U.S. to Sharply Cut Number of High-Tech Work Visas

Reuters ^ | September 22, 2003 | Alan Elsner

[AntiGuv]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is about to cut the number of employment visas it offers to highly qualified foreign workers from 195,000 to 65,000, immigration experts said on Monday.

Unless Congress acts by the end of this month -- and there is little sign it will do so -- the change will automatically take effect on Oct. 1. Employers, especially technology companies, argue the move will hurt them and the economy.

The change will affect the number of H1-B visas that can be issued each fiscal year. The visas are mostly used to bring high-tech experts from Asia, especially from the Indian sub-continent, to work in the United States for up to three years.

"The fact that Congress doesn't seem anxious to act reflects the political climate, with a lack of jobs for Americans," said New York immigration lawyer Cyrus Mehta.

"The pressure to change the limit will build up again when the economy picks up."

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the issue last week. Republican chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah noted that many U.S. high-tech workers are unemployed and the committee needed to find ways of helping them without hurting the country's ability to compete globally.

Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy said: "Given the weakness of our current economy, and the rising unemployment we have experienced under President Bush's stewardship, many who supported the increase in 2000 now believe that 65,000 visas are sufficient."

But Patrick Duffy, Human Resources Attorney for Intel Corporation, said finding the best-educated engineering talent from around the world was critical to his company's future.

"We expect that we will continue to sponsor H-1B employees in the future for the simple reason that we cannot find enough U.S. workers with the advanced education, skills, and expertise we need," he said.

Elizabeth Dickson, director of immigration services for the Ingersoll-Rand Company, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said: "In the near-term, we simply must have access to foreign nationals. Many of them have been educated in the United States. By sending them home, we are at best sending them to our own foreign plant sites, and at worst to our competitors."

Immigration attorneys expect the new rules to set off a scramble by companies to fill their slots early before the ceiling is reached. How quickly that happens depends on the state of the economy, they said.

[holyscroller]

Publius you should weigh in on this.

[null and void]

As long as we're pinging...

[oceanview]

by the time that happens, India will have most of the IT industry and China will have all of chipmaking to go along with manufacturing. and in the end that's the only thing that counts, not paper money, but actual industries.

[Southack]

"pretending that the government can solve the problem with hyper inflation is a risky political venture"

Who said anything about hyper-inflation?

85% of the U.S. GDP is domestic. 9% of our economy is imported, and the remaining 6% is what we currently export.

That means that we have an internalized economy. Devaluing our currency versus foreign currencies will have considerably less than 9% impact on our economy, especially since of that 9% for imports, almost half is traded in U.S. Dollars themselves (due to oil being traded exclusively in U.S. Dollars).

In other words, devalue the U.S. Dollar by 50% against the Yuan and Rupee and you'll see something considerably less than 9% domestic inflation.

Now, this phenomenon works inversely to imports. That 50% foreign devaluation would have an enormous impact on the economies of exporting countries, but only a minor impact on the U.S. economy or inflation scene.

[Southack]

"I have met some kick ass people from that part of the world... but by and large most of them shouldn't be answering tech support phone calls, let alone architecting and devloping software."

The software for GSM networks is a prime example. Pick any GSM cellular technology user such as AT&T Wireless and try to keep a call connected while you drive North from LA to Santa Barbara; the call will never last more than a few minutes before it is "dropped" during a handoff from one cell site to another.

Switch to a vendor that uses non-GSM American software for their technology and you'll keep your cell phone call for as long as you are in that network's entire area.

[agneyen]

I'm on H1B. The INS rule states that a person holding H1B can stay here for max 6 year. And if one wishes to become citizen or permanent resident, he has to go through a process of Green card which at least takes 4-5 years. The rule also states to remain employed with the same firm till process gets completed. In most of the cases H1 holder has to return to his country even if his green card process is in near complete stage.

And Minimum wage stated on H1 visa is $49K

[Peach]

This is very good news.

[johnb838]

You know. there is such a thing as never acknowledging good news because if a problem is "solved" it no longer gets attention. The liberals are past masters at this. The example of MADD comes to mind. And those that would limit emissions further from automobiles whilst grandfathered refineries belch black smoke.

I think we should say "Finally, some good news", take a deep breath, pause for 30 seconds, say "There, that was refreshing", and get back to the battle.

[Southack]

"by the time that happens, India will have most of the IT industry and China will have all of chipmaking to go along with manufacturing. and in the end that's the only thing that counts, not paper money, but actual industries."

Then you didn't comprehend my post.

Placing industries in foreign countries, much like outsourcing software projects into foreign countries, ONLY WORKS SO LONG AS THE U.S. DOLLAR REMAINS OVER-VALUED.

If the U.S. Dollar loses its foreign exchange value, then all of those offshore ventures and industries will become unprofitable overnight and will die soon thereafter.

[johnb838]

Someone explain to me why losing the freedom to hire a highly skilled immigrant who wants to come here legally and work for me on mutually acceptable terms is somehow in my rational self-interest.

Because H1B is a pack of lies.

[johnb838]

we need to protect American citizens and the economy during troubled times

Until "Fair Trade" is a reality, we MUST protect. Not "working toward" fair trade, or "we expect" fair trade, but "not until" we have fair trade should we allow free access to foreign nationals.

I think foreign exchange has become a way for the government to provide foreign aid (they love to buy friends, too bad it never works) without having to raise or justify taxes to pay for it. They know the people don't like these foreign bribes very much.

[AIC]

This is not about just one person or a few people coming into the country to work. It's about (in this post 195,000)
people to be reduced to 65,000. It's not about (me) all of the time. It's about you and your business having responsibility to the citizens of the U.S. that helped you in more ways that you even know or want to confess to. It's about giving back to the community. It's about those that are in your community to be able to work and pay taxes so that you and them can have a safe and protected community to live in by having schools, hospitals, police, and firemen. If the U.S. citizen can not find work and has to have some type of Gov. assistance, how can any of this stay in place. The short sighted American Business people are always asking the same question that you are. But the successful business people ask themselves this. If the american people don't have the money to buy my goods because they are out of work, who is going to buy my goods. Let's see, if I give Americans work, they will have money to buy, a ready market, no need to make a market-money saved. Less taxes that I have to pay because there are more people to pay taxes- money saved. A feeling of being safer- money saved on insurance (crime rate down). An overall good feeling that (I) help do this. Not the other way around. Higher taxes, neighborhood going bad, loss of business, may have to move or go out of business because of WHAT! BAD ECONOMY! It's NOT MY FAULT! IT'S THE GOVERNMENTS! Yes I think that everyone who has a business should give Americans work if they can. No longer can Americans think and say what's in it for (ME). It has to be What's in it for (US). I'm retired now, however, I was taught when I was a teenager that if you make it here try to spend it here. That's what makes towns, cities, communities and countries strong. That Mr./Ms. IS in your best interest.

[null and void]

Who said anything about hyper-inflation?

That would be me. Post #56.

Typical. I say it, you get slammed for it...

[null and void]

The rule also states to remain employed with the same firm till process gets completed.

Effectivily making him/her an indentured servant...

[Southack]

"Check today's CNN/Money. Currency devaluation hurts more than just imports. DJIA off 110 points over currency worries from a weak dollar."

Oh, absolutely. Big American companies who have invested in offshore ventures or who have outsourced work offshore are going to get CREAMED by a devaluated U.S. Dollar.

Too bad.

But overall, the U.S. economy will prosper greatly from that same devaluation on the foreign exchanges because a lower Dollar makes U.S. exports cheaper and makes imports of goods and services into this country more expensive.

[.cnI redruM]

SPoken like a man who owns no 401k.

[Southack]

c#116

[johnb838]

I will say this -- Y2K caused a big bubble in the IT employment sector and it may have indeed been necessary to import help to handle that issue. I realized at the time I was going to probably take a cut in pay when it was all over, and indeed I'm at about 65$ of what I was on 1/1/2000. Since that urgent need is over, and in the absence of another big push, it is unsurprising that large numbers of entry-level and foreign workers are getting axed. Sorry.

[StolarStorm]

My concern would be what happens to our economy WHILE we wait for the correction to occur. Perhaps by the time the dollar reaches its real value it will be too late to prevent wholesale destruction of core industries and skills and we will be dependent for a time on offshore entities no matter the cost.