Sen. Hagel announces H-1B increase bill to Senate

Date: Friday, April 13, 2007 10:57 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1673 -- 4/13/2007 >>>>>

I'm not happy to make this Friday the 13th announcement -- a new bill was
introduced to the Senate in order to increase the yearly cap on H-1B visas.
This time the stampede in the Senate is being led by Senator Chuck Hagel
(R-NE). It seems as though the Congressmen are competing with each other to
see who can be the first one to raise the cap. Senator Hagel (R-NE) just
introduced the fourth bill to raise the cap called the "The High-Tech
Worker Relief Act of 2007."

Hagel's bill is similar to the H-1B increase of 2000 because it raises the
cap to 195,000 per year. There are a couple of other warts in this bill
that are really shocking:

* It exempts all students who earn Master's degrees from the cap. It's not
clear if the degrees that are exempted are restricted or if they include
all Master's programs from any country. Perhaps graduate programs in
international basket weaving would be considered acceptable.

* It exempts advanced degree graduates that have three years of working
experience. There are no restrictions about where those college diplomas
come from, so if a foreign graduate of an Indian paper mill got a sham
degree, and has three years of experience he/she can get an H-1B visa
without it being counted against the yearly cap.

* All family members of H-1B visa holders can come to the U.S. and they can
get jobs while they are here. This is a transparent excuse for chain
migration.

* Foreign physicians can get exempt visas as long as they agree to work in
areas that are designated as an area with a shortage of doctors. Shortage
areas include just about every city and county in the U.S. so, in effect,
Hagel wants unlimited H-1Bs for doctors. Go here for more info on the areas
exempted, and see if you can find one that's not in the database:
http://www.shusterman.com/hpsa.html

This is a list of current bills to raise the H-1B cap:

* STRIVE Act -- Gutierrez (D-IL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ)

* H.R.1758 -- David Wu (D-OR)

* SKIL Bill -- Cornyn (R-TX)

* Comprehensive Immigration Reform by McCain (R-AZ) and Kennedy (D-MA)

* S.1092 -- Hagel (R-NE)

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To find a mention of the bill, follow these steps:

1) go to http://thomas.loc.gov

2) in "browse bills by sponsor" select: Hagel, Chuck [R-NE]

3) click "GO"

4) scroll down page or search for:

S.1092
Title: A bill to temporarily increase the number of visas which may be
issued to certain highly skilled workers.
Sponsor: Sen Hagel, Chuck [NE] (introduced 4/11/2007) Cosponsors
(None)
Latest Major Action: 4/11/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read
twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?160256

Article Posted: 04/13/2007 10:07:35 AM
Hagel Introduces Bill to Temporarily Increase the Amount of High-Tech
Worker Visas

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has introduced "The
High-Tech Worker Relief Act of 2007." This legislation will increase the
number of H-1B high-tech industry visas from 65,000 to 195,000 to address
the severe shortage in the number of visas available in 2008. At various
times, Congress has temporarily raised the cap on the number of H-1B visas,
when sufficient American workers cannot be found.

"The severe shortage of H-1B visas is a nation-wide problem, and Nebraska
is directly affected. The demand in Nebraska for these highly qualified
individuals in fields such as health care and computer science far out
number the supply. This legislation is important to helping keep America
competitive in the 21st Century workplace," Hagel said.

H-1B visas allow highly skilled foreign workers to work in the U.S. for up
to three years. Congress has imposed an annual cap on the number of H-1B
visas of 65,000. This cap does not meet the demand.

This year, the Department of Homeland Security began accepting H-1B
applications for the 2008 fiscal year on April 2. On that day, DHS received
133,000 applications. Tens of thousands of additional applications were
received on April 3, before DHS began rejecting applications.

Many industries use H-1B workers to fill jobs when American workers cant
be found. In Nebraska, these visas are used by employers such as Union
Pacific, Streck Labs, First Data, Valmont, Terracon, Western Electric, DTL
Industries, NIC USA, Inc., Omaha Public Schools, Lexington Public Schools,
Great Plains Regional Medical Center and Mary Lanning Hospital.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://pubweb.fdbl.com/news1.nsf/9abe5d703b986cff86256e310080943a/95f063652f1980b4852572bb0080ab8c?OpenDocument

High-Tech Worker Relief Act

On April 11, 2007, Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican from Nebraska,
introduced the High-Tech Worker Relief Act, which is aimed at providing
short term relief for U.S. employers who cannot recruit or retain needed
talent to stay competitive because of the current visa shortage. If
enacted, Senator Hagel's bill would:

' Raise the H-1B cap for fiscal year 2007 from 65,000 to 115,000, and for
fiscal year 2008 from 65,000 to 195,000, allowing the quota to revert to
65,000 by fiscal year 2009 if no further legislation passes.
' Exempt foreign students who earn masters degrees or above in the United
States from the H-1B visa numerical limit.

' Exempt STEM advanced degree graduates who have 3 years of U.S. work
experience as a non-immigrant from the numerical limit on employment-based
immigrant visas, in addition to those who are deemed to have extraordinary
ability, are outstanding professors and researchers, and whose presence is
determined to be in the national interest of the United States.
' Exempt spouses and minor children of the principal applicant from
employment-based immigrant visa quotas.

' Exempt foreign physicians from the immigrant visa quota if they agree
to work full time for five years in an area with a shortage of health care
professionals, or if they work for five years in a Department of Veterans
Affairs health care facility.

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