San Diego Stinker
San Diego Stinker
Date: Monday, August 28, 2006 3:36 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1547 -- 08/28/2006 >>>>>
This newest article on H-1B in the San Diego Tribune doesn't make even a
pretense of being objective. It's full of the standard shortage shouting
and H-1B sob stories. No good propaganda article would be complete without
the standard boilerplate myth that companies have to somehow convince the
feds that they can't find Americans. This myth almost makes me laugh every
time I read it!
To obtain an H-1B visa, companies must first convince the federal
government that they cannot find qualified workers in the United
States. They also must pay about $2,200 in fees to the government,
plus attorney's expenses in the range of $1,000 to $2,500 for
each applicant.
You gotta like this quote. It's some of the best hyperventilating I have
read in years!
"The H-1B visa will be the death of me," said Phillips, whose
company makes integrated circuits for the wireless market. "I
have to recruit and make offers to people a year or 18 months
ahead of their effective hiring date ... and I have to take
into account what might happen to the company in the interim."
Lobbying efforts to raise H-1B are mentioned. While American workers are
taking summer vacations it appears that the groups who want to raise H-1B
are mounting a full-scale offensive. I often refer to the American
Electronics Association (AeA) as the West Coast version of the ITAA - in
other words they are a bunch of dirtbags!
A letter being circulated by the AeA in San Diego to push Congress
for more H-1B visas has been signed by executives at nearly three
dozen companies, including Cymer, Websense, Iomega and Qualcomm.
California must be getting some rain because the shills for H-1B are
springing up like weeds and poison mushrooms!
"It's simply become more difficult for companies to depend on these
visas because they are hard to get," said Joe Panetta, president
and chief executive of BIOCOM, a trade group that represents 470
life science companies in Southern California.
Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) has become the newest Great-Satan on the H-1B
issue. Shadegg can now claim to be in the same H-1B booster club in Arizona
with the likes of McCain, Kyl, Flake, and Kolbe. He is very forthright
about why he sponsored the Skil bill - it's because he feels it's got a
better chance of passing than S. 2611 which has the same H-1B increase. He
is maximizing the odds for Bill Gates and the rest of the cheap labor
lobby.
"The long-term solution is to produce students that have the math
and science backgrounds American business needs," he said. "But
if we don't have that talent here, can we expect American
business not to go to other countries to get it?"
Shadegg will settle for the Skil Bill, but if he had his way H-1B would be
unlimited.
"I personally don't think we need caps, but I don't think this
kind of legislation can be passed right now without a cap," he
said. "I don't have great confidence that an overall
immigration bill will be passed this year. That's why we have
this standalone bill."
The author of this perversion-of-journalism is receiving plenty of
nastygrams - I have been CC'ed on many of them. So far the author remains
silent, which means unrepentant. It might be better to write Letters to the
Editor so the rest of the newspaper staff will know what a puke this guy
is.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060827-9999-lz1b27hiring.html
Hiring headache
Problems obtaining foreign worker visas leave some employers scrambling
By Michael Kinsman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 27, 2006
A portion of her job has become so unpredictable that Brenda Phillips
probably wishes she had a crystal ball to guide her.
As human resources manager for Peregrine Semiconductor, Phillips is asked
to anticipate the San Diego company's staffing needs, calculate its
expansion rate and predict any business setbacks that might occur months
before they do.
Anna Li, left, and Jason Schlosser look over test data for a radio
frequency switch at a Peregrine Semiconductor lab in Sorrento Mesa.
Originally from China, Li has been working under an H-1B visa for the past
five years and is trying to gain permanent resident status in the United
States.
The combination of a thriving technology company and a shortage of
qualified specialty engineers in the United States means she sometimes has
to draw upon professionals from other countries to meet Peregrine's needs.
Quotas limit the number of worker visas, and the cumbersome process to hire
them is at once complicated, time-consuming, costly and perplexing.
And there is no certainty that her company will be successful in obtaining
a visa.
"The H-1B visa will be the death of me," said Phillips, whose company makes
integrated circuits for the wireless market. "I have to recruit and make
offers to people a year or 18 months ahead of their effective hiring date
... and I have to take into account what might happen to the company in
the interim."
The use of the H-1B visa to import high-level technology expertise from
other countries is an overlooked part of the current immigration debate,
lumped together as it is with the issues of low-skilled workers and those
who enter the United States illegally. But increasing demand for H-1B visas
may push them into the limelight.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services grants 65,000 H-1B visas
annually to foreign technical workers with bachelor's degrees. It grants an
additional 20,000 H-1B visas to job applicants with advanced degrees.
The quota for the visas was hit July 26 this year for the 2007 federal
fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The cap was reached two weeks earlier this
year than last, a sign of the increasing demand.
The H-1B visa limit is compounded by a dearth of U.S. students pursuing
math and science degrees that would prepare them for jobs in the biotech,
telecom and computer industries. Businesses contend this shortage puts them
at a competitive disadvantage with companies in nations with emphasis on
math and science education and with nations that have less restrictive
immigration policies.
"This is a critical issue for our country," said Julie Meier Wright,
president and chief executive of the San Diego Regional Economic
Development Corp. "Companies follow a talented work force. If they can't
find what they need in the U.S., they'll look elsewhere."
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the demand for science
and engineering graduates will grow 24 percent from 2004 to 2014.
In 2004, more than 40 percent of master's degrees and more than 50 percent
of doctoral degrees issued by U.S. colleges and universities were awarded
to foreign nationals, according to the National Science Foundation.
"Unfortunately, the number of visas allowed isn't even close to meeting the
demand," said Van Goodwin, an immigration attorney with Littler Mendelson
in San Diego. "We are educating and training people in the U.S., then
sending them back to their home countries to work. Meanwhile, we have jobs
here that aren't being filled."
Some technology companies might employ only one or two H-1B visa workers,
while others might employ dozens. No one seems to have an accurate handle
on how many of the visas are used in the San Diego region. Most companies
have been reluctant to discuss their employment of foreign workers
publicly, even though it is a hot topic at industry and trade association
meetings.
A letter being circulated by the AeA in San Diego to push Congress for more
H-1B visas has been signed by executives at nearly three dozen companies,
including Cymer, Websense, Iomega and Qualcomm.
"It's simply become more difficult for companies to depend on these visas
because they are hard to get," said Joe Panetta, president and chief
executive of BIOCOM, a trade group that represents 470 life science
companies in Southern California.
"Our industry has always relied on H-1B visas because we don't have the
trained work force here we need. Not being able to depend on them makes
doing business difficult."
Rodney Moses, vice president of talent acquisition for Carlsbad-based
Invitrogen, said the difficulty with obtaining visas for its needs is
causing the biotech company to open operations in other countries.
Invitrogen provides tools and services to drug development companies and
laboratories and has operations in 70 countries. It operates divisions in
India and China that employ about 245 people. Seventy-five of its 1,200
U.S. employees hold H-1B visas.
"Our company's goal is to hire the best and brightest," Moses said. "If we
can't find them here, we will have to find them someplace else. Our company
standards will remain the same. We can't adjust them downward because the
talent isn't available in the U.S."
The most recent figures from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
shows that there were 217,340 people working in the United States under
H-1B visas in 2003, or about 3.6 percent of the nation's 6 million
technology workers.
To obtain an H-1B visa, companies must first convince the federal
government that they cannot find qualified workers in the United States.
They also must pay about $2,200 in fees to the government, plus attorney's
expenses in the range of $1,000 to $2,500 for each applicant.
Pressure by U.S. companies and a strong economy caused Congress to raise
the cap on H-1B visas as high as 195,000 earlier this decade, although that
annual limit was never reached. The cap was reset at 65,000 in 2004, where
it remains today. The 20,000 visas for advanced degrees was enacted in
2005.
H-1B visa holders are granted temporary work permits, issued for three-year
periods and renewable once. They can work for U.S. companies up to six
years before they have to return home or obtain permanent residency in the
United States.
San Diego immigration attorney Jeanne Malitz says obtaining a visa for a
foreign employee can be daunting.
"It's very time-consuming and is a frustrating process," she said.
"Companies are faced with finding people well in advance of when they can
put them on the payroll, then they have to sponsor the individual for a
visa. But even if they find the perfect person for a job, they may be out
of luck because there are no available visas."
Malitz, who has worked with 200 companies on visa issues over the past 17
years, said the common notion that some U.S. employers hire foreign workers
because they can pay them less is misguided.
"I'm sure it has happened, but it just doesn't happen very often," she
said. "I think employers simply turn to hiring foreign workers when they
can't find Americans with those skills. For all the effort and cost
involved, I don't think they would save much by hiring foreign workers."
Kevin Carroll, executive director of the AeA's San Diego council, says that
companies use H-1B visas because their work demands it.
"The myth of H-1B visa holders taking American jobs is preposterous on its
surface," he said. "The unemployment rate of electrical engineers is an
astoundingly low 1.5 percent. Clearly, the need is outstripping the demand
for high-tech workers. And the quickest way to kill high-tech in San Diego
is by cutting off the supply of workers."
For the federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, H-1B visa applications are
accepted beginning the previous April 1. This year, all available visas
were allotted by July 26. Last year, visa allotments were completed by Aug.
10.
"The date just keeps getting earlier and earlier because of the demand,"
Goodwin said. "If you want to hire someone on one of these visas, you'd
better be ready to file your application on April 1."
That process gives HR managers like Phillips fits.
"I have to start looking for people many months before we can put them on
the payroll," said Phillips of Peregrine Semiconductor. "I have to get them
through the interview process, make an offer and have it accepted before I
can start the application process. And I have to get the application in
five or six months before these people can even work for us.
"It makes it very difficult on us. You never know when you're going to have
a job you can't fill with an American worker. We've had phenomenal growth
in our company, but who can predict that and what it will mean in terms of
hiring more workers? Most companies can go out and hire the people they
need in 30 or 60 days. But we're faced with recruiting people a year before
we can put them on the payroll. A lot of things can happen to a business in
that time."
If the H-1B visa is daunting for employers, it is just as troublesome for
employees.
Anna Li, a test engineer for Peregrine Semiconductor, has been working in
the United States for five years under an H-1B visa. Li is a native of
China who obtained a master's degree in electrical engineering there and
then immigrated to Singapore.
She first worked for Oni Systems in San Jose, which wound up merging with a
second company and eliminating her job. She then worked for Peregrine
Semiconductor before she was laid off, then for one other company briefly
before being rehired by Peregrine Semiconductor.
"Each time I go to work for a new company, I have to reapply for the H-1B,"
she said. "It's frustrating because it takes so long and is so hard. It
takes time to complete the paperwork and then you just have to wait."
Li, one of four H-1B visa holders working at the San Diego company, said
her visa will expire next April. Two years ago, she applied for nonresident
(green card) status that would allow her to work in the United States
indefinitely.
"I know many people in similar situations holding master's or Ph.D.s," she
said. "We put out an effort that helps these companies, but the government
has made it very hard for us to stay in U.S. I just don't think it should
be so painful to work here."
Some foreign-born students in U.S. universities can bide time after
graduation by seeking special training visas that allow them to work in the
United States for up to a year.
Yet, Michael Hindi, director of international students and scholars at the
University of California San Diego, said few students at his school take
advantage of those visas, nor do they try to get hired under the visa
program.
"At least 80 percent want to go back home," he said. "They may not go back
to their own country since they have specialized skills, but they will go
back to a country near their home."
The situation is quite different at San Diego State University, said Jane
Kalionzes, associate director of the International Student Center.
"We have a large number of our international students in computer science
and electrical engineering who stay and go to work," she said.
U.S. Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., thinks that the need for highly educated
professional workers from other countries has been lost in the greater
immigration debate. That's why in June he introduced his own bill that
would loosen hiring restrictions for U.S. companies.
"The long-term solution is to produce students that have the math and
science backgrounds American business needs," he said. "But if we don't
have that talent here, can we expect American business not to go to other
countries to get it?"
Shadegg's bill, known as the SKIL Act, proposes raising the H-1B visa cap
to 115,000 visas per year, with the potential for increases in the year
ahead.
"I personally don't think we need caps, but I don't think this kind of
legislation can be passed right now without a cap," he said. "I don't have
great confidence that an overall immigration bill will be passed this year.
That's why we have this standalone bill."
Michael Kinsman: (619) 293-1370; michael.kinsman@uniontrib.com
Support this Newsletter and www.ZaZona.com by donating:
www.zazona.com/Donations.htm
To View the Newsletter Archive go to:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm
To Be removed from this mailing list, reply to this
email with UNSUbSCRIBE in the subject window
Back to archives