NumbersUSA fax against Skil Bill almost on target

Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2006 12:11 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1539 -- 08/15/2006 >>>>>

One of the odd things about the Skil bill is that it gets so little
publicity, and most immigration control organizations seem to be ignoring
it or downplaying its importance. Perhaps the Senate comprehensive
immigration bill (S. 2611) seems like a higher priority because of the
threat of giving illegals amnesty.

NumbersUSA broke the silence today by sending a fax alert to activists.
Unfortunately even if you are on their fax alert system, you may never know
about this one. That's because NumbersUSA considers the Skil bill to be an
issue that is only of interest to techies. Your ability to receive the fax
depends on how you answered their interest survey. If you happen to be in
one of the many hundreds of other categories of professionals that are
affected by H-1B you might be excluded. A few notable examples would
include doctors, nurses, school teachers, accountants, architects,
musicians, actuaries, etc.

This is from the alert:

The result of the SKIL Act would be to further depress the
wages of Americans working in high-tech and scientific fields
and to cause additional job displacement for those workers.

The fax alert email, and the material on their webpage might make you
wonder why the Skil bill is getting so little attention from immigration
activists and the media. NumbersUSA does a good job of listing the problems
with the bill and of articulating why we need to oppose it. My theory is
that the lobbyists want to keep controversy very low so that Congress can
slide it through while it's below the public radar screen. NumbersUSA did a
great job of publicizing the issue but they could have done much more
simply be sending the alert to all of their activists.

You may want to contact NumbersUSA if you disagree with their decision to
filter this fax alert. Go to this page for contact information:

http://www.numbersusa.com/contactus.html

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

[COMMENT BY ROB: If you can send the fax, the most powerful message option
they have is the following, which you can select by clicking "replace text"
a couple of times. I would suggest changing the last sentence to include
all workers affected by H-1B.]

Here are just a few reasons why I hope you will oppose the SKIL Act:

(1) The six-year visas allow foreign workers to bring in their families,
and guarantee thousands of anchor babies.

(2) H1-B salaries are tax-exempt--no FICA, no federal or state income
taxes. They can live at the same level as tax-paying Americans at a lower
cost. Therefore, Congress allows foreigners to "low-ball" American
workers.

(3) H1-Bs can leave the job they came to fill and seek other jobs, not
necessarily in the "hard to fill" category.

(4) Most H1-Bs are of a "protected" ethnic group, so H1-Bs have an
affirmative action preference when competing with Americans for the same
jobs.

The result of the SKIL Act would be to further depress the wages of

Americans working in high-tech and scientific fields and to cause
additional job displacement for those workers.

Please oppose H.R. 5744.

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

Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:16 PM

Ask your Rep. to oppose the SKIL Act H-1B increases

This new fax has been posted in your Action Buffet based on your answers to
the Interest Survey.

[link removed]

Take Action

Send this fax to your Representative that asks them to oppose the SKIL Act
(H.R. 5744) to increase H-1B visas.

Background on SKIL Act

Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) introduced the SKIL Act (H.R. 5744) in the House.
The Senate version is S. 2691. The SKIL Act would:

* increase the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000 in the first fiscal
year after enactment.

* further increase the cap by 20 percent in any fiscal year following a
year in which employers used all available visas.

* exempts from the annual cap on H-1B visas aliens: who work at a nonprofit
organization; who hold a graduate degree from an institution of higher
education in a foreign country (up to 20,000 exempted per year); who have
earned an advanced degree from a U.S. institution of higher education; or
who have been awarded medical specialty certification based on
post-doctoral training and experience in the United States.

* increases by 150,000 the annual worldwide level of employment-based (EB)
immigrants and

* exempts the spouses and minor children of EB immigrants, along with
certain other aliens, from that cap.

* facilitates a path to permanent residency and employment for L-1 visa
holders by requiring DHS to extend the authorized stay of an L-1
nonimmigrant who has an application for LPR status pending.

* expands eligibility for F student visas to include any student qualified
to pursue a full course of study in mathematics, engineering, technology,
or the sciences leading to a bachelors or graduate degree.

The result of the SKIL Act would be to further depress the wages of
Americans working in high-tech and scientific fields and to cause
additional job displacement for those workers.

More H-1B Background

The annual cap on H-1B visas returned to 65,000 on October 1, 2003, after
being increased to as high as 195,000 the year before.

As a result of heavy lobbying by high-tech companies and cheap labor
lobbyists, in the fall of 2004, Congress created another H-1B visa
expansion with an annual cap of 20,000 to accommodate foreign nationals
attaining graduate degrees from U.S. universities.

These are an extra 20,000 H-1B visas to be granted above the 65,000 cap for
workers with U.S.-earned graduate degrees.

These H-1B visas are still available for workers that are not subjected to
the annual cap, such as those who would be employed at institutions of
higher education, nonprofit research organizations, or governmental
research organizations.

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