H-1B debate cools down???

Date: Saturday, June 28, 2003 5:51 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

The H-1B debate hasn't cooled down but tell that to whoever came up
with that inane title.

Leave it to lobby groups like the AeA to figure out how to get around
the H-1B visa cap while at the same time saying that they would never
try to raise the cap when so many Americans are unemployed. They said
that they might lobby to give exemptions from the yearly cap to foreign
workers with advanced degrees from American universities. You gotta
give those guys at AeA credit for one thing, they are always thinking
of innovative ways to import more H-1Bs - and to remove more American
workers.

Sheela Murthy, managing attorney and president of the Law Office of
Sheela Murthy, doesn't want to hassle with petty things like yearly
caps. She said that the cap must be completely removed so that American
companies are free to hire as many foreign workers as they want.

Meanwhile, Intel contradicts itself by claiming that that they are no
longer relying on H-1B except for positions such as design and chemical
and material engineers with advanced degrees. In a very predictable
fashion they say that they want to hire Americans they just can't find
any that are educated enough.

IEEE-USA actually agrees with Intel! President-Elect John Steadman
wants to use the $1,000 visa fee in order to give scholarships and
retraining to displaced U.S. engineers. Steadman's cluelessness is
scary because the engineers he represents needs leadership from someone
who knows the issues.

Just in case Steadman reads this newsletter, and hopefully someone will
forward it to him:
The training he suggests has been done for years under a program called
"The Workforce Investment Act" training funds. The entire program is a
boondoggle that's geared more to enriching fly-by-night training
schools than in getting engineers back to work. H-1Bs aren't displacing
American engineers because they have superior education or skills and
the president of IEEE should know that. Employers will continue to hire
H-1Bs until American engineers are willing to indenture themselves to
their employers, and until they do, it doesn't matter what skills or
education they have.

If this is any indication of where IEEE is going with the H-1B issue
then engineers are going to have to fight for their jobs without
institutional support. Engineers might want to consider supporting
groups that are on their side such as the Programmer's Guild or the
American Engineering Association (not to be confused with the shills at
AeA).

Message to Steadman: Join my mailing list because you got lot's of
learning to do!

http://www.e-insite.net/eb-mag/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA304121

H-1B debate cools down for now

Beth Stackpole -- 6/15/2003
Electronic Business

In the late 1990s, major technology companies couldn't say enough about
the need for more H-1B visas. Today few have anything at all to say
about the topic or the impending September 30 deadline when the limit
on H-1Bs granted will shrink back down to pre-2000 levels.

"In 2000 companies of all sizes, from the big players all the way down
to two guys in a garage doing a start-up, were all screaming about
H-1B. I've never seen a topic go from top to bottom in this industry
except for maybe stock options," says Thom Stohler, vice president,
Workforce Policy, at the Washington, DC-based AeA.

Lobbying for H-1B visas, for bringing skilled workers into the United
States, was one of the highest-profile hiring tactics used during the
Internet boom as a way around the then-dire shortage of IT talent.
Under the H-1B visa program, companies can bring in highly skilled
foreign professionals as long as they pay them the same as U.S.
workers. After much lobbying by businesses, the U.S. government, under
President Clinton, raised the cap on H-1B visas from 115,000 to 195,000
in 2000, but that cap is poised to shrink back down to 65,000 when the
government begins fiscal 2004, on October 1.

Given the still lackluster economy, few technology companies are doing
any kind of hiring. So what was once a hot and often controversial
topic in technology business circles has all but dropped off the radar
screen. "The reality at big high-tech companies is that no one is
hiring, so the H-1B visa issue is not really relevant," says the AeA's
Stohler.

The high-tech industry group, which represents most of the largest
electronics and technology companies, has a long history of lobbying
for high caps on H-1B visas. This time around, however, the group is
unlikely to raise a fuss. The reason, Stohler acknowledges, is that the
AeA can't possibly justify a bid for keeping the higher cap. According
to Department of Labor estimates, 120,000 U.S. high-tech workers were
unemployed as of the fourth quarter of 2002. "The political reality is
that Congress probably won't accept the argument that we need to keep
the cap high because we might need more visas in the future," Stohler
explains. "We need to demonstrate that there's new hiring in the
technology industry, and we can't do that now."

With fewer jobs available, demand for visas has gone down. According to
figures released by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services
(CIS), the number of H-1B visa petitions filed in fiscal year 2002
(ended September 30) shrank to 215,190, and the bureau approved 197,537
of those petitions, including 79,100 individuals who would be subject
to the cap. The cap applies to new H-1B cases as opposed to cases for
individuals who already have H1-B status, and some educational
institutions and nonprofit research organizations are exempt from the
cap. In comparison, there were 342,035 petitions for H-1B status in
2001, 331,206 of which were approved.

Many large high-tech players, including Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA,
and San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc., which used to lean heavily on
H-1B visas to fill their technology slots, say they now are making
limited or no use of the program. Intel, for example, has reduced the
number of foreign workers it sponsors by more than 60% over the last
two years. But the chip maker does use H-1B visas today to hire design,
chemical and material engineers with advanced degrees, according to an
Intel spokeswoman in Hillsboro, OR. "We have an incredibly intense
process in the United States to try to find individuals here with those
skills, but for those specific areas, we often can't," she explains.
"Ultimately, it comes down to the ongoing lack of highly educated and
skilled candidates for the kinds of engineering jobs we need to fill."

That lingering gap concerns many, especially in anticipation of an
eventual rebound in technology that spurs an uptick in hiring. Although
groups such as the AeA won't commit to getting back on the stump to
promote higher H-1B caps, Stohler admits that the AeA is considering
other options. For example, it might lobby for changes that would make
foreign workers with advanced degrees from American universities in
those much-needed skills exempt from the H-1B filing process. Stohler
says AeA members are continuing to evaluate their hiring needs and
their options and will make some decisions as the September deadline
approaches.

Any kind of moderate change isn't enough for some people, such as
Sheela Murthy, an immigration attorney. Murthy argues that any kind of
cap makes little sense, because the industry tends to modulate itself
and use H-1B visas only when necessary. Putting a restrictive,
arbitrary 65,000 limit on foreign workers will be a problem in the
future when the industry rebounds, says Murthy, managing attorney and
president of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy, in Owings Mills, MD. Even
more dangerous, she says, is the threat of U.S. companies turning to
offshore outsourcing as an alternative, stripping the economy of more
high-tech jobs.

[picture]
Sheela Murthy, managing attorney and president of the Law Office of
Sheela Murthy

Opponents of H-1B don't quite see it that way. They believe that the
program itself is the biggest danger to U.S. workers and claim it's
often used as a means to bring in inexpensive foreign workers. In March
Palo Alto, CA-based Sun Microsystems Inc. was slapped with a lawsuit
alleging that it had laid off thousands of U.S. high-tech workers and
replaced them with lower-paid, younger engineers from India. Similar
lawsuits are pending against other high-tech companies.

The bottom line, according to IEEE-USA President-Elect John Steadman,
is that the time is ripe for that reduced 65,000 H-1B visa cap.
Steadman, in Washington, DC, would also like to see the visa
application fees (now $1,000 per application) channeled to scholarships
and the retraining of displaced U.S. engineers. Changes such as these,
says Steadman, are "ultimately what's important for improving the U.S.
economy and protecting U.S. workers."

THE INCREDIBLY SHRINKING H-1B VISA POOL filings and approvals by type
of petition, FYs 2000-2002 Year Total petitions filed Petitions
approved Initial employment filed Approved Continuing employment filed
Approved

2000 299,046 257,640 164,814 136,787 134,232 120,853
2001 342,035 331,206 201,543 201,079 140,492 130,127
2002 215,190 197,537 109,576 103,584 105,614 93,953
SOURCE: BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES

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