TO ALL: Perhaps this will be good news!! JDN
U.S. Senate Clears Way for Passage of H-1B High-Tech Visa Bill
Washington, Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) - The U.S. Senate this week could pass legislation that would allow companies like Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. to almost double the number of specialized foreign workers they can hire.
Late yesterday, the Senate inserted the so-called high-tech visa bill into a larger omnibus spending measure that, once passed by the Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton, will fund the U.S. government in fiscal year 1999, said Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham, a sponsor of the proposed law.
The bill, passed by the House of Representatives last month, would increase the annual allotment of H-1B visas for advanced science and engineering professionals to 115,000 in 1999 and 2000 from 65,000 now. The visa allotment will fall to 107,500 in 2001 and return to 65,000 in 2002.
Many companies wanted a five-year increase. Companies like Microsoft, Intel, Motorola, Mastech Corp., Intel Corp., Hewlett- Packard Co., International Business Machines Corp., Texas Instruments Inc., and Oracle Corp. say they need more foreign- born workers to compete with international rivals.
Last month, after months of wrangling over worker training and protections for U.S. workers, Clinton aides agreed to a plan that would increase the number of H-1B visas. In exchange, the Labor Department will have greater power to monitor employment policies of industrial companies that use the special visas.
Labor Department Scrutiny
The agency will devote special scrutiny to ''job shops,'' companies that subcontract large numbers of H-1B holders to other firms, to ensure that foreign workers aren't replacing American workers and aren't being underpaid in salary and benefits.
Even with the Labor Department's increased authority, the new measure won't go far enough to compensate U.S. workers who fall victim to unscrupulous employers, said John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO.
''We are disappointed that (the House bill) does not sufficiently address the critical issue of how to strengthen the competitive position of American workers in our global economy,'' Sweeney said in a statement.
Accounting firms Price Waterhouse LLP. and Ernst & Young LLP as well as Harvard and Yale universities are also among the Top 100 users of the visas, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said.
The latest plan is a compromise between Abraham's measure, which the Senate passed in May, and a House version sponsored by Texas Republican Lamar S. Smith.
Manpower Shortage
Half of U.S. graduate students in advanced sciences are foreign born, and high-tech companies want more chances to tap that pool. An increase in the visas will create jobs, not take them away from U.S.-born people, said Mary Dee Beall, manager of government affairs at Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett- Packard.
U.S. companies have 95,000 jobs they can't fill because there aren't enough qualified U.S. citizens available, according to the American Electronics Institute.
''The danger for the U.S. economy is that if we can't get the people we need, the product design process will have to go overseas,'' Beall said. ''Where the design process goes, the manufacturing process will inevitably follow.''
Fines and penalties for employers that ''willfully'' fire U.S. workers to hire foreign workers or pay them less would rise to $5,000 from $1,000 under the new plan. Offending companies would be excluded from being able to hire workers with the high- tech visas for three years, up from one year now, said Jake Siewert, a spokesman for the administration's National Economic Council.
The U.S. computer and electronics industry would pay $75 million a year to increase training and scholarship opportunities for U.S.-born students. ThU.S. Senate Clears Way for Passage of H-1B High-Tech Visa Bill
Washington, Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) - The U.S. Senate this week could pass legislation that would allow companies like Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. to almost double the number of specialized foreign workers they can hire.
Late yesterday, the Senate inserted the so-called high-tech visa bill into a larger omnibus spending measure that, once passed by the Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton, will fund the U.S. government in fiscal year 1999, said Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham, a sponsor of the proposed law.
The bill, passed by the House of Representatives last month, would increase the annual allotment of H-1B visas for advanced science and engineering professionals to 115,000 in 1999 and 2000 from 65,000 now. The visa allotment will fall to 107,500 in 2001 and return to 65,000 in 2002.
Many companies wanted a five-year increase. Companies like Microsoft, Intel, Motorola, Mastech Corp., Intel Corp., Hewlett- Packard Co., International Business Machines Corp., Texas Instruments Inc., and Oracle Corp. say they need more foreign- born workers to compete with international rivals.
Last month, after months of wrangling over worker training and protections for U.S. workers, Clinton aides agreed to a plan that would increase the number of H-1B visas. In exchange, the Labor Department will have greater power to monitor employment policies of industrial companies that use the special visas.
Labor Department Scrutiny
The agency will devote special scrutiny to ''job shops,'' companies that subcontract large numbers of H-1B holders to other firms, to ensure that foreign workers aren't replacing American workers and aren't being underpaid in salary and benefits.
Even with the Labor Department's increased authority, the new measure won't go far enough to compensate U.S. workers who fall victim to unscrupulous employers, said John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO.
''We are disappointed that (the House bill) does not sufficiently address the critical issue of how to strengthen the competitive position of American workers in our global economy,'' Sweeney said in a statement.
Accounting firms Price Waterhouse LLP. and Ernst & Young LLP as well as Harvard and Yale universities are also among the Top 100 users of the visas, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said.
The latest plan is a compromise between Abraham's measure, which the Senate passed in May, and a House version sponsored by Texas Republican Lamar S. Smith.
Manpower Shortage
Half of U.S. graduate students in advanced sciences are foreign born, and high-tech companies want more chances to tap that pool. An increase in the visas will create jobs, not take them away from U.S.-born people, said Mary Dee Beall, manager of government affairs at Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett- Packard.
U.S. companies have 95,000 jobs they can't fill because there aren't enough qualified U.S. citizens available, according to the American Electronics Institute.
''The danger for the U.S. economy is that if we can't get the people we need, the product design process will have to go overseas,'' Beall said. ''Where the design process goes, the manufacturing process will inevitably follow.''
Fines and penalties for employers that ''willfully'' fire U.S. workers to hire foreign workers or pay them less would rise to $5,000 from $1,000 under the new plan. Offending companies would be excluded from being able to hire workers with the high- tech visas for three years, up from one year now, said Jake Siewert, a spokesman for the administration's National Economic Council.
The U.S. computer and electronics industry would pay $75 million a year to increase training and scholarship opportunities for U.S.-born students. Th |
