Fast Track H-1Bs

Date: Thursday, June 20, 2002 1:08 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

Get the Facts on H-1B at
www.ZaZona.com

Just about when I think I have heard it all, another lame-brained H-1B
proposal comes along. This time it is for Fast Track H-1Bs. Companies
are
seeking what they call a "quick entry" H-1B program for employers who
meet
"certain qualifications". In other words they want to be able to import
H-1Bs without delay and without review by the INS or DOL. They propose
that
companies that have not had violations of these "certain qualifications"
will be able to hire H-1Bs on this new fast track. Since most companies
are
never investigated for H-1B fraud I would assume that 99% of the
companies
in the US will be approved for Fast Track H-1Bs.

They also want any foreign student who gets a degree in the US to get an
automatic fast track H-1B.

The author is probably correct that "as a freestanding bill, Tancredo's
legislation has no chance of wobbling through Congress". There is no
organized opposition to H-1B and Tancredo has very little support in
Congress. Most congresspersons are not going to be swayed by a few angry
programmers and dissidents when companies are paying them big money to
support H-1B.

The author goes on to say that Tancredo's bill will be supported by
unions:
"there is little question that the AFL-CIO will line up behind it." I
don't
know where he got that idea because the AFL-CIO decided not to oppose
H-1B
as a compromise to get amnesty passed.

http://www.semi.org/web/wmagazine.nsf/4f55b97743c2d02e882565bf006c2459/6d880
c898d8a6d9b88256b3500729841!OpenDocument

Business, labor will work to different agendas in upcoming debate
by Stephen Barlas

Congressional consideration of immigration reform legislation early in

2002
opens the door to both potentially positive and negative developments
for
the H-1B visa program. Business groups will pursue an agenda of
procedural
changes aimed at making it easier for legitimate corporations to quickly
hire highly educated immigrants in shortage professions and put them on
a
more rapid road toward citizenship. Labor groups will work to a
different
agenda as they seek to reduce the H-1B cap from 195,000 to as low as
65,000,
citing as justification the contraction of the technology industry and
the
need to reserve increasingly precious jobs for native-born Americans.

Whatever the outcome of the debate, the H-1B program seems on the cusp
of
its fourth era since the establishment of "H" visas in 1952. For nearly
40
years after their inception, H visas attracted little attention. But
suddenly, partly in response to the needs of a growing technology
sector,
the Immigration Act of 1990 revised the H visa program by subdividing it
into categories, some of which, like the H-1B, got ceilings or "caps"
for
the first time. H-1B was given a ceiling of 65,000 workers a year, a
number
that was never reached through 1997.

Two trends appeared in the mid-1990s that led to the 1998 American
Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA) and the H-1B's
third
era - one of expanding caps and increasing high-tech usage. First,
technology companies began bumping up against the 65,000-visa limit as
the
sector expanded wildly, and potential U.S.-born employees proved to be
in
short supply. By 1996, the Labor Department found that 53.3 percent of
H-1B
visas were going to foreign recruits for systems analysis and
programming
jobs, 4.9 percent for electrical and electronics engineering jobs and
3.4
percent for other computer-related occupations. Then, for fiscal 1998,
the
65,000 cap was reached on May 11, 1998, nearly five months before the
end of
the fiscal year.

The second trend appeared as the H-1B program began to show signs of
fraud.
In the early 1990s, "job contractors" began importing foreign workers
for
jobs for which there was no shortage of skilled U.S. workers. This pool
of
cheap labor was used by some companies to replace higher-paid American
workers. The credentials of some H-1B immigrants also were suspect. As
early
as 1996, the American Consulate in Chennai, India, estimated that a
significant percentage of their H-1B petitioners, almost all of whom
were
computer programmers, were misrepresenting their academic or
professional
credentials.

To remedy those situations, the ACWIA increased the cap in fiscal 1998
and
1999 to 115,000 and then dropped it to 107,500 in fiscal 2001. The law
also
put new requirements on job contractors. Those ended (through a "sunset"
provision) in fiscal 2001.

The new caps, however, still proved too tight for the demand. The
115,000
visas available in fiscal 1999 were snapped up by June 1999, three
months
before the end of the year. That demand created political pressure to
again
increase the caps. In October 2000, Congress passed the American
Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act, which set the cap at 195,000
per
year for fiscal 2001-2003.

Of course, by the time that law passed, the technology sector had
already
turned south. In fiscal 2001, 168,000 H-1B visas were issued - a
significant
number, but short of the 195,000 allowed. Technology sector layoffs were
front-page news starting in the summer of 2001, and features about
dot-com
expatriates scrounging to make a living became the fodder of daily
newspaper
features.

One month into fiscal 2002, on November 1, Rep. Thomas Tancredo
(R-Colo.),
chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, introduced the
High-Tech Work Fairness & Economic Stimulus Act (H.R. 3222). That bill
would
drop the H-1B cap to 65,000 and reduce it 10,000 for every quarter
percentage point by which the unemployment rate exceeds six percent.

As a freestanding bill, Tancredo's legislation has no chance of wobbling
through Congress. Greg Meyer, Tancredo's spokesman, says no group has
publicly expressed support for the bill. But there is little question
that
the AFL-CIO will line up behind it. In August 1999, David Smith, policy
director for the AFL-CIO, complained to the House immigration
subcommittee
that high-tech companies were either inflating their needs or refusing
to
train available U.S. workers in "reckless disregard" of the American
labor
force.

Tancredo introduced his bill knowing that immigration reform legislation
would quickly hit the top of the congressional agenda after September
11.
Just a few days after Tancredo introduced his bill, House Judiciary
Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) threw his
much-broader
Immigration Reform and Accountability Act of 2001(H.R. 3231) into the
hopper. The bill would break up the Immigration and Naturalization
Service
into two bureaus: the Bureau of Immigration Services and Adjudications
and
the Bureau of Immigration Enforcement.

The Sensenbrenner bill contains no H-1B-specific proposals. But as it
moves
through the House, it will attract amendments like filings to a magnet.
Certainly Tancredo will try to stick his bill on Sensenbrenner's. Thom
Stohler, vice president of technology and workforce policy at the
American
Electronics Association, says Tancredo would have the bipartisan support
of
between 80-100 House members at a minimum.

The Senate, too, has a number of immigration reform proposals on its
plate,
including a bill (S. 1518) sponsored by Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.)
that
would require employers to report to the Attorney General whenever an
H-1B
employee was terminated. On a visit to Mexico in mid-November, Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-Iowa) said the Senate would forge ahead
with
immigration reform early next year.

The business community will be pressing for a number of reform proposals
such as creation of a "quick entry" program for employers who meet
certain
qualifications. Companies in that category would file paperwork with the
INS
on January 1 each year attesting to their compliance with all H-1B
rules.
The INS would have to approve that application. In exchange, the
companies
would agree to allow the INS to stage surprise inspections to insure the
attestations were accurate. But once approved, companies could bring in
H-1B
applicants without INS approval. "That is a tradeoff companies are more
than
willing to make," says Stohler.

Lynn Shotwell, legal counsel and director of government relations for
the
American Council on International Personnel, a trade association of
Fortune
500 companies in numerous sectors, supports creating a separate visa for
immigrant graduates of U.S. universities who are in transition between a
student visa and seeking citizenship after graduation and obtaining a
specialized permanent job in the U.S. Over the past half-decade, as the
U.S.
has reached its H-1B cap every year, foreign countries have swooped into
American IT job fairs promising recent U.S. university graduates born
abroad
that if they move to Canada, or Germany, or wherever, they will be
granted a
visa or permanent residency immediately. In some instances, the
countries
also allow spouses to work, an option that is not available to H-1B
spouses.

Look for Congress to turn up the flame under immigration reform as soon
as
it returns to town in late January. Once the pot starts boiling,
high-tech
industries will have a chance to spice up the H-1B program more to their
liking. But they'll have to be extremely careful not to get burned in
the
process.

About the Author

Stephen Barlas has been a freelance Washington editor for business and
trade
magazines since 1981. He may be reached by e-mail at
sbarlas@bellatlantic.net.

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