Congress reaches agreement on High Tech Visa Bill.
JPR
Here is an interesting piece of information that might be of interest to the high tech guys and girls from the old country.[source:Bloomberg}
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Jul 24 1998 7:51PM - Bloomberg News
U.S. Congress Reaches Agreement on High Tech Visa Bill
Washington, July 24 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. House and Senate negotiators reached a tentative agreement on a bill that would increase the number of temporary U.S. visas granted for highly skilled foreign workers.
The compromise version of the high-technology worker visa bill will increase the number of visas to 95,000 next year from 65,000 a year, said Senator Spencer Abraham, the Michigan Republican who crafted theSenate version. The visa cap would climb to 105,000 in 2000 and reach 115,000 in 2001 and 2002, he said.
The measure will satisfy U.S. high-tech companies such as California-based Sun Microsystems Inc. and Washington-based Microsoft Corp. that say are in urgent need of more foreign-born computer workers because there aren't enough American workers. The industry contends that unfilled positions would undermine their global competitiveness.
However, the bill also requires companies that hire the workers to ''attest that they have ... not laid off an American worker to hire a foreign one,'' said Representative Lamar Smith in a statement. The Texas Republican, who chairs the House immigration subcommittee, hammered out the House version.
The legislation, a compromise of previous House and Senate bills, must now go back to each chamber for a final vote. A House vote is likely by Aug. 7, when Congress will take its August recess, said Allen Kay, a Smith spokesman. ''Everyone has been wanting to get the bill passed before the August break,'' he said.
Organized labor and the General Accounting Office have said that the shortage of skilled workers isn't as acute as U.S. computer, health care and financial services companies claim. Any increase in the temporary foreign professional visa program ''should be small and temporary,'' AFL-CIO president John Sweeney has said.
Also, the Clinton administrationhas threatened to veto a bill that didn't adequately protect American workers.
White House Standpoint
A White House spokesman wasn't available to comment on the agreement. Additional training for American workers is ''a critical part of any strategy for addressing the long term demand for highly skilled workers,'' White House spokesman Barry Toiv has said.
''I am sure that the White House wants to help, rather than hinder, the high-tech sector of our economy,'' Abraham said. ''This bill provides critical assistance,'' he said, adding that no company or research university has been able to hire highly skilled foreign professionals since the temporary visa cap was reached in May.
The ''attestation'' would concern those companies where foreign workers make up at least 15 percent of the total staff, Abraham said. Those companies ''will have to check off a box that says they've taken good-faith steps to get Americans'' first, Kay said.
If they fail to do so, the companies could be fined and barred for one year from hiring foreign workers with temporary visas, Smith said. --Anne Maitrepierre in Washington (202) 624-1820 /ba/ge Story illustration: For a graph of Sun Microsystems's recent stock activity, type: SUNW US
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