Texas System • University of Washington • University of Wisconsin-Madison
University System of Maryland • U.S. Chamber of Commerce • Vanderbilt University • VI Engineering, Inc. • Virginia Tech • VisaNow.com, Inc. • Vitel Software, Inc. • Vogt-NEM, Inc.
Washington University in St. Louis • Western Michigan University • Whirlpool Corporation • WSSDesign • Xilinx • Xyvision Enterprise Solutions, Inc. • Z-Firm, LLC • Zoesis Studios

I know what you mean. Back in the 1970's they would go into the black communities and urge Blacks to go into Engineering and Science. Lots of success stories. There was a program where they would recruit people off the street and train them to be chemical technicians. SOme became chemists and some chemical engineers. Then the funding got cut in the mid 1970's. The program was lead by black Chemists from corporate america.

About 1981 alot of these programs to recurit minorities into Engineering and Science got halted bigtime.

The tech economy started picking back up bigtime in 1984/1985. Corporations lied about the lack of techincal people to get the visa's bill passed, then bingo they came over hear by the boatloads.

The bottom line is for some reason the powers that be want to help foreigners more than help people who are already here. They want everybody to work at slave labor wages.

I don't know if white collar workers will organize and protest. But back in the early 1900's things got pretty violent in the coal mines of West Virginia between miners and management. The net impact was that coal miners ended up getting better wages and benifts. But in the long run many of the mines got shutdown. Coal mining is down overseas and now the US imports lots of coal.

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