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  1. #1
    Senior Member ruthiela's Avatar
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    Understaffed firms hurt by visa curbs

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/lo ... 2348.story

    EMPLOYMENT
    Understaffed firms hurt by visa curbs
    Businesses want to hire foreign professionals

    By Rachel Hatzipanagos
    South Florida Sun-Sentinel

    August 6, 2006

    As Washington debates immigration reform, focusing mainly on millions of residents without legal papers, little attention has been directed to a key business issue: America's demand for skilled foreign labor.

    Companies decry a shortage of professionals, at a time when U.S. unemployment is low and more than half of all advanced degrees awarded by U.S. universities in math, science and engineering go to foreign nationals, not U.S. citizens.

    Compounding the problem are quotas on U.S. work visas for the foreign professionals, known as H1B visas, and other hurdles for U.S. entry. A business coalition, including Microsoft Corp. and others operating in South Florida, charge today's tight limits hurt America's ability to compete and send talent instead to China, India and other nations.

    "We're competing around the world for the same pool of workers," said Lynn Shotwell, executive director of the American Council of International Personnel and a leader of the Compete America coalition seeking immigration reform, including more H1B visas. "So if we're making it difficult for these talented people, they have opportunities elsewhere."

    Boca Raton immigration attorney Richard Hujber is tired of telling his clients they can't hire the skilled workers they need.

    Every year, the quota runs out faster for the H1B visas, so Hujber ends up informing entrepreneurs -- from architectural firms to telecom companies -- that they may have to put off expansion for lack of technical staff.

    This year, the 65,000 slots available under the primary H1B quota ran out in two months -- the quickest yet.

    "These are the best and brightest in their countries -- professionals, with degrees, experience, skills we want, coming to work in areas like nursing, where we have shortages," said Hujber."65,000 visas a year doesn't cut it."

    Boca Raton-based 3E Consulting feels the pinch, too. It helps foreign nationals obtain H1B visas and places them with U.S. firms seeking talent, especially in high-tech jobs.

    "I haven't been able to meet my recruiting goals," said 3E director Siddharth Jetly. "So much planning has to be done way in advance. If there is a client, and I have a recruiting need, they don't want to wait a year while we file the paperwork."

    The crunch wasn't always so acute. Washington began the visa program for foreign professionals in 1952 with no quotas. It set a 65,000-a-year cap in the early 1990s and raised the annual limit to 195,000 amid the tech boom. After the dot-com collapse, the cap reverted to 65,000 -- only to be exhausted faster and faster each year.

    A secondary quota of 20,000 visas for those graduating U.S. universities with at least master's degrees also has proved insufficient, running out in four months.

    Bills in Congress to raise the H1B visa cap face several roadblocks, however, despite lobbying by Microsoft and trade associations for speedy action.

    First, they're entangled in the larger debate over immigration reform, with a comprehensive reform unlikely to be forthcoming this year, said David Whitlock, partner with Atlanta-based labor law firm Fisher and Phillips LLP, with offices in Fort Lauderdale.

    Some U.S. labor groups also oppose higher caps, charging that the foreign professionals take away American jobs. Computer programmer groups -- including the Programmers Guild of New Jersey -- are among the most outspoken critics.

    Whether Hewlett-Packard employs 500 Mexicans in California or 500 Mexicans in Mexico "doesn't seem to be that different of a result, because we are still out of a job," said Kim Berry, president of the Guild founded in 1998.

    Companies involved with H1Bs insist they'd rather hire Americans -- if the supply of professionals were available.

    Obtaining H1Bs is expensive, generally more than $4,000 per visa including U.S. government fees and legal costs.

    "I've never had a client choose someone who is on a sponsorship over an American citizen," said Robin deLisser, executive director for Boca Raton-based placement company EMpower Resources. "They don't have to go through regulations, and it's just easier."

    Foreign professionals seeking U.S. work visas say today's tight rules also make their lives unpredictable. "You aren't really sure whether you are able to come here," said Viswanath Akella, 29, who holds a degree in electronic communications from India and worked in Boca Raton.

    And once on the job, staff may be stretched.

    "I see projects not getting done here, simply because they don't have the manpower to do them," Akella said.

    If visa holders lose a job, the program also requires they find a new post within a limited amount of time or leave -- a period generally too short to get hired, said Israel's Sharon Levy, 36, vice president of technology at Hollywood-based Comerxia Inc., a provider of e-commerce services.

    The caps and tight controls baffle Levy, since the program "brings competition from abroad and it makes the domestic market better. Especially in the United States, which was built on immigrants."

    But amid strife in Congress over immigration reform, changes to the program seem unlikely soon. That leaves companies seeking workers with H1B visas to file earlier next time, if they hope to gain access to skilled workers for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 2007. Applications are accepted no sooner than six months in advance, or April 1.

    Smaller businesses face a relative disadvantage, often lacking resources to plan so far ahead. "Big companies like Microsoft come and swoop up so many H1Bs that small- and medium-sized companies in telecom or architecture are left out in the cold," lamented immigration lawyer Hujber.

    But even large companies like Microsoft worry they'll be shortchanged, even if they're among the first on line for the visas.

    "Next April 1 will be mayhem, and the quota will probably be gone in April, not May next year," said labor lawyer Whitlock. "We're just crippling our businesses."

    Rachel Hatzipanagos can be reached at rhatzipanagos@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4209. Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.

    Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
    END OF AN ERA 1/20/2009

  2. #2
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    And, the part of the story you rarely hear from the no-borders, pro Big Business crowd...

    Is (according to stats. I've seen published by the IEEE in the last couple years...) that any one give point in time, there are approx. 900,000 - 1,000,000 unemployed US engineers in the country. Do you think that the case made by the H1B big business lobbysists has something other to do than with simple numbers (eg. supply)?

    Maybe they just want cheap, indentured 'slaves' - employable by just a single company/employer with absolute control over the newly arrived foreigner....(?)

    We should also work hard to ensure that the H1B system is neither expanded nor experiences any MORE abuses (already a milieu, and way beyond accountability - eg. has many 'VISA Overstayers' in particular)

    Just my 0.02 worth...
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  3. #3
    Senior Member Reciprocity's Avatar
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    Maybe they just want cheap, indentured 'slaves' - employable by just a single company/employer with absolute control over the newly arrived foreigner....(?)

    Bingo!
    “In questions of power…let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” –Thomas Jefferson

  4. #4
    MW
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    Senior Member MW's Avatar
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    This is very simple and is no different than the lower paying sector jobs in our society. For example, why pay an American Engineer $70,000 when you can pay an India Engineer $35,000 to perform the same tasks? Add fees and other associated costs and you still get the foreign worker for $30,000 less than you do the comparable American (it adds up when multiplied X 100 employees). The same thing is happening in construction, landscaping, hotel service industry, etc. Why pay an American $12 to $16 an hour when you can hire an illegal for $6 to $9 an hour?

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts athttps://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  5. #5
    Senior Member CountFloyd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MW
    This is very simple and is no different than the lower paying sector jobs in our society. For example, why pay an American Engineer $70,000 when you can pay an India Engineer $35,000 to perform the same tasks? Add fees and other associated costs and you still get the foreign worker for $30,000 less than you do the comparable American (it adds up when multiplied X 100 employees). The same thing is happening in construction, landscaping, hotel service industry, etc. Why pay an American $12 to $16 an hour when you can hire an illegal for $6 to $9 an hour?
    It's funny how that never filters upwards. After all, why pay an American CEO $20 million per year when you could hire an Indian one for $200,000?

    Now there are some real cost savings.
    It's like hell vomited and the Bush administration appeared.

  6. #6
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    Thanks Count, that's an obvious point which I should have mentioned, but somehow overlooked. ... oh well. How true indeed!
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  7. #7
    Senior Member AlturaCt's Avatar
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    If visa holders lose a job, the program also requires they find a new post within a limited amount of time or leave
    Like that is really meaningful. We all know the visa system is wrought with fraud and little to no real oversight. Nobody really follows through on weather these visa holders go home or not.





    Here is a relevant and interesting post that ohflyingone posted in the other news and & issues section.


    Phyllis Schlafly gave a riveting testimonial to the House Judiciary
    Committee. I excerpted the section on H-1B and F-4 visas you should,
    when time permits, click the link and read all 11 pages.

    Schlafly's testimony deals with the Senate Immigration bill (S. 2611).
    Fortunately this bill is dying because Congress still can't get a
    conference committee to hammer out a compromise bill.
    The House remains adamantly opposed to any immigration bill that
    contains amnesty.

    Since S. 2611 is dying, why should you worry about what Schlafly has to
    say?

    Let me give you a simple answer to that question - it's called the
    Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership Act (SKIL Bill) which is
    silently working its way through Congress. The Skil Bill is a subset of S.
    2611 with all the immigration stuff stripped out except for the things that
    Bill Gates wants. Gates lobbied so hard for the bill I nicknamed it:
    "Bill's Skil Bill". Everything Schlafly says in the excerpt below is
    pertinent to the Bill's Skil Bill.

    The Skil bill has been introduced to both the House and Senate:

    H.R. 5744 in the House sponsored by John Shadegg (R-AZ)

    S. 2691 in the Senate sponsored by John Cornyn (R-TX)

    The most likely scenario for the Skil Bill to get through Congress is for
    them to slip it under the radar screen by voting for it late on a Friday
    night after the 2006 elections. A lame duck Congress could repay Bill Gates
    for all of his lobbying efforts while the public concerns themselves with
    turkeys and Christmas trees. As I have been saying for quite awhile, the
    comprehensive immigration bill in the Senate is nothing but a smoke screen
    for the monstrous Skil Bill!

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

    http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/s ... 071806.pdf

    STATEMENT TO THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
    SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY, AND CLAIMS
    by PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY
    President, Eagle Forum
    July 18, 2006

    There is still more that is disastrous about the Senate bill. It would
    invite into our country with guest-worker status 115,000 skilled workers on
    H-1B visas, and raise the number each year. H-1Bs encourage corporations to
    hire engineers and computer specialists from India, Pakistan and China at
    half the salary Americans would be paid. The Senate bill would exempt from
    the H-1B visa cap and put on the track for permanent residence all
    foreigners who get advanced degrees from a U.S. university
    (an additional discrimination against U.S. graduates in technical
    subjects).

    The Senate bill would also create a new F-4 visa category for foreign
    students pursuing an advanced degree in math, science, engineering or
    technology and put them on the track for permanent residence (thereby
    discouraging U.S. students from majoring in math and science).

    When I lecture on college campuses, students tell me they are switching out
    of computer science because they are told that there are almost no jobs
    available for computer majors. Of course there are plenty of computer jobs,
    but not for Americans because big business would rather hire foreigners.
    This system is not the free market; it's politicians and corporations
    conniving to do an end run around our immigration laws in order to keep
    wages artificially low.

    The rationale for inviting H-1B foreigners to take American jobs is an
    alleged labor shortage, but we never had any shortage in engineers or
    computer technicians. The labor-shortage claim is ridiculous today since
    there are more than 100,000 unemployed or underemployed Americans with
    those skills. After the dot-com bust a few years ago, tens of thousands of
    computer workers and engineers left Silicon Valley and took any job they
    could get, of course at a fraction the pay they had been receiving.

    The promise that employers will offer jobs to Americans first is a sick
    joke. American engineers and computer techies who lost their jobs to
    foreigners under the H-1B visa guest-worker racket know that a
    look-for-Americans-first rule is never enforced and easily evaded.

    At least 463,000 H-1B workers are employed in the United States, and some
    estimate twice that number. H-1Bers who are hired by universities and other
    exempt institutions are not in the count. During the third quarter of last
    year, high tech companies in the U.S. laid off workers in record numbers,
    but they didn=t lay off H-1B workers. Just before being laid off, hundreds
    of American engineers and computer specialists were forced to train their
    foreign replacements.

    The best research on the economics of H-1B workers has been done by
    Professor Norman Matloff of the University of California/Davis.

    It's bad news for America=s future if the corporations learn to rely on
    foreigners for all their computer work. Americans, not foreigners, are the
    source of the technical innovations we need to stay ahead in the
    fast-moving computer industry. Of the 56 awards given by the Association
    for Computing Machinery for software and hardware innovation, only one
    recipient was an immigrant
    [b]Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.
    - Arnold J. Toynbee

  8. #8
    Senior Member moosetracks's Avatar
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    I can't stand it anymore! They lobbied on fraudulent data to get more cheap labor here! It was written about at Human Events!!! I sent the article to my House Rep., and he must have read it as he thanked me for that article.

    I wish I could find Bill Gates personal email address!
    Do not vote for Party this year, vote for America and American workers!

  9. #9
    Senior Member CountFloyd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by moosetracks
    I can't stand it anymore! They lobbied on fraudulent data to get more cheap labor here! It was written about at Human Events!!! I sent the article to my House Rep., and he must have read it as he thanked me for that article.

    I wish I could find Bill Gates personal email address!
    It used to be billg@microsoft.com.

    I imagine he uses the mother of all mail filtering programs, though.
    It's like hell vomited and the Bush administration appeared.

  10. #10
    ncfm's Avatar
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    Understaffed firms hurt by visa curbs

    Amazing! Lost in all of this is that no one seemd to consider hiring American workers, or God forbid, training American workers for these jobs. Everyone wants the benefits of being an American corporation, but few seem willing to accept the responsibility of being an American employer. Boycott's seldom work, but what the heck; it's worth a try. I say boycott and product or service from any company that doesn't make a concerted effort to insure American citizens are occupying their jobs.

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