High-tech visa limit to expire

Date: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 3:15 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

If this article makes you feel good, it shouldn't. Harris Miller of the
ITAA is using an old ploy - he is trying to placate opponents of H-1B
by saying he won't lobby to raise the H-1B limit while working behind
the scenes with NASSCOM to raise the limits. Harris Miller's
declaration that he won't lobby for an H-1B increase is not legally
binding so it's no more valid than his lies about massive worker
shortages. In May of 2002 Harris Miller said that 195,000 H-1Bs a year
wouldn't be enough to fill 600,000 high-tech job vacancies in 2002, and
over a million job openings within 12 months. Don't think for a second
that he believes anything different in 2003 - he is just playing
political games.

NASSCOM understands how valuable the foreign remittances of their H-1B
and L-1 visa holders are to the Indian economy so they have a very
strong incentive to perpetuate the visas. The ITAA and represents
corporatists who want to use these foreign workers as a way to bust
unions and to dismantle U.S. employment civil rights programs. Their
relationship is very cozy and both of them have admitted to working
together.

The most likely strategy for ITAA to NASSCOM is to lobby Congress to
slip a clause into a budget bill to leave the H-1B cap at 195,000.
Contact your Congresspeople and tell them that they are being watched
and cannot get away with this ploy.

This article quotes State Department visa numbers that are way too low.
The BCIS numbers are far more realistic, and to view those go to:
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/Library/BrainSavers/VisaGlut.PDFand
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/Library/BrainSavers/H-1B_Numbers.pdf

Dr. Gene Nelson recently updated these charts, so take a new look at
the numbers.

Julia Malone at the Cox New Service Washington Bureau can be emailed
at:
juliam@coxnews.com

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0902visas02.html

High-tech visa limit to expire

Fewer visas

H-1B visas drop after years of sharp increases:

Year Issued
1995 51,832
1996 58,327
1997 80,547
1998 91,360
1999 116,513
2000 133,290
2001 161,643
2002 118,352

Source: State Department

Extension not sought in ailing economy

Julia Malone

Cox News Service
Sept. 2, 2003 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - The high-tech industry, which three years ago won a major
increase in H-1B visas to bring in skilled foreign workers, has decided
not to seek an extension when the higher limit expires next month. The
move may be linked to a growing trend of sending service jobs to
facilities located abroad.

Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of
America, said that congressional allies have advised him that they
won't be able to take action on the visas before Oct. 1, when the H-1B
quota drops from 195,000 a year to its previous level of 65,000.

"It's obviously a tough time to ask Congress to vote on the immigration
provision when the unemployment rate remains somewhat high," said
Miller, whose trade group has been the leading proponent for the
temporary visas.

"The economy is obviously in a much different place today than it was
three years ago" when the limit was raised to its current level, Miller
said.

However, he said his organization would be prepared to ask Congress to
increase the quota next spring if the economy rebounds.

The H-1B visa was set up to allow skilled specialty workers, such as
computer programmers, nurses and fashion models, to relieve labor
shortages in the United States. The program was expanded in 2000 after
tech companies argued that they faced a severe shortage of skilled
labor.

Since then, the H-1B has continued to spur controversy, especially
after the dot.com bubble burst, leading to the layoffs of thousands of
U.S. workers.

Use of the visa has been declining since 2001. Immigration Services at
the Department of Homeland Security reported last week that during the
first three quarters of this fiscal year, the government approved
roughly 57,000 H-1B visas, putting it far below the pace to reach the
annual cap.

Critics of the H-1B program are uncertain whether the waning interest
in the H-1B visa quota is good news or bad.

"We definitely think it should drop back to its historical level of
65,000, which it is scheduled to do," said Chris McManes, a spokesman
for IEEE-USA, a division of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers Inc.

However, he said companies may be less interested in importing labor
because they are sending more white-collar work abroad.

"I think a lot of companies are saying it might be cheaper and better
for public relations just to send the work overseas," McManes said.

Although tracking the movement of jobs abroad is difficult, the
Forrester Research firm recently produced a report projecting that 3.3
million service jobs will move offshore by 2015.

Miller said that some of the commentary about the shift has been
overstated. "Moving offshore began 20 years ago," he said, adding that
his group estimates that 3 percent of jobs are moving out of the
country to places such as Mexico, Ireland, India and Canada. He said
that reducing the number of visas for specialized workers coming to the
United States could speed up the transfer of jobs abroad.

"If we stop bringing (temporary skilled workers) into the country, the
trend to move offshore would accelerate," he said, adding that if a
company "can't get the foreign labor" here, then it will seek the
lowest price from a contractor abroad.

Even if the industry does not push for visa legislation, Congress is
considering restrictions for the H-1B and another temporary visa, the
L-1, set up to allow international companies to bring in workers with
unique skills for limited stays.

U.S. workers have testified to Congress that their employers have hired
contractors of cheap foreign labor under L-1 visas to replace
higher-paid Americans.

Miller's group is seeking to avoid any new L-1 legislation. He said he
would be meeting next week with Homeland officials to ask the
administration to tighten enforcement of existing law instead.

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