Thread: Bush Admin: Tech workers won't be hurt by visa extension

Bush Administration: Tech workers won't be hurt by visa extension
It's not a back-door H-1B increase, government argues
By Patrick Thibodeau
All Comments (36)

June 24, 2008 (Computerworld) In papers filed in court Monday, the Bush administration says its student visa extension won't hurt U.S. tech workers and argues that it's not a backdoor H-1B increase.

The administration was responding to a lawsuit filed in May by the Immigration Reform Institute, The Programmers Guild and other groups challenging the extension of the Optional Practical Training (OPT) provision from one year to 29 months. That provision spells out the amount of time a foreign student can work in the U.S. before getting an H-1B visa.

The case is being heard in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., with opponents seeking an injunction to block the student visa extension. The change to the OPT was put in place earlier this year through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The extension has drawn attention from major organizations on both sides of the issue. The AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the U.S., has said the extension for student workers could lower wages for U.S. tech workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has countered that foreign talent is needed to maintain competitiveness.

The Bush administration has argued that opponents of the change, a group that includes tech workers who say they are either unemployed or underemployed, have no legal standing to challenge the visa extension. The government argues that the change "will not cause plaintiffs to be unemployed or underemployed in the future."

The government expects about 12,000 foreign students to seek a visa extension, and that figure represents "barely 0.2% of the 5.5 million" engineering and computer jobs in the U.S. Opponents argue that growth in the H-1B visa program has had a huge impact on job opportunities for U.S. workers, and they contend that between 1999 and 2005 employment in computer fields grew by 332,000 jobs, while over the same period the U.S. approved 330,000 H-1B visas. Engineering employment declined by 123,900 jobs during that period.

Related BlogPatrick Thibodeau
Guam: H-1B backdoor?The government argued that the extension doesn't create more H-1B visas and instead simply reduces some of the hardship imposed by the H-1B visa cap.

That cap is currently set at 85,000, a figure that includes 20,000 visas set aside for advanced degree holders. The number of visa applications has been nearly double the cap limit in recent years, a trend the government said creates a problem for students who may have to wait longer than a year for an H-1B visa.

"The extension of time permitted in this rule simply spares [foreign students] the hardship of leaving the country to change their status."
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Slaves are still slaves - whether they are high paid ones or low paid ones.

Bush is lying again - I saw his lips move.
That Congress fails to do anything about this is why their ratings are even lower than his are.

Originally Posted by zeezil

The administration was responding to a lawsuit filed in May by the Immigration Reform Institute, The Programmers Guild and other groups challenging the extension of the Optional Practical Training (OPT) provision from one year to 29 months. That provision spells out the amount of time a foreign student can work in the U.S. before getting an H-1B visa.

The Bush administration has argued that opponents of the change, a group that includes tech workers who say they are either unemployed or underemployed, have no legal standing to challenge the visa extension. The government argues that the change "will not cause plaintiffs to be unemployed or underemployed in the future."

All of this is a load of crap. Indians placed in technical jobs work to have Americans fired from their jobs for racial reasons and replaced with Indians. This is not opinion; it is simple fact.

Extending the Operational Training Program gives Indians taking university jobs more opportunity to freeze out American applicants.

Again, simple fact. What is, is and no amount of mentally Liberal double talk changes that truth!

INDIANS ARE VERY RACISTS AGAINST AMERICAN CITIZENS AND WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF THEM BRINGING THEIR RACISM INTO OUR WORKPLACE!!!

DON'T BELIEVE A WORD OF GEORGE BUSH'S LIES! HE IS A VERY SICK, VERY EVIL, CORRUPT MAN!!!

I am a computer builder/programmer with over 38 years experience, and out of work, can I find a job that pays better than 10 dollars an hour?

Fourth generation american, and I curse my dead parents for allowing this invasion!