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
So what your saying then is that you can't find an engineering job in the town where you live for the money you think you ought to make. As the owner of a small business, I suggest that you move to a locale where the job prospects are better and/or accept a lower paying job until (a) a better paying job comes along or (b) you prove to your new employer that you're worth the money you think you should earn. In all honesty, just from what you have said in your posts, I wouldn't hire you either because you bitch too much, demand too much, and have too many excuses, and you are unwilling or unable to adapt and improvise, and go that extra mile. I see you as a high maintenance, high risk employee. I hope I'm wrong, but that's my impression from your posts.
So the "employers", who operate from the safety of the U.S., and depend on the protection of our laws to maintain their own personal safety and property, should simply be forced to move there. Let them live under the laws of the Chinese Communists. Maybe they can try to get afffirmative action for Caucasians in Shanghai.
Maybe they'll all end up employing mercenaries from Blackwater to keep themselves safe. Of course, that might turn out to be more expensive than just hiring Americans, but being hardheaded types, that probably won't be clear to them till after the fact.
Ah, the entitlement philosophy. This country OWES YOU a high-paying job because you had one once upon a time! And if you can't land one it's the companies' and government's fault!
Who says you "own" anything, Big Guy?
But we have a right to a job where we want to live, at the salary we want! It's in the Constimatooshun somewhere!
RDU
Between gov't regulation, taxes, and my ex-wife, I probably don't own very much of my business.
Oh, you mean you'd be better off with no government, and you'd just use a popgun or something to protect your claim to your "ownership"?
Maybe you have your own private nuclear arsenal.
BTW, what is your point and how does that releate to my initial post?
The "government" is just a group of people. You're saying you don't like the imperatives of a certain group of people.
But those people are there because of all the other people around you, who put them where they are. So in effect, you're saying you don't like the people around you, that you don't agree with their decisions.
Since you have a problem with the attitudes of all those nasty people around you (a somewhat sociopathic outlook), perhaps you could move. To a more hospitable country, say.
It's only a suggestion, because eventually, what with all the antipathy between you and the people around you, eventually they may decide that you don't "own" the business any more.
Of course, to maintain your present standard of living, you'll have to find someplace where everyone agrees with your concept of "ownership", and those are in short supply. In fact, even if they do, they might end up cancelling the concept again, because you'll probably end up not liking those people or their attitudes either. The Sociopathic thing again. Hard to get away from, being a character trait and all.
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That's an interesting take some people have.
I think his/her screen name -- Regulator -- speaks for itself.
Awwww, you're just jealous because my wife and I have arranged our affairs so we can survive quite comfortably on her $12 per hour income.
Yeah, maybe works for the IRS. Talk about anti-social.
Y'all are funny and ignorant at the same time! Quite a combo.
Just for grins, maybe you could get familiar with the reasons the country came into being, and what it was about.
And one of you claims the name "patriot"? Please.
Another genius chimes in!
Once again, genius: Who says it's "your" property?
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