Posted on 12/19/2005 1:39:43 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate-passed measure to add more visas for foreign workers in high-tech and specialty fields was dropped from a budget bill that passed the House early Monday, disappointing high-tech and manufacturing firms in search of skilled workers.
The Senate plan would have allowed 30,000 more of the popular H1-B visas each year, and increased fees for those visas to help trim the budget deficit. Congress capped the six-year H-1B visas at 65,000 per year in 2004, and that cap has already been reached for the 2006 fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
The Senate language also would have allowed 90,000 more employment-based green cards that offer permanent residency to skilled workers, and added fees for those.
Critics contend the visas give foreigners high-level jobs that should go to American workers, and the plan was opposed by some House Republicans as a backdoor way to boost immigration. House and Senate negotiators left it out of the final version of a $39.7 billion federal budget bill that passed the House 212-206 and was expected to get a Senate vote later in the day.
"This is very, very disappointing," said Sandy Boyd, a vice president at the National Association of Manufacturers. "What's distressing about this, and what the Senate clearly understood, is there is a real global competition for this work and for these employees, and the question is not whether the work is going to get done, it's where is the work going to get done. We've missed a real opportunity by not ensuring the work would be done here."
House and Senate negotiators also dropped a plan to increase fees on another kind of visa, the L-1, which companies use to transfer workers they already employ in foreign countries to the United States.
The boost to visa availability and fees was meant to achieve budget savings in programs under jurisdiction of the congressional judiciary committees. Instead of using visas, the final version of the bill saves money in judiciary programs by increasing fees for filing lawsuits and filing for bankruptcy.
ping
Good. I know to many goo people looking for work that want these jobs.
Well, there are plenty of openings. Many employers are looking hard to find people with the skills they need, and right now they're not finding them.
That's the truth. We hired an American guy about two months ago to do this high-level job we've been trying to fill for a year. He lasted about a month; couldn't even do basic stuff. We just hired a Chinese fellow who really knows what he's doing.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
We need Dubya to use the bully pulpit to start encouraging our younsers to return to pursueing science and engineering degrees instead UWBW degrees. We are the best in the world because we have excelled in science and engineering in the past.
We finally found one guy who has the skills we need. He's an Indian, but has a green card. He knows Oracle database, PLSQL, J2EE, Java Struts, and Web Services....and knows them very well.
But that's just one opening, and he's not cheap.
>>The boost to visa availability and fees was meant to achieve budget savings in programs under jurisdiction of the congressional judiciary committees.<<
Yes, that means hire foreign workers at lower wages than America techs are worth.
See post #8. We're ready to pay well, and don't see anyone available.
You can't say that the $70-110K range is not a good salary, although you might say that the guys we're looking for might be able to get more somewhere else.
I am sure there aren't. However, this wasn't an IT position.
ping
That's what they did in the 90s, telling everyone computer knowledge was the wave of the future and encouraged people to get into it. Problem is while they were doing that H1-b visas went through the roof thereby undercutting those very same potential engineers.
It's no wonder fewer and fewer would take it up with those type prospects. A scenario btw companies prefer so then they can turn around and claim we need more foreigners (who work cheaper) because less and less Americans are learning the skills.
"Many employers are looking hard to find people with the skills they need, and right now they're not finding them."
Yeah my company is always looking for highly-skilled, technical people. That's why they routinely fire workers over 50 and hire Indians and Chinese.
bingo!
They will have to hire some Americans, possibly at higher wages. O horror!
"the skills they need"? What type of special skills they need that American engineers are not capable to pick in reasonable time? And why is that that Indian or Chinese have long/sufficient experience in using these skills, are Indian and Chinese industries more advanced than American one?
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