Visa Numbers Could Lose Global Appeal

Date: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 9:45 AM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

This Tampa Bay article is one of the worst I have seen for quite
awhile. Natashia Gregoire, the author of this article, should win a
clueless award for this statement:

Ironically, the most virulent opponents of the
visa program are American engineering associations.

Well, Duh!!! Why is it ironic that American engineering associations
oppose the replacement of their members with cheap foreign labor? To
add injury to insult, organizations such as the IEEE, AEA, and the
Programmer's Guild were smeared as "virulent". Gregoire must hate
technical workers because it's unlikely she would portray journalist
organizations in such derogatory terms.

Gregoire wrote that the ITAA supports American workers and is
encouraging them to write to Congress to oppose these visas. I haven't
stopped laughing since I read that boner!

Shreedhar Veeramachanani, vice president of System Soft Technologies
said that the period from 1998 to 2000 was a ``crisis time.'' He got
that one right, because those years will go down in infamy as the time
when American workers were betrayed by their own government.
Veeramachanani admitted that half of his staff are H-1Bs and he keeps
positions open for several months while his employees wait for visas.
He is violating the law by employing these foreigners before they get
their visas. The LCA database (www.zazona.com/LCA-Data) reveals that he
lowballs salaries so that explains why he hires primarily H-1Bs. So
much for all the protections that are talked about in this article.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, we are treated to the blather of
Richard Maney, another self-serving immigration attorney. Maney says
that it's baseless to say that H-1Bs earn less. He then goes on to
parrot Harris Miller of the ITAA by claiming that a drop in visa
applications last year proves that visas are not being abused by U.S.
companies. Maney says that he hopes Congress increases the number of
H-1B visas because ``There are already so many protections in place, it
doesn't make any sense to have the quotas." Maney's most blatant
non-sequitur was to say that Americans will be unemployed unless
companies are allowed to import more H-1Bs.

This article is either a prime example of sloppy journalism, or it is a
deliberate attempt to promote the H-1B visa. Gregoire's apparent
ignorance of the issues, and lack of objective reporting is appalling.
Articles of this kind should never make it past the editors desk, but
apparently the standards at the Tampa Tribune are very low.

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGANC94X8FD.html

Visa Numbers Could Lose Global Appeal

By NATASHIA GREGOIRE ngregoire@tampatrib.com

Published: May 3, 2003

CLEARWATER - Three to five years ago, the immigration officials could
not keep up with the demand for temporary foreign worker (H-1B) visas.
The economy was booming. It was an employee's market and many foreign
workers reaped the benefits. Now, with the economic downturn and the
unemployment rate rising to 6 percent in April, the relevance of the
visa that continues to bring foreign workers to the U.S. is being
questioned.

Shreedhar Veeramachanani, vice president of Clearwater-based System
Soft Technologies, refers to the period from 1998 to 2000 as a ``crisis
time,'' when the demand for highly skilled foreign workers was higher
than the number of available visas.

``We were badly affected in the crisis of 2000,'' said Veeramachanani,
whose software development firm, like many other tech companies, had to
keep positions open for several months while newly hired employees
waited overseas for their visas to be approved.

Under pressure from technology firms that depended on visa workers for
their specialized skills, Congress raised the visa cap several times
from 65,000 in 1998 to 195,000 in 2001. The latest increase extends to
2003, but employers' desire for these visas dried up with the economy.
Only 79,100 visa were issued under the cap in 2002, remarkably fewer
than the 163,000 issued the previous year.

If Congress doesn't see the need to intervene, the cap will return to
the historical level of 65,000 next year.

While this is troubling to many international students who hope to be
hired by American companies, and more so to some companies that rely on
the visas to hire necessary workers, the push for an increase has been
mild compared to the intensifying anti- H-1B visa movement.

``We are America's best and brightest and we are being systematically
replaced by cheap foreign labor,'' reads a statement on the American
Workers Coalition Web site.

Ironically, the most virulent opponents of the visa program are
American engineering associations. The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers has been lobbying to put stricter controls on the
program, arguing that foreign workers are costing them much needed
jobs.

``Right now, the employment situation is very poor, about as bad as it
has been since the '91-'92 recession,'' said Ron Hira, a Columbia
University research scholar, who is chairman of the Research and
Development Policy Committee of IEEE-USA.

IEEE-USA has been encouraging its 250,000 members to write Congress and
voice their concerns about the visas. And they're getting support from
organizations such as the Information Technology Association of America
and the Organization for the Rights of American Workers.

A Crunch With Many Causes

Anti-visa Websites such as H1Bsucks.com and Hireamericancitizens.org
are popping up on the Internet.

``It's not only the dot-com bust, Telecom and semiconductors are doing
poorly,'' Hira said. ``Many engineers are unemployed [or] fearful of
being unemployed.

``We want the legislation that raised the cap to expire ... and there
should be no more action on it,'' he said.

Hira references Department of Labor statistics that there is currently
a 7 percent unemployment rate among electrical engineers, 6.5 percent
for computer hardware engineers.

``We hope that Congress takes the appropriate action and that would
send a message ... that people start to become aware of how the visas
are being used, and companies will look internally and make changes.''

And some in government are taking notice.

A study due out this year from Congress' General Accounting Office will
determine whether companies retain H-1B workers while they release U.S.
citizens when they cut jobs, and if that is true, why.

Critics argue that employers hire foreign workers for lower pay and
fewer benefits, so American workers are more disposable during tough
economic times.

But immigration attorney Richard Maney said that argument is baseless.
He said the visas are also ``economically sensitive,'' and points to
the drastic drop in visa applications last year, as evidence that the
visas are not being abused by U.S. companies.

``I'm hopeful that Congress will take some action to re-extend the
numbers,'' Maney said ``There are already so many protections in place,
it doesn't make any sense to have the quotas.

``The net result is, it can cost American jobs, since some employers
will not be able to go forward with their projects because [they] can't
get the technical support they need.''

Maney said his clients, who all recruit heavily in the U.S., are
worried about the impact the reduced cap could have on their
businesses.

He maintains that the argument that it is cheaper to hire foreign
workers is unsubstantiated, as the visa application includes a $1,000
fee that goes to train U.S. workers.

But Hira counters that the training programs generally target workers
with lower skills.

Companies Shrug, Students Worry

And Veeramachanani, who brought half his staff into the country on work
visas, said there's no need for Congress to increase the numbers this
year. ``We may need some [visas], but 65,000 is a justifiable number,''
Veeramachanani said. ``We haven't laid off anybody, but business was
very bad. The economy is bad.''

Another company, Largo-based Eckerd Corp., has about 200 employees on
active H-1Bs. Those are mainly pharmacists and information technology
associates, said Tami Alderman, Eckerd's manager of community
relations. But the reduction in the cap ``is not a concern to us,''
Alderman said. ``[The H-1B] is just another recruiting tool.''

But among international students at the University of South Florida,
the reaction is different. ``The cap is scary for students to have to
struggle with,'' said David Austell, director of International Students
and Scholar Services. ``Students who have been very marketable, like
our business and engineering students, are finding that the market is
not super hot.''

But decisions about the work visas are not made with international
students in mind, said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration services (BCIS), formerly the Immigration
and Naturalization Services (INS).

``It was designed to augment the work force available to the U.S. in
the time of need,'' Bentley said. ``It's not a program designed to
offer the graduate students a place to work.''

Some employers already are taking advantage of L-1 (inter-company
transfer) visas to get around the H-1B issue. The L-1 visa allows
multinational companies to bring workers from overseas locations to
work in U.S. offices. And there's no quota on L-1 visas.

``I think for the most part, employers do follow the law and do the
right thing,'' Maney said. ``There are a lot of things in the economy
that have hurt the engineering sector; immigration is just a popular
whipping boy.''

Reporter Natashia Gregoire can be reached at (727) 799-7413.

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