Posted on 06/03/2005 7:29:45 AM PDT by JesseJane
Two months later than planned, federal officials are finally ready to start taking applications for an additional 20,000 H-1B visas.
The extra visas were approved last fall by Congress
MAY 09, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Federal officials will finally open the doors to an additional 20,000 foreign workers under the H-1B visa program beginning Thursday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency announced last week.
The start of the application process for the new visas comes after a two-month delay and some controversy over the eligibility requirements for applicants. The USCIS, which sets immigration policies and rules on visa and naturalization petitions, said the visas will be granted only to foreigners who have at least a master's-level degree from a U.S. academic institution.
That reverses the immigration service's initial position on who would be eligible. The agency had said in March that it was considering opening the extra H-1B slots to any qualified foreign national -- not just those holding advanced degrees from U.S. universities.
But the agency's earlier stance was contrary to the intent of the eligibility language that Congress inserted last fall in the legislation that created the 20,000 additional visas, according to Sandra Boyd, who heads Compete America, a Washington-based lobbying group that represents more than 200 corporations and universities. The group backs the H-1B program as a means of ensuring that U.S. businesses can hire skilled professionals from other countries.
Interpreting Language
Boyd, who is also vice president of human resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, said the USCIS made the "right interpretation" of the H-1B Visa Reform Act in the regulations that will be published in the Federal Register this week.
She added that the agency's apparent indecision over how to handle the visa allocation process created uncertainties for employers as well as prospective visa holders.
"There was a lot of confusion about whether people would be offered jobs," Boyd said. "It made it impossible to plan, and it all seemed pretty unnecessary."
Christopher Bentley, a spokesman for the USCIS, said that as the agency continued its review of the new law, "we came to the realization that this was not the intent of Congress" to allow workers without an advanced degree to get the added visas.
Congress approved the additional visas after IT vendors and other H-1B supporters complained that the 65,000-visa cap in place for the government's current fiscal year was too low to meet demand. All of the visas available under the cap were taken by last Oct. 1, the first day of fiscal 2005. The USCIS said last week that the extra visas will also be available in future fiscal years and will be exempt from the regular cap.
There are plenty of Americans trained for these jobs.
They just don't want to work for $20,000 a year and I don't blame them.
Thank you Congress for selling out Americans.
Congress is maniupulating the visa's to bypass proper immigration.
US Senate nod for 50,000 foreign nurses
[snip] The bill also exempted H-2B seasonal guest workers, who have already worked in the US from the 65,000 annual cap. This will mainly help Mexican workers.
And this all becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy. Bill Gates complains that not enough American kids study computer science but why would they when the government has a policy of kicking them in the economic teeth every time Bill Gates wants to shave a few bucks off his payroll.
There is a serious shortage of nurses and doctors in the U.S. The technical schools here in the Tampa Bay area have a waiting list of 2-3 years to get into nursing school. Also, most Canadian nursing student, upon graduation, work in the U.S. since there are no nusrsing jobs in Canada due to socialized medicine. Canadians come in under the TN visa where there is no numerical limit and thee is still a shortage. Also, congress change the law in order to mandate H1B wages are at 100% of the prevailing wage instead of 95% to prevent downward pressure on wages. There is a need for foreign advanced degree holders in the U.S. because not enough U.S. kids are going into the hard sciences and engineering. When they go to college, they waste their time with liberal arts degrees that don't teach any professional skills. Also, nurses can get green cards very easily because of the shortage - it's the national interest waiver.
IT isn't the only area affected by H1B. There was such a demand and such high pay for IT workers that many people entered the field in the U.S. By basic supply and demand, wages dropped. The IT workers complaining about not finding work are ones that can't find work that pays as well as it did when IT people were hard to come by.
Overall, the H1B issue is minor compared to the real problem of illegal immigration driving down wages for unskilled workers.
What spectacular timing, announcing this on the day that the employment numbers came out with US companies hiring a pitiful 76,000 in May, the worst in many months. Talk about a tin ear for PR!
Amazing isn't it??
Job Growth down.........because..........foreign workers couldn't get their visas?? Hmmm.. what an INTERESTING thought. Why, I'd be a tinfoiler to even suggest such a thing.. /s :)
You know what I think is missing in this equation, is the businesses that are closing down operations in business unfriendly states and setting up shop elsewhere.
You are absolutely correct about the nursing shortage. My mother is an RN that works in a renal care unit and they are perpetually understaffed and overworked. The same situation exists at every hospital in the region (Mississippi Delta). No doctors want to come work here as it is an extremely poor region... the jackpot justice legal system doesn't help things either. If it wasn't for foreign nurses and doctors the healthcare system in this area would be in far worse shape than it already is.
You are correct in your analysis. The real problem is not the U.S. skimming the best and brightest off the rest of the world, but the millions in illegal immigration who tend to be untrained and uneducated. The analysis from many here seems to have missed that this law only applies to U.S. Master's Degree holders. You are also correct in noting that American kids seem to gravitate to the liberal arts degrees. If it weren't for foreign students, the hard science and engineering departments at most universities would probably have shut down. Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that too many on this site are unwilling to accept ANY immigration (donning flame suit as I write) even if desirable or beneficial.
H1B is the greatest FRAUD ever perpetrated on America... Congress should be beaten about their backs and heads for this one.
This is great news! (and I'm not being sarcastic)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1237232/posts?q=1&&page=190#190
Those of you who are against this please read the above before flaming me.
But what of the economic advantages of immigration? Does not free movement across borders promote the international division of labor? Brimelow responds by drawing a vital distinction. The circumstances that obtain in a complete free market differ altogether from those of a welfare state. Those who enter the United States education at taxpayers' expense; further, they often at once count in affirmative action quotas, thus securing for themselves preferred employment. Hardly the free market in action! [snip]
ping
I know a number of developers from India living in NJ. Their companies subsidize their living expenses including rent. Actually the outsourcing companies in India own the apartment/condos that these developers live in charging little or no rent. This is how these developers can take such a salary cut. It is ashame how the US govt killed the domestic IT industry, yet this same govt will subsidize farmers to the tune of 200 billion over the next 20 years.
I agree, this is not a bad thing. These are not migrants sneaking across. This a braindrain from other countries to the US. Take their best and brightest and strengthen American.
Looks to me we need another government program to 'draft' students to fill *National interest* critical jobs.. Much like a military draft.. plus they come out with an actual skill when they leave 'their service'. Just like H1-B visa holders are expected (I guess) to return to their own home after helping us out here.
Wow, you haven't a clue, do you? This does NOTHING to "strengthen" America. It and the economic betrayal of offshoring do nothing but fatally weaken this country by disuading hard working, intelligent Americans from pursuing the technical fields CRITICAL to maintaining this country as a 1st World nation. Guess what? A lot of the H1B Visa holders get their job skill here and eventally take that back home with them -- net gain India 1, U.S. -1, since the U.S. also lost an American who would have had a career in the position filled by an H1B. And don't even TALK to me about how the U.S. firms can only hire H1Bs if there is no qualified American. I have personally heard a manager brag that he wrote his job requirement such that NO AMERICAN could qualify so that they could get an Indian on the cheap.
"There is a need for foreign advanced degree holders in the U.S. because not enough U.S. kids are going into the hard sciences and engineering."
This is not true, but hey, don't let lies get in your way of making a quick buck doc.
Question: Once those jobs are filled by illegals matching quotas, what of the rights of the American citizen who also matches by virtue of profile?
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I don't think a job for an American is a 'right'. That's what you hear over in Europe. It's socialist talk. By trying to use government to create jobs for Americans you will, inadvertently, end up with higher unemployment then ever before.
Millions of immigrents have always come to this country and never 'stolen' a job from anyone. They work hard and create wealth and everyone benfits. Especially these high tech whizzes.
As far as what you excerpted, I tend to think the benefits of a high tech worker is much higher then what he/she pays in taxes for schools etc... In fact, even low paid workers probably pay more than enough taxes over their lifetimes to cover schooling.
Many of these issues stem from the US being a Welfare state - the problem isn't immigration, it's the welfare state. By stating that we can't have immigrants cuz they would 'steal' out benefits, one is implicitely condoning the welfare state (which steals from all of us).
I'm not taking about at a bachelor's level. I'm talking about at the Master and PhD levels. The vast majority of graduates from U.S. schools are foreigners. I take it you do not work in these fields, therefore you don't know what you are talking about.
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