Rules tightened for work visas
Rules tightened for work visas
Date: Sunday, February 06, 2005 3:05 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
by Rob Sanchez
February 06, 2005 No. 1190
Except for a few words from Dan Stein and Jack Martin, both from FAIR,
this article is heavily biased towards raising the H-1B and H-2B limit
and making it easier for foreign workers to obtain visas. The old
argument that was so effective in 1999 is being used again that the
United States will lose its "competitive edge" if companies are
restricted from using foreign workers.
All of these articles have a few things in common - they declare that
there are vast shortages of both skilled and unskilled workers in the
U.S. and that there are jobs that Americans either won't do, or aren't
qualified to do.
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http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyOSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjY0NTQ2MCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI=
Rules tightened for work visas
Sunday, February 6, 2005
By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER
In response to growing complaints that the United States was neglecting
unemployed Americans by making it too easy for U.S. employers to hire
foreigners, Congress last year tightened some programs that allow
companies to bring in workers temporarily from overseas.
Congress reduced by roughly half the cap on visas, known as H-1B,
available for college-educated skilled workers, and kept the allotment
for H-2B visas - which cover unskilled non-agricultural workers such as
hotel employees and landscapers - at the same number it has been since
1990.
Proponents of strict immigration laws lauded the move, but they want to
see even more restrictions and better oversight of the worker visa
programs.
But as the economy grows, and companies scramble to fill jobs they say
few Americans qualify to do, the business world and immigration lobby
groups are sounding alarms about the tightened visa process. Their
concern gained momentum after the cap for the H-1B visa was reached on
the first day employers were allowed to file petitions, and the cap for
the H-2B visa was met within just three months.
Critics of the restrictions say that unless the government eases work
visa programs, the United States is in peril of losing its global
competitive edge. Some employers say the new restrictions have made it
harder for them to hire qualified workers, thereby forcing them to cut
back on services or drop programs.
"These programs enable employers to get people with cutting-edge
skills," said Joanna Hedval, who specializes in business immigration
matters for the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington,
D.C. "This is not only an immigration issue, but a competitiveness
issue."
Hedval notes that the programs do not just provide work opportunities
to people living overseas, but also to foreign students at U.S.
universities who have expertise or training in an area that is hard to
fill with qualified Americans.
More than half of all engineering master's degrees and doctorates
awarded in New Jersey's main engineering universities, for instance,
are to foreign nationals, according to 2003 data compiled by the
American Association of Engineering Societies.
"If we don't hire those folks, who are getting their education and
degrees at U.S. universities, they'll go abroad and work for our
competitors," Hedval said.
A frustrating exercise
Employers complain that hiring foreigners for highly skilled jobs is an
increasingly frustrating exercise.
"You're not taking the easy way out when you hire a foreigner," said
the head of a health-care business in central New Jersey. "It's
expensive. It's a lot of paperwork. You have to wait. It's a
complicated process. Most of us turn to this only when you can't find
an American."
In the nearly 10 years he has run his business, he has never had as
hard a time recruiting foreign workers as in the last year, said the
entrepreneur, who didn't want to be named for fear competitors would
benefit from knowledge of his difficulties.
"There are few Americans trained to do this kind of therapy," he
continued. "It takes many years of college and medical training to
learn this. We need people who can take care of our patients now. We
cannot wait for Americans to get trained. When you can't get the
foreign workers, not only business suffers, patient care is also
affected."
The U.S. government has long issued "H" visas for foreign workers with
special skills, but in 1990 began classifying them according to areas
of expertise, said Chris Bentley, spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services. That year, Congress set a cap of 65,000 for
the H-1B visa, and 66,000 for the H-2B visa.
The tech boom and bull market economy of the late 1990s forced Congress
to raise the cap for H-1B visas to 115,000 for fiscal years 1999 and
2000. But demand continued to grow, and Congress obliged, lifting the
cap once again, to 195,000 for fiscal years 2001, 2002 and 2003.
"There was an increased demand and a real need for those types of
workers to come into the United States," Bentley said.
But after the tech bubble burst, the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred
and the economy weakened, employers began laying people off. Tech
workers found themselves especially hard hit. And so Congress adjusted
the H-1B cap again, reducing it to the original level of 65,000 for
fiscal year 2004.
After an outcry by the business community, Congress approved last fall
a $388 billion spending bill that included a provision allowing 20,000
additional highly skilled foreigners to work in the United States. The
measure, pushed largely by Republicans, specified that these additional
visas were for foreign nationals who "earned a master's or higher
degree" at a U.S. institution.
Those who favor strict immigration policies objected.
Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform
(FAIR) in Washington, D.C., said in a statement after the bill passed:
"What possible justification could there possibly be for giving
companies that are laying off American workers and cutting wages access
to still more foreign guest workers?
"We have just gone through an interminable campaign in which
politicians of both parties looked voters in the eye and told them that
they feel their pain," Stein said. "Yet their first order of business -
before the new Congress is even sworn in - is to rub salt in the wounds
and reward powerful special interests with more guest workers."
But employers reject the notion that they are special interests.
Effect on employers
For instance, the head of a private Bergen County academic enrichment
program said he had to eliminate physics and biology from the
curriculum after a Korean national with qualifications to teach math,
biology and physics was denied a work visa.
"It became harder after Sept. 11," said the director, who asked not to
be identified either by name or by his academy out of a desire to keep
his struggles private from his competitors.
The director said that it is difficult to find people who can teach
physics well, and even harder to find one person who can teach physics
as well as biology and math.
"Most people will not take a job offer for just math or biology or
physics unless we offer a lot of hours, which I cannot afford and do
not need," he said. "But one person who can teach all these subjects
will have enough hours. It was lucky to find someone so qualified like
the Korean college graduate, but it did not work out for him. It had an
impact on many more people than just this person. It forced me to drop
classes and it deprived the kids in the academy of the classes."
But others, including unions and immigration conservatives, say some
employers abuse the program. They charge that some employers pay
vulnerable foreign workers less than the prevailing wage and subject
them to conditions that an American worker would not accept.
They argue that with so much to be gained by hiring a foreign national,
few employers are motivated to provide the training needed for American
workers to qualify for certain jobs.
"Nobody in the government checks up on that," said Jack Martin, special
projects director for FAIR.
A 2003 U.S. General Accounting Office study on the H-1B program's
impact on the American workforce backed Martin's claim.
"Although some employers acknowledged that H-1B workers might work for
lower wages than their U.S. counterparts, the extent to which wage is a
factor in employment decisions is unknown," the report said.
It stated that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees
immigration, had incomplete information on when H-1B workers entered
and left the country or changed their immigration status. As a result,
the report said, DHS was unable to determine how many H-1B workers who
ended up unemployed remained in the United States.
"Allowing unemployed H-1B workers to remain in the United States may
have implications for the labor force competition faced by U.S.
workers," according to the report.
While nodding at the business community's needs, Congress took note of
the report's findings last year.
It doubled most H1-B visa-application fees for businesses from $1,000
to $2,000. Congress also broadened the authority of the Department of
Labor to investigate employers. Beyond that, it tightened other work
visa programs, such as the one known as L-1, which allows companies to
bring an employee to the United States from one of its overseas
offices.
E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com
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