GONE IN A DAY: YEAR'S SUPPLY OF 'SKILLED' VISAS

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.

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.

''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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Free Trade IS a conservative idea.
Wrong.
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It is by definition. Conservativism, as defined is complete economic freedom, with social limitations. Libertarianism is complete economic freeedom with no social limitiations. Liberalism is restricted economic freedom with no social limitiations. Popularism is restricted economic and restricted social behavior.

On Reagan:
http://www.cato.org/dailys/06-24-04.html

Here is another quote for you:

Let the general government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our general government may be reduced to a very simple organization, & a very unexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants.
-Thomas Jefferson

NAFTA has been so successful the "coyotes" who smuggle the poor of Mexico have raised their rates to what the market can now afford. ICE buddies advise the going rate was $500 ten years ago, now runs $2000.
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I'm not sure what that statistic proves. From china it runs $60,000 / a head.

On NAFTA and its success:

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=2&issue=20051118

Chavez attacked Fox precisely because Mexico is one of the world's leading emblems of free trade. It has signed 27 trade pacts, more than any other country except Chile, and not just with the U.S. and Canada. It's also doing business with heavies like Japan, the European Union, South Korea and rising stars like Chile. It's about to sign another with Central America.

Naysayers warned that Mexico would drag the bigger economies down. At the same time, they claimed free trade would impoverish Mexico as big corporations somehow took over.

Instead, Mexico's gross domestic product has doubled to $1 trillion.In terms of GDP per capita, Mexico's was $6,090 in 1995 while Venezuela's was $5,640. By 2002, Venezuela's under Chavez was $5,380 and Mexico's under Fox was $8,970.

Markets tell an even stronger story: In 1987, the capitalizations of the Mexican and Venezuelan stock markets were roughly the same at $10 billion, according to Venezuelan investment banker Miguel Octavio. Today, Mexico's market cap is close to $164 billion, while Venezuela's is less than $5 billion.

Can't they find any Americans who have these skills, who don't mind working for $6 an hour?

It is by definition.

Nope. The definition of conservative, is George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and the GOP-defined trade policies from 1860 forward until FDR.

As I have said before, Reagan was an ardent follower of FDR, and had only partially cleansed his mind of the pollution. If you note, Reagan NEVER eliminated MFN status with any enemy nations. He conducted an exquisite technology trade war against the Soviets. And surely would not have done so with a clear enemy such as we have in China.

BTW: Jefferson changed his mind about free trade, after the War of 1812. It will likely take another war with a great power before you ever face reality.

We who see it, have done our part, and warned you. I don't look forward to having to tell you I told you so...because it will mean absolute disaster has in fact resulted from blindly pursued policies of yours.

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