U.S. to Sharply Cut Number of High-Tech Visas
By Alan Elsner, National Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is about to cut the
number of employment visas it offers to highly qualified foreign workers
from 195,000 to 65,000, immigration experts said on Monday.
Unless Congress acts by the end of this month -- and there is little sign
it will do so -- the change will automatically take effect on Oct. 1.
Employers, especially technology companies, argue the move will hurt
them and the economy.
The change will affect the number of H1-B visas that can be issued each
fiscal year. The visas are mostly used to bring high-tech experts from
Asia, especially from the Indian sub-continent, to work in the United
States for up to three years.
"The fact that Congress doesn't seem anxious to act reflects the political
climate, with a lack of jobs for Americans," said New York immigration
lawyer Cyrus Mehta.
"The pressure to change the limit will build up again when the economy
picks up."
The Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) held a hearing on
the issue last week. Republican chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah noted that
many U.S. high-tech workers are unemployed and the committee
needed to find ways of helping them without hurting the country's ability
to compete globally.
Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy said: "Given the weakness of
our current economy, and the rising unemployment we have experienced
under President Bush (news - web sites)'s stewardship, many who
supported the increase in 2000 now believe that 65,000 visas are
sufficient."
But Patrick Duffy, Human Resources Attorney for Intel Corporation, said
finding the best-educated engineering talent from around the world was
critical to his company's future.
"We expect that we will continue to sponsor H-1B employees in the
future for the simple reason that we cannot find enough U.S. workers
with the advanced education, skills, and expertise we need," he said.
Elizabeth Dickson, director of immigration services for the Ingersoll-Rand
Company, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (news -
web sites), said: "In the near-term, we simply must have access to
foreign nationals. Many of them have been educated in the United
States. By sending them home, we are at best sending them to our own
foreign plant sites, and at worst to our competitors."
Immigration attorneys expect the new rules to set off a scramble by
companies to fill their slots early before the ceiling is reached. How
quickly that happens depends on the state of the economy, they said., |
