H-1Bs for coaches, chefs, and fashion models
H-1Bs for coaches, chefs, and fashion models
Date: Thursday, December 28, 2006 11:31 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2614 -- 12/28/2006 >>>>>
Two new articles have been published about H-1Bs. This time it's about
gourmet chefs and coaches that are brought into the U.S. with H-1B visas.
In the first article, University of Alaska at Anchorage (UAA) has a
dilemma. They hired a hockey coach from Canada named Dave Shyiak who has an
H-1B visa that is close to expiring. UAA decided to keep Shyiak by
sponsoring him for an employment based green card - but that creates a big
problem.
Green cards require a labor certification which would require UAA to
advertise the job for qualified American coaches. They are very worried a
qualified American might apply for the job and they would be forced to hire
him. UAA doesn't want to hire an American as long as they can keep Shyiak.
Shyiak shares the fear that a qualified American might be found and he
realizes that could put a monkey wrench in his efforts to keep the job and
to stay in the U.S.
"Im happy here. My wife and I want permanent residency, and were
going through the application process. I want to be here." Still,
just one U.S. qualified applicant could force Cobbs hand and
leave Shyiak out of work.
If there are some qualified hockey coaches in the U.S. that needs a job I
urge them to apply to UAA.
ADVICE FOR UAA -- They should consult with high-tech companies who have a
proven success record at gaming the labor certification process. Companies
like Sun, HP, and Microsoft have been doing it for decades and they never
get caught.
If you want to find out more about how the certification process is gamed,
both Programmers Guild and I have done lots of research on the subject. Go
to these two links:
http://www.jobdestruction.com/ShameH1B/Library/Archives/AZDES.htm
http://www.programmersguild.org/rir/
The second story is mostly a bunch of whining by restaurants that they
can't get enough chefs without more H-1B visas. It's written only from the
point of view of a few restaurants who have a vested interest in
undercutting our chefs by importing foreign ones. Why didn't they interview
some chefs in the U.S. that have been forced out of their professions
because the flood of cheap foreign labor has lowered salaries and work
conditions to a point they can't earn a living?
The article made me aware of yet another bill in Congress that is trying to
increase the numbers of available nonimmigrant visas. This time it's Rep.
Anthony Weiner (D-NY) who introduced HR 4354 titled, "To amend the
Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a separate nonimmigrant
classification for fashion models." You can see the bill here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/
Weiner's bill will effectively free up more H-1B visas by reclassifying
fashion models as candidates for the "O" visa. He would like to do that
because "O" visas are unlimited. There is a hitch though -- "O" visas are
used only for people of exceptional ability that are internationally
recognized. In other words, Einstein could have received an O visa but not
a bimbo that comes to the U.S. to shoot a few centerfolds.
Fortunately Weiner's bill is more than a year old and it hasn't picked up a
single co-sponsor. Perhaps this article is a desperation attempt at getting
more support in the 110th Congress.
Weiner's bill isn't the first attempt at abusing the O visa for fashion
models. A Latina hottie that goes by the name Dorismar admits to entering
the U.S. illegally. After being deported she has been trying to get an O
visa to come back to Florida. To read more about Dorismar's steamy story I
wrote two articles, the first one is more detailed and the second shorter
but with some interesting links to other stories.
The Saga of Dorismar and the O Visa
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/sixteen-three/xvi-3-206.pdf
""O" No! Dorismar Gets An "O" Visa!"
http://www.vdare.com/sanchez/060404_dorismar.htm
I nearly fell out of my chair with laughter when restaurant owner Michael
Tong had the temerity to claim that the quality of Chinese food has
deteriorated over the last 30 years because of restrictive immigration.
Chinese food has never been better in the U.S. so by using his logic it's
just as valid to say that Chinese food is improving here because of
restrictive immigration. Of course I have never eaten at his restaurant so
I can't judge the quality of his Chinese food, but perhaps his food has
gone downhill because he is too cheap to hire one of the many good chefs
that live in the U.S. He shouldn't be using immigration as a scapegoat for
his lack of ability to properly manage a restaurant. If a restaurant can't
survive without foreign labor then they should close down their business. I
doubt anyone would miss Tong's slop-house if he shut down due to a lack of
cheap labor.
The webpage with the chef story accepts comments but they seem very slow to
post.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.adn.com/front/story/8518133p-8411176c.html
Why's UAA seeking a hockey coach when one is on the job?
By ANDREW HINKELMAN
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: December 26, 2006)
The University of Alaska Anchorage hockey team is in the middle of its best
season in years and head coach Dave Shyiak is a potential candidate for
Western Collegiate Hockey Association coach of the year. So why has UAA
started a national search for a new head coach?
Surprised Seawolf fans are pondering that question after the university
took out an ad in Sundays paper and posted the job online. Its a
complicated story that involves the federal government and immigration
issues that will likely take weeks, perhaps months, to resolve.
Until then, UAA emphasizes that Shyiak has neither resigned nor been fired.
The second-year head coach will continue behind the Seawolves bench for the
foreseeable future as the search unfolds. Confused? Join the club.
"People are going to say, 'This doesnt make sense, " UAA athletic
director Steve Cobb said Friday afternoon. "The fact is, it doesnt.
"That doesnt change the fact thats what you have to do."
When he was hired 18 months ago to replace John Hill, Shyiak, a Canadian,
was working under a temporary permit, something Cobb knew when he made the
hire. Shyiak has worked in the U.S. under variety of temporary permits
since joining the Northern Michigan University coaching staff in 1995.
Even though Shyiak still has time remaining on his temporary permit, he is
applying for permanent residency, his "green card," now. The university
must conduct a national search for a head coach as part of that process.
"Theres different steps to obtain permanent residency status, and Im
at that point and time right now," Shyiak said. "Im doing this because
of the welfare of my family. This is the most important thing in my
agenda."
Efforts to contact a Department of Labor spokesman to clarify the procedure
Shyiak and UAA must go through were not successful. But information
obtained from the Department of Labor and the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) Web sites sheds some light.
Shyiak is employed on an "H-1B Specialty (Professional) Workers" permit.
This is a program that "allows an employer to temporarily employ a foreign
worker in the U.S. on a non-immigrant basis in a specialty occupation."
Athletics is a specialty occupation. This type of permit is valid for three
years and can be extended once for a total of six continuous years. After
those six years, a foreign worker must "remain outside the U.S. for one
year."
Obviously, this is not an ideal long-term solution for either Shyiak or
UAA, so Shyiak has applied for his "permanent residence," what is commonly
known as a green card.
The requirements for hiring a foreign worker seeking permanent residence
are much stricter than for an H-1B temporary worker. UAA must receive a
"permanent labor certification" from the Department of Labor.
A key element in getting that certification, and the reason UAA is
advertising for a new hockey head coach, is that the Labor Department must
certify "there are no qualified U.S. workers able, willing, qualified and
available to accept the job at the prevailing wage for that occupation in
the area of intended employment and that employment of the alien will not
adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed
U.S. workers."
Because of that provision, UAA could be forced into a coaching change if
qualified U.S. citizens apply.
"Thats a risk," Cobb said.
Its not immediately clear who will make the determination on the
availability of qualified U.S. candidates, or whether those candidates are
more qualified than Shyiak.
But the timing of the search -- during the hockey season when few coaches
who fulfill the job requirements are seeking work -- favors the status quo.
For now, Shyiak will continue coaching as the university accepts
applications through Jan. 21.
"Im tickled to death with the performance of our hockey team," Cobb
said. "Im very, very happy with the direction of our program. I dont
want anybody to think that theres anything (else) causing this."
Shyiak said he did not meet qualification requirements to apply for
permanent residency when he was hired 18 months ago. Thats why this is
an issue now.
Cobb said he knew Shyiaks status would have to be dealt with at some
point when he hired him on June 14, 2005.
"Its an awful simple story thats going to get twisted and turned,"
Cobb said. "And youll have the conspiracy people out there saying
theres something going on between me and Dave."
And why are they addressing the issue now, and not in the off-season when
it would be less disruptive to the team?
"My short answer to that is, if youve got to eat a frog, eat it first
thing in the morning so it doesnt ruin your whole day," Cobb said. "I
see it coming in the future, and its something Dave and I would both
like resolved.
"If we wait too much longer, people might use it against us in recruiting.
It will help give Dave more stability and peace of mind." Said Shyiak:
"Im happy here. My wife and I want permanent residency, and were
going through the application process. I want to be here." Still, just one
U.S. qualified applicant could force Cobbs hand and leave Shyiak out of
work.
"In this day and age you just dont ask immigration for any exceptions,"
Cobb said. "You dot the is and cross the ts." Daily News reporter
Andrew Hinkelman can be reached at ahinkelman@adn.com.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.nysun.com/article/45678
December 26, 2006
Celebrity Chefs Face Visa Troubles
BY CHRISTOPHER FAHERTY - Special to the Sun
December 26, 2006
Gary Sikka knew that it wouldn't be easy to hire a top chef for his new
Midtown restaurant, Mint he didn't realize that immigration laws would
cause the process to take almost a year.
Mr. Sikka had tapped Rajan Safari, a renowned chef in India, but his
restaurant had been open for 11 months before Mr. Safari walked in the
door.
The city's booming economy, combined with the phenomenon of globalization,
has increased demand in New York for celebrity chefs from other countries.
But American immigration laws are having a tough time keeping pace.
Handcuffed by increasingly restrictive immigration policies, restaurant
owners across the city are struggling to bring top international chefs to
their kitchens. Getting a visa is especially tough for workers from China,
India, Mexico, and the Philippines.
"There is a real hole in the system that prevents restaurants from hiring
talented global workers," an immigration lawyer with Cyrus D. Mehta &
Associates, Elizabeth Reichard, said.
Under the current visa laws, there are no clear-cut provisions that apply
to world-class chefs.
Mr. Safari served as the head chef at Bukhara in New Dehli, a restaurant
annually ranked as one of the best in the world and regularly rated by
Restaurant magazine in England as the best table in Asia.
Mr. Sikka's attorneys advised him to petition for Mr. Safari as a candidate
for a special visa given to "workers of extraordinary ability."
American officials appear to have high standards for that classification.
"It would have to be someone like Wolfgang Puck," a spokesman for the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, Christopher Bentley, said. But even
the Austrian-born Mr. Puck, the California cuisine genius whose name is now
plastered on everything from frozen pizzas to airport fast-food counters,
wasn't a household name when he first came to America.
An alternative option for chefs is to apply for a temporary visa for
workers with "specialty" skills. As a requirement, candidates must have a
four-year bachelor degree or the equivalent training.
While a skilled chef could technically obtain this visa, known as an H-1B,
it rarely occurs, according to Ms. Reichard. "The occupation of a chef is
generally not considered a specialty even if they went to culinary school,"
she said.
These visas are often snatched up first by other foreign professionals,
including fashion models.
Immigration officials distribute only 65,000 of these "specialty" visas
each year. The cap last year was met in just two months, leaving little
room for restaurant owners to hire top chefs at other times during the
year.
Congress is now debating whether to raise the limit on specialty visas,
although the chef profession has been relegated to the sidelines. Companies
in Silicon Valley are pushing lawmakers to permit more skilled
international workers into the country to work in fields like information
technology and computer programming, but some policy makers, in favor of
the caps, want American workers to retain those jobs.
Several immigration experts say that chefs are pigeonholed out of the
specialty visas because current policy gives precedence to other
professionals.
Legislation introduced by Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat who represents
parts of Brooklyn and Queens, would free up about 1,000 specialty visas a
year by making fashion models eligible for the classification reserved for
"workers of extraordinary ability."
Restaurants face other hurdles in securing "specialty visas" for their star
chefs. Owners must prove that an American couldn't bring similar expertise
to the kitchen. That's a difficult task, according the executive
vice-president of the New York State Restaurant Association, Charles Hunt,
who noted there are several world-renowned culinary schools in New York.
A chef fresh out of culinary school doesn't always match up.
"There are no shortcuts to finding a Japanese trained chef," the owner of
the newly opened Rosanjin in Tribeca, Jungjin Park, said. He said, for
example, that only a chef experienced in traditional Kaiseki technique
could create Dashi, the bouillabaisse-like sauce that is the base of the
Kyoto-style cuisine served at his restaurant.
The New York Post reported last month that the opening of Park Chinois, the
highly anticipated Chinese restaurant in the Gramercy Park Hotel, is being
delayed because the chef is having visa issues. The hotel declined to
comment on the report.
The city's high-end restaurants have limited influence in Washington for
easing visa restrictions for top foreign chefs. They are often owned by
groups of investors or small companies and don't have the same pull as
large chains.
The lobby group that represents the industry, the National Restaurant
Association, is more focused on changing immigration laws to help service
and labor workers, a spokeswoman, Sue Hensley, said.
Some international corporations use a loophole in the immigration law to
bring employees who have a "specialized knowledge" of the business, a
definition which could include braising beef at a Brazilian Churrascaria.
Employment based green cards are yet another vehicle that restaurants can
use to bring a chef to the city, but green cards are extremely limited and
applicants generally run into a multiyear waiting list, experts say. There
are also caps that specifically target Chinese, Indian, Mexican, and
Filipino workers.
The visa restrictions have had an impact on quality, the owner of the Shun
Lee Palace, Michael Tong, said, pointing to what he called the decline of
good Chinese food in the city over the past 30 years.
"It's difficult for top Chinese chefs to get to America, and with a booming
Chinese economy they don't need to leave," he said.
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