From Norm Matloff's newsletter
To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter
Any time you see a bunch of newspaper and magazine editorials
that call on Congress to raise the H-1B, you can count on more open
industry lobbying efforts to follow. The reason, of course, is that the
industry lobbyists are the ones who put the editors up to writing those
editorials in the first place.
Well, it has begun, as the enclosed Computerworld article reports.
Those in Congress who do the industry's bidding usually seek some
sort of cover to hide it, such as burying the H-1B increase in an
omnibus appropriations bill. This year they'll have the perfect cover,
the pending bill on illegal immigration. The illegal immigration issue
is such a draw in the press--advocates for the illegals have already
succeeded in getting the term "immigration" to be taken to mean the
illegal kind--that no one will notice the H-1B increase. And worse than
that, even the part of the bill which is ostensibly about illegals may
end up including worker types who are now covered by H-1B. (See
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archiv...hangePoint.txt for my
previous comments.)
The industry lobbyists will have a bit tougher time in making their
pitch this year. In the past one of their major selling points has been
a claim that not enough Americans pursue Master's and PhDs. It's a
phony claim for a number of reasons (I went into detail in my posting,
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.h...Exemption.txt),
but it's always worked, so much that last December Congress established
a special H-1B 20,000-visa category for foreign nationals who had
MS/PhDs from U.S. universities.
Given the industry lobbyists' rhetoric, one would think that those
20,000 visas would be snapped up right away. For example, one of the
lobbyists had told the LA Times,
Nearly half of the people hired on H-1B visas have graduate degrees,
while only 5% of the U.S. population has the same level of education,
said Thom Stohler, vice president for workforce policy for the
American Electronics Assn.
Those statistics are very misleading. For example, a lot of the H-1Bs
with graduate degrees are post docs at universities, which are exempt
from the cap anyway.
But guess what? After all the hullaballoo on this new 20,000-visa
category, it hasn't been used up after all. Only about half have been
used so far. This is not what the industry lobbyists were telling us.
As Ron Hira points out in the Computerworld article:
Moreover, if U.S. companies were indeed in need of highly
skilled foreign workers, the 20,000 visas available for graduate
students at U.S. universities should have been used up quickly, said
Hira. If they were hiring the best and brightest, that would be the
first category to go.
That should really undercut the claims the industry has been making,
such as Stohler's above. But in a press release, also enclosed below,
an industry lobbying group says there is "every indication" that the
20,000-visa category will be used up by the end of fall. I wouldn't put
it past the industry to deliberately direct their hiring towards those
ends.
I've also enclosed an editorial from Immigration Daily, an e-newsletter
for immigration lawyers. It's interesting how open they are in
bemoaning the fact that the filling of the H-1B cap will kill their
business. Indeed, the same publication has stated, undoubtedly
correctly, that H-1B and employer-based green cards form the core of
most immigration attorneys' business.
It will be interesting to see how aggressively the organizations
critical of H-1B will fight all this. Since illegal immigration has
become the central issue for immigration-reform organizations, I doubt
that they will spend much time on the H-1B provisions. IEEE-USA has
always been a question mark. Groups like the Programmers Guild may also
find it difficult to be heard in the roar on illegal immigration.
I must say that this statement still rankles:
Opponents argue that the H-1B visas are used to facilitate
offshoring of IT jobs, as well hold down tech wages.
Both parts of the statement are true. Yes, the H-1B program is used to
facilitate offshoring, and yes, by swelling the labor force, H-1Bs hold
down tech wages. But that second part--whose phrasing was deliberately
crafted by IEEE-USA--misses the point. Instead of saying, "hold down
wages" they should say "reduce job opportunities for Americans."
Indeed, all the feedback I am getting from programmers and engineers is
that the only reason there has been even a slight improvement in the job
market in the last year or two is the reversion of the H-1B cap from
195,000 to 65,000. If the cap goes up again, the job market for
Americans will go down again.
Norm
http://www.computerworld.com/careert...0,10801,103883
,00.html
Update: H-1B visa cap reached; IT groups may press for more
They arent sure how many more visas theyd like to see
News Story by Patrick Thibodeau
AUGUST 12, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - WASHINGTON -- High-tech trade groups
will likely push Congress to increase the H-1B visa cap following
todays announcement by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service
(USCIS) that it has already reached the 65,000 H-1B cap for the 2006
fiscal year - the earliest point ever at which the cap has been used
up (download PDF).
Reaching the H-1B cap means that employers who need H-1B visas for
workers may have to wait more than year before they can receive any
additional visas under the program.
Its becoming increasingly difficult for the best talent in the world
to come to the U.S., said John Palafoutas, vice president of the tech
industry group AEA in Washington, who said IT industry groups have
been meeting with congressional leaders to figure out whats the best
way to proceed on the issue.
Palafoutas said its possible that a market-based solution could be
crafted that would include automatic triggers to increase the cap if
there is a strong demand for H-1B visas.
H-1B visas are used to bring skilled workers into the U.S. in a
variety of occupations, and are heavily used by high-tech companies.
The industry groups arent saying how much of an increase in the visa
limit they may seek this year, but Bob Cohen, spokesman for the
Information Technology Association of America in Arlington, Va., said,
It should be significant.
I think its a real problem, and the longer we put off addressing it
the less competitive we will be, Cohen said of the cap.
This is the earliest the H-1B visa program has hit the cap prior to
the start of the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, according to
Christopher S. Bentley, a spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Service.
The U.S. set a cut-off date of Aug. 10, and federal officials will use
a computer to randomly select the applications that arrived on that
day until the cap allotment is met, said Bentley.
Employers are not completely out of options. Congress increased the
cap by 20,000 late last year but limited those visas to foreign
graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees. As of early this
month, 10,379 visas had been applied for under this program, said
Bentley.
Vic Goel, an immigration attorney in Greenbelt, Md., said the caps
quick exhaustion is a sign that the economy is doing well, and
obviously, should be taken as a sign that we dont have enough visas.
Goel said it means that employers will be shut out from getting
additional visas for the next 14 months, until the start of the 2007
federal fiscal year.
One critic of the H-1B program, Ron Hira, an assistant professor of
public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and
vice president for career activities at the IEEE-USA, questioned
claims that reaching the cap so soon is an indication of need.
Hira said the 2006 visa limit was hit before companies have even hired
new workers -- and they cant use the visas until the start of the new
fiscal year. It seems to indicate that companies are planning ahead
for positions that dont exist right now, which highlights the fact,
contrary to conventional wisdom, that they are searching for Americans
first, Hira said.
Moreover, if U.S. companies were indeed in need of highly skilled
foreign workers, the 20,000 visas available for graduate students at
U.S. universities should have been used up quickly, said Hira. If they
were hiring the best and brightest, that would be the first category
to go.
Until two years ago, the cap had been set at 195,000. Opponents argue
that the H-1B visas are used to facilitate offshoring of IT jobs, as
well hold down tech wages. Businesses say that because so many U.S.
graduates are foreigners, the visas are needed to hire workers with
the right skills.
The 65,000 cap is actually 58,200 because 6,800 of the total number of
visas have been set aside for workers of Singapore and Chile under
trade agreements.
-----------------IMMIGRATION DAILY FROM ILW.COM------------------
August 15, 2005
http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/immigdail...2005,0815.shtm
1. COMMENT
H-1B Crisis, Who's To Blame
Today's USCIS announcement that the H-1B FY 2006 cap has been
reached comes fast on the heels of the DOS's bleak EB visa
forecast (see comment 8/12/05 ID). With employment-based options
disappearing quicker than you can blink an eye, immigration law
firms are essentially closed for any new business. Unfortunately,
employers across the country are the hardest hit with no
available legal options for hiring help. How did it come to this?
Clearly, pro-immigration advocates have been unable to shape an
effective post 9/11 pro-immigration message which resonates with
America. This has allowed the anti-immigrationists to control the
content and style of the immigration debate, translating into
significant influence by the anti-immigrationists on the
immigration agenda before Congress. Pro-immigration advocates
realize that another H-1B battle cannot be won and have bet the
farm on a comprehensive immigration package. They hope that this
all-in-one immigration bill will solve all our immigration ills
(including the H-1B cap) in one fell swoop. While we agree with
the pro-immigrationists that comprehensive immigration reform is
very likely over the next six months, immigration law firms will
have to hang in there for a very rough time until Congress acts
on this burning issue.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2005
Contact: Eric Thomas
202/822-9491
2006 H-1B Visa Cap Is Reached Before Start of Fiscal Year
Compete America Cites Need for Further Immigration Reform
Washington, D.C. The announcement today by the U.S. Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) that the FY'06 allotment of
H-1B visas has already been met was cited by Compete America as evidence
that further immigration reform is urgently needed.
"Congress averted a situation that would have slowed our nation's
economic recovery last year when it created an exemption for up to
20,000 foreign students with master's degrees or higher granted by U.S.
universities from the annual H-1B cap. That was crisis control and we
are deeply appreciative, but today's announcement by CIS illustrates
that a more fundamental problem exists," said Lynn Shotwell, Executive
Director of the American Council on International Personnel. "We're
nearly two months away from the start of the fiscal year and we've hit
the general H-1B cap. Every indication is we will use up all the 20,000
exemptions by the end of the fall."
H-1B visas allow employers to have access to highly educated foreign
professionals who have unique experience in specialized areas and who
have at least a bachelor's degree or the equivalent. Many of these
foreign nationals are employed in scientific research, medicine,
technology and education. Under current law the program is capped at
65,000, down from 195,000 in FY 2003. In November 2004, Congress
created an exemption for 20,000 foreign nationals earning advanced
degrees from U.S. universities.
The 2005 cap was reached on October 1, 2004 - the first day of the
Federal government's new fiscal year. Today's announcement that the
H-1B cap for 2006 had been reached indicates acceleration in the demand
for highly educated foreign professionals who play an important role in
keeping the U.S. economy growing and U.S. jobs in America.
"Highly educated foreign nationals have a long history of contributing
to America's economic success. American immigration policy must reflect
this fact," said Sandy Boyd, National Association of Manufacturers Human
Resources Policy Vice President and Compete America Chair. She
stressed, however, that a more fundamental solution is needed. "We need
to do more as a nation to encourage American students to pursue degrees
in math, science, engineering and technology disciplines. America has a
long tradition of growing its own talent while welcoming it from across
the globe. Government policy needs to reflect that tradition," she
concluded.
Compete America (
www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of more than 200
corporations, universities, research institutions and trade associations
concerned about legal, employment-based immigration and committed to
ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce
necessary to ensure continued innovation, job creation and leadership in
a worldwide economy.
