Posted on 10/06/2004 2:27:43 PM PDT by JesseHousman
The U.S. used up its supply of 65,000 temporary visas for skilled foreign workers in a single day. Advocates for raising the quota said that bolstered their case.
South Florida businesses that rely on talented foreign workers to fill technical positions are out of luck until next October -- unless they have an applicant already in the pipeline.
Federal officials closed the 2005 application window for highly coveted foreign professional visas just hours after it opened.
The unprecedented rush for temporary visas for those skilled foreign workers demonstrates U.S. companies' pent-up demand for candidates in such technical fields as engineering, mathematics and research. And, South Florida experts say, it increases the likelihood that companies will outsource jobs overseas.
''It means, unfortunately, that employers here will have less options in terms of hiring,'' Deborah Vazquez, chief executive of the Miami-Dade and Broward County recruiting firm Protech, told The Herald. ``We will have fewer candidates, [less] talent in a situation in which demand very much outstrips supply.''
The quota of 65,000 ''H-1B'' visas was filled Friday, the first day of the 2005 fiscal year, meaning that U.S. companies must wait until October 2005 to hire more foreign workers under the visas.
Until two years ago, the government issued 195,000 of the visas annually. The allotment was slashed because of increased restrictions on immigration following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Job losses in the computer and high-tech sectors have made legislators reluctant to reinstate the bigger quota, even though U.S. companies have argued that most of the jobs filled are outside those sectors.
''It was a real wake-up call when these numbers were issued,'' said Sandra Boyd, who chairs Compete America, a corporate coalition pushing for more H-1B visas. ``I don't think anyone believes it's acceptable that a whole year can now go by without any access to these people.''
The H-1B visas have been popular with U.S. companies, which maintain that they cannot find enough American workers with advanced scientific and engineering degrees to fill critical jobs. Last year, the 65,000-worker cap was hit in February 2004, about five months into the fiscal year.
Tammy Fox-Isicoff, a Miami immigration attorney who helps foreign professionals get H-1Bs, said lawmakers must raise the visa cap again or ''carve out exceptions'' for disaster areas like Florida after the hurricanes or for professions with employee shortages such as teachers or healthcare professionals.
''This situation is terrible that when the doors open to H-1Bs, it swings shut on the same day,'' Fox-Isicoff said in an interview with The Herald. ``It's not good for American business.''
Companies were allowed to submit applications against this year's quota in April.
Theodore Ruthizer, who heads the business immigration practice at Kramer Levin, a New York law firm, predicted that the scarcity of slots will worsen unless Congress expands the program.
''It just proves the numbers are inadequate,'' he told The Financial Times.
U.S. companies have been urging Congress to adopt an interim measure by exempting from the quota any foreign national holding an advanced degree from a U.S. school. That would add about 20,000 positions a year.
About two-thirds of students taking advanced mathematics and engineering degrees at U.S. schools are foreign born. U.S. companies say they will be at a disadvantage should those students go to work for overseas competitors.
And immigrant-rich South Florida has a large share of that talent.
''We have so many universities here with foreign students who come and graduate and look for jobs in the area,'' Andrew Koerner, a partner with the Leaf Koerner law firm in Miami, told The Herald. ``It's just sad to see these small-business owners suddenly stopped from being able to grow their businesses.''
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© 2004 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.miami.com
Standard Operating Procedure. I know lots of people who have experienced that treatment. One group worked their asses off to procure a 5 year contract. Six months after the award of the contract, the company brought in the foreign workers. Nice payback for all the hard work of marketing, contracting and setting up the project.
You mentioned jobs at GE - I was very interested in a couple of those, since I have years of experience with GE steam turbines.
They had a job offered on their gepower.com website for a BSEE with five years of experience working with their steam turbines. It required constant travel, but that's not a problem for me. Perfect!
Then I found out what the job paid - $20,000 per year. Un-frikkin-believable.
I agree with you: There are plenty of engineering jobs out there if one is willing to do engineering for McDonald's-level wages.
what part of the country is your business in? I know someone looking for work so that he can go back to school to get his master's degree?
Two words:
TRADE DEFICIT.
You "kneel before the altar of the free market" people are helping the multinationals destroy America's middle class.
Wow it must depend on what part of the country you live in.
Consider moving to SE Virginia...the top has blown off the job market here. Big-time commercial and major resident construction is in high gear...can't even keep up with the demand. This is a terrific area to work and live. The cost of living is not bad; we're in a great location, and well...you get the picture.
Not to mention that when a company hires an H1B, they have a virtual slave who they can make work any hours. The poor slobs have no say in anything or their visa will be revoked. They dont have the power to go to another company or their visa's will be revoked. They don't dare rais thier voices in protest or their visa's will be revoked.
And if their visa's won't actually be revoked, they have to work on the assumpton that they will be and the affect is pretty much the same.
No freedom of speech for them!
There was a gentleman on the MONICA CROWLEY show one day--who worked for and wrote a book about the STATE DEPARTMENT--specifically during the ALBRIGHT and CLINTON DAYS.
I read the first 3 chapters. Now I am an alcoholic.
I even THINK about the book and what I read....
never mind...I think I will go out and start build a bomb shelter Fox hole in my front yard right now.
SCAREY!!!
120 and PLUS RUSSIAN VISAS FOUND IN THE SADDAM Iraqi War Headquarters!!!!! So..as Putin's UN diplomate said, they could "EASE" travel restrictions between their two countries---and everywhere else too for that matter.
Tom
Not many oranges and tomatoes are being picked any longer. The picking is done by the DemocRATs who reap a rich harvest in immigrunt-rich South Florida illegal votes.
As TarRehZah sez: "Vote often and vote well."
You wouldn't, necessarily, but the visa is not permanent. You can time your headcount to coincide with the completion of your project or other cyclical business cycle.
The point is the H1B hire does not have to be permanent.
Bull$hit my friend the H1B program has been a scam from day 1!!
There has NEVER been a shortage of talented professionals in the US... its all a huge lie so that companies can hire a foreigner pay them 50-60% of the prevailing wage and effectively have a captive employee because they can hold their h1B sponsorship over their heads once they are employed.
The entire program is a joke and a scam frankly 65,000 is a far too high of a quota. If some consulting firm, run by indians for indians in the US has to go out of business because their little money printing scheme of H1B visas is gone, America will be better off for it.
Heh -- very good...
Question for the advocates of unlimited H1b /L1 visas. The average unemployment rate is 5.4%. The unemployment rate for technical / engineering people is at historically high levels in the 6.4 - 6.8% range, depending on discipline. Maybe Im just dumb but something seems out of whack here.
Another issue thats going under the radar is the age distribution of unemployed technical people. In my experience, people are using the visa programs to depress wages and cull senior level people from the workforce.
Folks in twenties and thirties can often pull in their reins and absorb a salary cut of 50%, many older folks with mortgages, health expenses and kids in school cannot.
I know to many people who have tech degrees and experience who are unemployed or underemployed. We need further cuts in H1B's not more of them.
I was a tech and engineering recruiter - until 2002. For a large aerospace company which will remain un named.
I tried HARD to find US people - H1B's were a serious pain in the neck. I called thousands (no exaggeration) of people to fill hundreds of high level positions and time and time again I would hear "$45 per hr for someone with my credentials? I wouldn't flip a burger for that. You tell that company where they can stick their job. Call me back when they wanna talk reality" Company x had to stay competitive in the market, so they hired a huge number of foriegners - but they WERE NOT MY FIRST CHOICE.
I am not talking play numbers here, I worked at a real job and we hired real guys for real positions. I wish it were different, but people in the US wanna pay nothing for products and services, but they want to be paid top dollars for creating and delivering. How is this math supposed to work?
My mistake - I did not mean to say that we just hired guys - we hired gals too - although to be honest - very few in those fields.
H1b Program has been a scam since day one, period.
The rules for an H1B state one must try to fill a position for 6 months with US talent before going for an H1B (NEVER FOLLOWED) gotten around by hiring H1B contractors from Indian firms who lie about the fact they can't find local talent and bring in Indians or others... large firms also flat out lie and break the rules etc etc etc..
ITS A SCAM, nothing more.
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