Is the H-1B Increase Dead?

Date: Sunday, June 10, 2007 1:16 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1706 -- 6/09/2007 >>>>>

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill along with its massive increases in
employment based green cards and H-1B visas seems to be dead. I won't
elaborate on what happened to CIR because I'm sure by now all you know.

So, does that mean we don't have to worry about an H-1B increase?

It's tough to answer that question right now, but there are some ominous
rumblings. Last week Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and six other Senators met with
Microsoft to discuss H-1B. The first article below is vague on what transpired
but there are hints that deals are being made.

The second article has some very strange news -- it appears that lobbyists for
high-tech industries are not giving up on resuscitating the CIR. The Software
& Information Industry Association (SIIA), the Information Technology
Association of America (ITAA), and the Information Technology Industry Council
(ITI) urged the Senate to try again to pass the CIR on Friday even as it
seemed to go down in flames

I suspect these lobby groups are using the CIR as a smokescreen so that they
can get Congress to pass standalone bills such as SKIL or STRIVE.
High-tech has very little interest in low skilled workers or amnesty so their
only interest in CIR is in getting an H-1B increase.

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

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/09/H1B.TMP

Lobbying goes on for H-1B reforms
Tech executives still hope to revive immigration bill Tom Abate, Chronicle
Staff Writer

Saturday, June 9, 2007

High-tech business leaders hope to revive the stalled Senate bill on
immigration reform that, they now say, would allow them to import more college
graduates under the controversial H-1B visa program.

The bill, which would cover every aspect of immigration from undocumented
farmworkers from Mexico to legally hired engineers from India, was sidetracked
Thursday on a procedural vote that had little to do with high-tech issues.

Capitol Hill insiders say whether the big bill rises from the grave or remains
buried will depend on the ability of President Bush to bring Senate
Republicans back to the table on the divisive issues involving undocumented
workers.

"We don't think it's dead," said Oracle lobbyist Robert Hoffman. "We hope to
come together and find a path forward."

This new optimism from the high-tech lobby -- which had just days earlier
criticized the omnibus bill -- stems in part from a deal struck late Thursday
that sweetened the H-1B provisions.

According to Ralph Hellman, a lobbyist with the Information Technology
Industry Council, the sweeteners came after a series of meetings Wednesday and
Thursday involving Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and six senators
led by Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona.

Ballmer, who had been in Washington on other business, has publicly threatened
to move more research and development work abroad if the tech industry doesn't
get more H-1B help. His discussions with Kyl ended up making the main bill
more tech-friendly, Hellmann said.

High-tech lobbyist Kara Calvert, who has been tracking the deal-making, said
the main revisions to emerge after Ballmer's visit include:

-- More H-1B visas. The current base cap is 65,000, with 20,000 more slots for
foreigners who get advanced degrees from U.S. universities. The new deal would
increase the base cap to 115,000, add 40,000 H-1B visas for the foreign-born
who get advanced degrees here, plus another 20,000 slots for persons who get
advanced degrees from abroad in science, technology, engineering or math.

-- A five-year transition plan to help work through the backlog of H-1B visa
holders waiting to get green cards before a new application system takes full
effect.

But Calvert said none of the revisions has been added to the bill yet, and in
any case, none of this will matter if the omnibus bill is not resuscitated.

Meanwhile, Ron Hira, a professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute
of Technology, said importing large numbers of knowledge-workers depresses
wages and reduces employment opportunities for Americans.

While program critics like Hira have far less lobbying clout on Capitol Hill
than high-tech companies, they have found some bipartisan allies in the
current Senate debate. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Charles Grassley, R-
Iowa, have advanced proposals to give the Department of Labor more clout to
investigate and monitor whether H-1B workers are pushing Americans out of
jobs.

"This is recognition that there is something wrong with the H-1B program,"
said Hira, who says 15 of the top 20 users of H-1B visas are companies
involved in moving high-tech work offshore, typically to India.

According to high-tech lobbyists, Durbin and Grassley remained outside the
group of senators who tried to make the big bill more palatable to Ballmer.
But in recognition of the interest in whether U.S. workers are being
displaced, high-tech leaders say the latest incarnation of the main bill would
include proposals from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that would be tougher than
current law but not as tough as the Durbin-Grassley proposals.

All of this would be meaningless unless the Senate revives the big bill.
But tech leaders believe if they can get this measure to the House, they'll
get a friendly reception from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who chairs a key
subcommittee on immigration.

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

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/08/Tech-groups-urge-return-of-immigration-reform-bill_1.html

Tech groups urge return of immigration reform bill After the Comprehensive
Immigration Reform Act stalled in the Senate, several IT groups have pushed
for the bill and its H-1B reform to be resurrected

By Grant Gross, IDG News Service

June 08, 2007

Three major technology trade groups urged the U.S. Senate on Friday to
resurrect a wide-ranging immigration reform bill that would expand a
controversial skilled-worker visa program.

The Senate late Thursday failed to gain enough votes to close debate on the
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act and bring the bill to a floor vote.
The bill, which critics said provided amnesty to illegal aliens living in the
U.S., also would have expanded exemptions to the cap on high-skilled H-1B visa
programs, a move supported by many tech vendors.

[ Analysis: Immigration reform's high-tech impact ]

The bill would increase the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000 and exempt
foreign students who have earned a master's degree or higher from a U.S.
university from the annual cap. Right now, 20,000 students are exempted from
the cap.

U.S. tech vendors don't want to lose those workers, especially because many of
them have their education supported by U.S. tax dollars at public
universities, said David LeDuc, director of public policy for the SIIA
(Software & Information Industry Association).

"We don't want to export our seed corn," he said. "We don't want [those
students] leaving and working for our competitors."

The bill also sets preferences based on merit, instead of family connections,
for clearing multiyear backlogs for employment green cards, another provision
supported by many tech groups. Tech vendors want to keep high-skilled workers
in the U.S. under the long-term green card program but often face delays,
LeDuc said.

The SIIA, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the ITI
(Information Technology Industry Council) all urged the Senate to try again to
pass the legislation.

Negotiations on the bill will continue, and ITI is optimistic the bill will
still move forward, said James Ratchford, communications director there.
The fate of the bill should become clearer by early next week, he said.

LeDuc agreed, saying SIIA is confident the bill can still pass.

Many large tech vendors have in recent years urged Congress to expand the H-1B
program. In March, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called for more H-1B visas
during a visit to Washington, D.C. Gates said then he had "deep anxiety" about
the ability of the U.S. to compete globally.

SIIA's position is similar to Microsoft's. "Companies need to be able to hire
the best and brightest workers regardless of where they're born,"
LeDuc said.

The H-1B program isn't generating controversy during the congressional debate
on the bill. Instead, provisions to allow illegal aliens to become permanent
citizens have raised major concerns among many Republicans. But U.S.-based
tech worker groups such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers-USA have opposed a higher H-1B cap, arguing that companies use the
program to hire foreign workers for less money than unemployed U.S. workers
would receive.

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