Five H-1B articles
Five H-1B articles
Date: Friday, July 07, 2006 9:17 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1516 -- 07/07/2006 >>>>>
H-1B propaganda is appearing in newspapers again. I suspect most of these
articles are timed to lend support to the Skil bill that is making its way
through the House and Senate. As all of you who read this newsletter should
know by now, Bill Gates lobbied very heavily for the Skil bill. This quote
tells all:
"From Bill Gates on down, companies are screaming that they can't
get these professional workers," said Bradley Komanecky, a
Rochester lawyer specializing in immigration issues.
When I first started reading article #5 I couldn't keep from laughing. The
last paragraph wiped the smirk off my face real fast:
The Senate and the House are reassembling after recess on July 11
and lobby groups are intensifying their efforts to get the Senate's
version of the Bill approved. "Unless House leaders agree in the
conference committee with the Senate leaders, there may be no
increase in H1-Bs, or the House leaders may force a compromise on the
total number of H1Bs," says Robinder Sachdev, director, India Affairs,
US India Political Action Committee (USIPAC), an organisation
campaigning for the hike in H1-B visas, among other issues.
This means that the lobbyists are already planning their attack on Capitol
Hill. USINPAC will be there to lobby for the Skil bill on July 11.
I have covered USINPAC extensively in past newsletters, and published these
two articles.
Pledge of Allegiance -- to India Part 1
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/cgi-bin/showarticle.pl?articleID=1242&terms=
Pledge of Allegiance -- to India Part 2
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/fifteen-one/xv-1-45.pdf
Visit their website at:
http://www.usinpac.com/
This is a very interesting excerpt from article #3:
Groom came to the United States in 1998 on an H1-B visa obtained
for him by a farmer in Lyons. Groom and the farmer were partners
in the business.
Groom, who came from Scotland, made a business partnership with a farmer.
Their business sponsored him for an H-1B visa. This dubious transaction was
probably illegal because you cannot self-sponsor yourself for an H-1B visa.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger used a similar illegal scheme to
get an H-2B visa.
To read about how Arnie flaunted our laws, go to the archive and read this
newsletter:
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/JobDestructionNews2003.htm
2003 10-01 Schwarzenegger is NIV Scofflaw
These two excerpts from H-1B attorneys make it very clear that it's illegal
to start your own business to sponsor yourself for a visa. Of course Arnie
is still governor, and Groom is probably still herding Black Angus cattle,
so the mere fact that we have these laws on the books means very little.
http://www.lahlaw.com/faqs.shtml#5
CAN I SPONSOR MYSELF FOR THE H-1B VISA?
You must be sponsored by a "U.S. employer." What if you are the employer in
the form of a company that you establish? INS regulations define employer
as "a person or entity...who engages the services or labor of an employee
to be performed in the United States for wages or other remuneration."
Since the H-1B petition must be approved prior to commencing employment,
and it is difficult, although not impossible, for a "paper" company with
zero employees and no income to be considered an employer capable of
sponsoring an H-1B applicant, the dilemma to overcome is establishing a
company with enough viability to be approved by the INS without technically
being employed in the interim. One way to remain within the law is to
establish a company with the help of other investors. The most conservative
position is to be only a "passive investor" as opposed to exercising
substantial decision-making power in the company. An individual cannot be
accused of being employed without authorization if he or she is only a
passive investor in the company that will sponsor him or her for the H-1B
visa. To summarize, an individual cannot be "employed" until his or her
employer petitions for and receives H-1B approval.
http://www.usvisanews.com/questions/wedquest082003.shtml
3. My question is the following: I work full-time for my employer that
sponsored my H1B visa. I now intend to start my own business to buy and
sell real estate. I wish to be the owner of the business and not an
employee on its payroll and hence do not plan to apply for my own H1B.
However, owning my own business would require me to undertake some basic
activities on behalf of the company -- interacting with clients, signing
contracts etc... While doing so, am I violating BCIS regulations?
A: Yes. While in the U.S. in H-1B status you may only engage in the
authorized H-1B employment. Any other activities such as acquiring an
ownership interest in a business may only be engaged in IF the income
received is passive income (e.g. stock dividends) and if you do NOT
participate in any of the day-to-day operations of the company. The
scenario you describe above is probably against the law.
Article 1:
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/editorial/14911684.htm
Welcoming skilled workers
President Bush is pushing for a guest-worker program, and the U.S. Senate
wants to boost the number of temporary visas available both to foreign
workers. That raises a troubling worry: Will all those new workers force
down American wages? The answer: Not if it's done smartly.
Article 2:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-skilledvisa3jul03,1,6524150.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california
Access to Job Market in U.S. a Matter of Degrees
Foreign workers with high-tech skills are in demand, but visa quotas snarl
the hiring process.
Article 3:
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/NEWS01/607020305/1002
Visas elude foreign workers
Increasing quota levels could prove beneficial
The images of the immigration debate seem to play over and over in the
media -- scenes of arrests at the southern border of the United States,
pictures from rallies where people speak in Spanish and English. Missing
from these images are other immigrants, the foreign workers who are courted
by companies here and throughout the country to fill jobs. ''The people
you're bringing in are the cream of the crop,'' said Maggie Catillaz, an
immigration lawyer in Rochester. ''Otherwise, an employer wouldn't go
through the (immigration) process.
Article 4:
http://www.competeamerica.org/news/media_coverage/2006_06/20062705_cloud.html
Under a Cloud
For Dr. Sengupta, Long-Term Visa Is a Long Way Off
Rules Limit Entry, Prospects Of Foreign-Born Scientists Despite Demand for
Them Latest in Weather Satellites
The immigration debate swirling through Congress this summer is mostly
about low-skilled illegal immigrants. Largely ignored are the highly
skilled legal immigrants who help keep the U.S. a technology leader, even
as U.S. students struggle with math and science.
Article 5:
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=133111
H1-B visa crunch hits Indian software companies hard
Industry loses $3.5-4 bn in revenue and $1.6-2 bn in profits due to the
proposed hike in H1-B visa limit from 65,000 to 115,000
1. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/editorial/14911684.htm
Posted on Tue, Jun. 27, 2006
Welcoming skilled workers
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
The following editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday,
June 26:
President Bush is pushing for a guest-worker program, and the U.S. Senate
wants to boost the number of temporary visas available both to foreign
workers. That raises a troubling worry: Will all those new workers force
down American wages?
The answer: Not if it's done smartly.
The Senate bill would raise the annual cap on H-1B visas to 115,000 from
65,000. That's the visa given to highly skilled workers. The cap could be
much higher; it is in America's best interest to make it easier for such
workers to get permanent-residency (green) cards.
The American economy grows by innovation, and innovation requires smart
people with technical skills. The more such people we have around, the
faster our economy will advance. Historically, we've grown most of our own
innovators and relied on immigration for the rest. Albert Einstein, after
all, was a Swiss immigrant.
Right now, we're not developing enough scientists and engineers with the
right skills to fill the needs of American corporations. None other than
Bill Gates, a man who knows something about innovation, has been warning of
the consequences of this trend.
The Microsoft founder says his company can't hire enough highly skilled
people in America, nor can he get enough visas for foreign engineers and
scientists. As a result, American technology companies are moving more of
their research and development operations to Asia, which is minting new
engineers faster than the United States. In other words, American companies
are funding the development of a foreign technology industry. In a global
economy, some of this is inevitable.
But in order to keep high-tech companies here, American companies need to
be able to import the brainpower they require. "... If you're not going to
let high-skilled people in, it is going to tilt the degree to which you're
forcing projects to be done outside the United States," Gates warned in a
recent interview with the Seattle Times.
Adding to the frustration is that many of Asia's top minds are educated at
American universities, then shown the door after graduation. Every
foreigner who earns an advanced degree in science or engineering in America
and is offered a job here should be able to get a green card.
At the same time, American companies must not exploit their workers. The
current H-1B work visa program, combined with long waiting lists for green
cards, has the effect of shackling many immigrants to the employers who
sponsored them. It's akin to indentured servitude, and servants aren't paid
much. In fact, an organization of Internet technology workers claims that
highly skilled H-1B workers earn $13,000 less than their American
counterparts.
If it's cheaper to hire foreign-born workers, then American wages will
fall. The solution is to maintain the free market in labor. Once here,
highly skilled workers should be able to take any job they're offered and
automatically receive green cards after a fixed period of time working
here. That will reduce the temptation to import foreign workers only
because they'll work for less, rather to fill a real skill shortage.
A similar solution could work on the low end of the wage scale.
The Senate would allow illegal immigrants to stay in America if they've
been here two to five years, pay a fine and their taxes. That recognizes
reality: 11 million illegal immigrants aren't going away, and it ill serves
America to have an underclass subject to exploitation off-the-books by
employers looking for cheap labor.
To ease pressure on the border, the United States also would admit 200,000
low-skilled workers a year on temporary visas. The key here, again, is to
make sure that even temporary workers are free in the labor market. A
janitorial firm that can import $7-an-hour labor from Mexico can underbid a
rival firm that pays $9 an hour to American laborers. That's how wages
shrink.
So even temporary workers should be able to switch employers at will, and
companies that import workers should pay prevailing wages. Visas should be
limited to a number that will not reduce American wages.
We also should recognize that many temporary workers will end up staying in
America illegally. We can tighten our borders, lessen illegal immigration
and try to mitigate its effects. But as long as America remains the grail
for thousands of people looking for a better life - legally and illegally -
we will never eliminate it.
2. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-skilledvisa3jul03,1,6524150.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california
Access to Job Market in U.S. a Matter of Degrees
Foreign workers with high-tech skills are in demand, but visa quotas snarl
the hiring process.
By Anna Gorman
Times Staff Writer
July 3, 2006
This spring, a U.S. high-tech company recruited British citizen Gareth
Lloyd for a possible engineering job.
But before the Irvine office made its hiring decision, the number of
available visas for skilled workers ran out, in a record time of less than
two months.
Lloyd, who has degrees in applied physics and electrical and electronics
engineering, found another job in Germany.
"I was a little bit incredulous," Lloyd, 34, said in a phone interview. "It
seems arbitrary to put some kind of quota on this."
Much of the national debate on immigration has centered on undocumented
workers who fill agriculture, construction and service jobs. But highly
skilled foreign scientists, engineers and computer programmers recruited by
U.S. companies to work here legally also have a lot at stake in the
outcome. "The major focus for all the laws and all the bills has mainly
been for illegal immigrants," said Swati Srivastava, an Indian software
engineer who lives in Playa del Rey and is waiting for her green card. "We
kind of get pushed to the sidelines."
The Senate's sweeping immigration bill that passed in May calls for
increasing the number of H-1B visas, which are available for professional
foreign workers, from 65,000 to 115,000 annually. Foreigners with certain
advanced degrees would be exempt from the cap.
Despite President Bush's urging to increase such quotas, however, the House
bill that passed late last year does not include any provisions for
skilled-worker visas. And a conference committee, which would negotiate a
compromise, has yet to be selected. U.S. companies complain that they are
losing prospective employees to other countries because of a shortage of
highly skilled and educated foreign workers. As a result, companies are
either outsourcing science and engineering jobs or making do with fewer
employees.
"There aren't enough U.S. citizens pursuing those types of degrees," said
Jennifer Greeson, spokeswoman for Intel Corp. in Santa Clara, Calif., where
about 5% of the company's U.S.-based employees are on H-1B visas. "U.S.
companies being able to have access to talent, no matter where it
originates, is key to our continued competitiveness."
But critics of the H-1B program argue that there are enough Americans
qualified for the jobs. Companies just prefer to hire younger, less
expensive workers from other countries, such as India and China, instead of
more experienced American workers at higher salaries.
"The bottom line is cheap labor," said UC Davis computer-science professor
Norman Matloff, who has studied the H-1B program.
The six-year visas are available to foreigners with at least a bachelor's
degree. Firms must pay foreign workers the prevailing wage.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency begins accepting H-1B
visa applications on April 1 each year. The agency received enough visas to
hit the congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 at the end of May this year,
compared with August in 2005 and October in 2004. Those who receive the
visas can begin work Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year.
There are also 20,000 additional visas available for foreign workers who
earned a master's or higher-level degree in the U.S. The Citizenship and
Immigration Services is still accepting applications for those visas.
Because the H-1B cap is reached more quickly each year, many companies
prepare their paperwork ahead of time so they can be at the front of the
line. But they say it's often difficult to make hiring decisions six months
before the start date.
Orange County immigration attorney Mitchell Wexler has a courier ready on
the first day to take his clients' completed applications to Citizenship
and Immigration Services.
"The whole white-collar business community is kind of crossing our fingers"
that the number of visas is raised, Wexler said. Highly skilled foreign
workers, he said, are "the best and brightest" and should be invited into
the economy.
"If we can't get them," Wexler added, "they will go to a country that will
accept them, and they will get jobs in Canada, Australia and England and
will compete against us."
One of Wexler's clients, Massachusetts-based Skyworks Solutions, develops
and manufactures integrated circuits for cellphones. Connie Williams,
senior human resources specialist at the company's Irvine office, said her
firm was effectively cut off from a foreign labor pool that included Lloyd
of Britain when the government stopped accepting H-1B applications.
Williams said she worries that if Congress fails to pass reform
legislation, the door will slam shut even earlier next year. The company
has just over 2,000 U.S.-based employees, roughly 100 of whom have H-1B
visas.
"We need these highly skilled, highly educated, highly qualified
engineers," said Williams. "These people are a needle in a haystack."
Once foreigners have H-1B visas, they face another hurdle becoming
permanent legal residents. Applicants are often forced to wait years
because there are only 140,000 employment-based green cards available
annually. A backlog at Citizenship and Immigration Services adds to the
delays.
Swati and Aradhana Srivastava, 34, both Indian software engineers working
in the U.S. on H-1B visas, began the green card process with their employer
in November 2001. Since then, the sisters said they have not been able to
change jobs, positions or salaries.
They have taken film classes and are eager to pursue second careers in
filmmaking but cannot do so until after they get their green cards. They
also are reluctant to buy property or start a business. If they don't get
their green cards by the time they finish film school, the sisters may
return home.
"It's like living in a holding pattern continuously," said Swati
Srivastava, 28, a member of Immigration Voice, a new grass-roots
organization of skilled foreign workers pushing for immigration reform. The
Internet-based group formed late last year and has about 5,000 members
scattered around the country.
"We work in [the] U.S. legally in high-skilled jobs, but we still get
penalized for playing by the rules," Immigration Voice co-founder Aman
Kapoor said in an e-mail. "Since no one was working on our issues, we
decided to organize."
Sandy Boyd, vice president of the National Assn. of Manufacturers, said
there is an urgency to fixing the problems facing highly skilled foreign
workers, whether they're seeking temporary or permanent legal status. The
Senate's proposed immigration bill would increase the number of available
employment-based green cards.
If compromise legislation cannot be reached on the broader issues, Boyd
said, Congress should pass a separate, more narrow reform bill.
"This is not an issue that can be put off until comprehensive immigration
reform is passed," Boyd said, "because once we lose these jobs, it's very
difficult for them to come back."
But industry lobbyists arguing against increases in H-1B visas say the
program hurts U.S. citizens by lowering wages and increasing job
competition. They cite a recent report by the Government Accountability
Office that says the program lacks sufficient oversight from the Department
of Labor.
"We feel for the most part there are not shortages of U.S. engineers and
computer scientists that have the skills these companies are looking for,"
said Chris McManes, spokesman for the U.S. sector of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers. "If the cap is increased, that will
further hamper the ability of a U.S. engineer to find a job."
David Huber, a network engineer in Chicago and U.S. citizen by birth, said
he twice lost out on jobs to foreign workers. He was passed over for one
job and replaced at another, he said. Huber, who testified before the House
in March, said he could not find work for nearly three years, despite his
education and experience. "Too many of us cannot find jobs because
companies are turning to H-1B workers as a first choice," Huber said in
written testimony to the House.
Swadha Sharma, who lives in Arcadia, said she is not trying to replace U.S.
workers. Sharma earned an electronics engineering degree in India but has
long dreamed of becoming a math teacher. So while her husband worked here
on an H-1B visa, she earned her teaching credential at Cal Poly Pomona.
Sharma, 30, started applying for teaching jobs early this year, but she
said only one of three interested districts was willing to sponsor her for
an H-1B visa. And that offer, from a Los Angeles charter school, came after
the visa cap had been reached. Sharma now plans to pursue a master's degree
but said the U.S. is "missing out on a catch."
"I am really qualified," she said. "Hopefully, I will be able to teach
soon."
As for Lloyd, his plans to come to the United States are now on indefinite
hold. He started his job in Germany but still laments the U.S. immigration
system for limiting workers like himself from coming here.
"The H-1B scheme seems a little bit ridiculous," he said. "I would
certainly be an asset to the American economy."
3. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/NEWS01/607020305/1002
Article published Jul 2, 2006
Visas elude foreign workers
Increasing quota levels could prove beneficial
By Jim Memmott
Gannett News Service
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The images of the immigration debate seem to play over
and over in the media -- scenes of arrests at the southern border of the
United States, pictures from rallies where people speak in Spanish and
English.
Missing from these images are other immigrants, the foreign workers who are
courted by companies here and throughout the country to fill jobs.
That worker could be a research assistant at the University of Rochester, a
computer software analyst at Bausch & Lomb Inc. or even a Black Angus
farmer in Wayne County, N.Y.
''The people you're bringing in are the cream of the crop,'' said Maggie
Catillaz, an immigration lawyer in Rochester. ''Otherwise, an employer
wouldn't go through the (immigration) process.
Companies argue that the immigration debate in Congress should focus more
on the need to bring skilled workers here, as universities in the United
States aren't graduating enough engineers and scientists to meet the
nation's demand.
"From Bill Gates on down, companies are screaming that they can't get these
professional workers," said Bradley Komanecky, a Rochester lawyer
specializing in immigration issues.
One reason the companies can't is that the visas or entry permits are in
short supply for skilled workers.
At the beginning of this month, the government announced that all 65,000 of
the visas for skilled workers to be issued to companies as of Oct. 1 had
been applied for.
Consequently, new applicants won't have a chance for those visas until Oct.
1, 2007.
Many employers nationally, including Eastman Kodak Co., support a provision
in an immigration bill that would increase the number of skilled-worker
visas, known as the H1-B visa, to 115,000. A bill passed by the House of
Representatives does not contain an increase.
Both houses of Congress would have to agree on a final bill, so there is no
guarantee that the number will change.
"We think increasing the cap will help Kodak continue to have access to
high-tech workers that are essential to our digital transformation," said
David Kassnoff, a Kodak spokesman.
Staying the course
Just as it's hard for skilled foreign workers to come to the United States,
it's also difficult for them to stay. Robert Groom came here from Scotland
because he wanted to raise Black Angus cattle in the biggest Black
Angus-raising country in the world.
"What Vegas is to poker, the U.S. is to the Angus breed," said Groom, who
has a farm in Lyons in Wayne County. "I wanted to be part of it."
Groom came to the United States in 1998 on an H1-B visa obtained for him by
a farmer in Lyons. Groom and the farmer were partners in the business.
Groom's wife, Linda, and their then-18-month-old son, Oliver, were with
him.
Linda also was on an H1-B visa, as she had obtained a position as a
research assistant in pharmacology and physiology at the University of
Rochester.
She has remained on the visa. The visas are issued for three years with the
possibility of renewal for another three.
She has received an extension beyond six years because she has applied for
permanent residency, often known as the green card.
Pending action on her application -- an application that is already more
than three years in processing -- she can renew the H1-B.
The Grooms, who are both 38, now have three children, and they'd like to
stay here. However, their future is uncertain.
Robert had to switch visa categories when the Black Angus partnership
dissolved. After that, he started his own Black Angus business and received
an E2 visa, the designation for investors.
He received that visa in 2000 and has had it renewed twice.
Groom estimates he spent $5,000 to $6,000 in 2002 on visa issues. Included
in the cost were lawyers' fees and traveling back to Great Britain to have
his visa stamped, as is required by law.
"Right now, the legal system isn't working," Groom said. "We own property;
we pay taxes. We have kids in school. You would think there would be some
easier track to citizenship."
Dependent problems
Rajat Sahgal, 31, of Webster, N.Y., a native of India, was brought to this
country on an H1-B visa. He now works in information technology for Bausch
& Lomb Inc.
His wife, Zoya Zaki, is a graduate of a medical school in India. She's here
on an H-4 visa, the visa for dependents of H-1B visa holders. Dependents
with H-4 visas cannot legally work in the United States, regardless of
their training.
"We are people who came here on a legal visa, but our spouses have to
suffer," Sahgal says.
The solutions are time-consuming. Sahgal could seek permanent resident
status and Zaki could get a job once he did. But that process could take
years.
Zaki could also seek her own H-1B visa. However, that would involve being
offered a job by a company, business or institution and going through the
whole application process.
Finally, the family could move back to India. Sahgal said the family would
probably stay here if his wife could get a visa. If not, they will return.
"She has sacrificed enough for me," he said.
In the colleges
Workers at academic institutions -- such as scientific researchers -- are
excluded from the H1-B visa cap. The exclusion is important to institutions
that hire a number of foreign-born researchers.
The high demand and short supply of H1-B visas can also affect foreign
students graduating this year from U.S. schools. Though the graduates' F1
visas will allow them to stay here for a while after graduation, they could
run out of time before they get an H1-B visa.
4. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.competeamerica.org/news/media_coverage/2006_06/20062705_cloud.html
Under a Cloud
For Dr. Sengupta, Long-Term Visa Is a Long Way Off
Rules Limit Entry, Prospects Of Foreign-Born Scientists Despite Demand for
Them Latest in Weather Satellites
June Kronholz
Wall Street Journal
June 27, 2006
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Manajit Sengupta studies clouds -- how they can be
used to forecast hurricanes, how they may relate to global warming, how to
predict their formation over a battlefield.
In the post-Katrina world, Dr. Sengupta's expertise would seem to make the
39-year-old Indian national a highly prized immigrant. Colorado State
University, which helps fund the Fort Collins institute where Dr. Sengupta
works on a temporary visa, thinks so highly of him that it is sponsoring
him for a type of permanent visa that is available only to "outstanding
researchers."
Even so, Dr. Sengupta can expect a years-long wait for a visa that would
allow him to stay and expand his research. With the economy humming, so is
the demand for visas for skilled workers such as scientists and engineers.
But Congress caps the number of visas available to them.
Meanwhile, terrorist concerns and antiquated government procedures mean
there are enormous paperwork backlogs for would-be immigrants. The Labor
Department, which clears one of three forms that most skilled immigrants
must file to become permanent residents, has a backlog of 235,000 cases.
The Citizenship and Immigration Service, which clears the second form, is
180,000 cases behind. And after those two agencies have acted, the State
Department, which issues the visas, predicts waits of a further one to five
years for even the most highly trained Indian- and Chinese-born immigrants.
That leaves people like Dr. Sengupta in long-term legal limbo. After 10
years in the U.S. on temporary and student visas, he feels at home here.
He's bought a house and is raising a U.S.-born daughter. But his
immigration status means he can't change jobs, apply for certain government
grants or adopt a child, as he and his wife would like to do. "I have this
feeling: Am I wanted here or am I trying to push myself on this country?"
he says.
The immigration debate swirling through Congress this summer is mostly
about low-skilled illegal immigrants. Largely ignored are the highly
skilled legal immigrants who help keep the U.S. a technology leader, even
as U.S. students struggle with math and science.
While U.S. industry is eager to have them, the government caps the number
of employment visas far below market demand. As other countries, such as
the United Kingdom and Canada, loosen their rules on immigration to attract
these same highly skilled workers, the U.S.'s long-term competitiveness
could be hampered.
Next Big Thing
"Economists worry about another place owning the very next big thing" --
the next groundbreaking technology, says Stanford University economist Dan
Siciliano. "If the heart and mind of the next great thing emerges somewhere
else because the talent is there, then we will be hurt."
The foreign-born now account for about half of the Ph.D. engineers, life
scientists, physical scientists and math and computer scientists in the
U.S., the National Science Foundation says. A Stanford University study
estimates that half of all Silicon Valley high-tech companies have at least
one founding member who is foreign born.
Eight of 18 Ph.D.s in Dr. Sengupta's research program are foreign-born. The
immigration service, part of the Department of Homeland Security, says that
in 2005 1.1 million immigrants received green-card visas, which means they
are allowed to stay permanently and eventually apply for citizenship. But
most green cards go to relatives of earlier immigrants. Congress caps the
number of permanent visas available to skilled workers and their families
at 140,000 a year. The result is that the typical wait for a permanent
employment-based visa is now five years or more.
Congress also allows the State Department each fiscal year to issue 65,000
temporary employment visas -- so-called H-1B visas -- that allow skilled
workers to stay in the U.S. for up to six years. But H-1Bs for the 2007
fiscal year ran out last month, five months before the fiscal year even
begins and just weeks after the government began taking applications.
The immigration bill that passed the Senate in May would boost the number
of permanent employment-based visas to 650,000 a year, although some of
these would be available to the millions of unskilled illegal immigrants.
The Senate bill also raises the yearly quota on H-1Bs to 115,000. Those
numbers would admit "probably just enough" skilled workers "for now to
avoid irreversible damage" to the economy, says Stanford's Mr. Siciliano.
But there's no comparable measure in an immigration bill passed last year
by the House. With elections just months away, and the Republican Party
deeply split over immigration, the Senate measure seems unlikely to become
law.
That would leave immigration caps where they are, which worries business
groups and high-tech employers. They warn that as India and China reform
their securities laws, improve their graduate-education programs and gain
access to venture capital, their skilled immigrants will abandon long waits
for permanent U.S. visas and return home -- or never leave home in the
first place.
For now, Dr. Sengupta is staying put as he continues his research on a
weather satellite called Goes-R, the latest-generation Geostationary
Operational Environment Satellite, which the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration plans to launch in 2012. Goes-R will sit 20,000
miles above the equator and be capable of sending back an image of each
1.5-square-mile section of North and South America every five minutes. NOAA
will be its primary user. But scientists world-wide will have access to the
Goes-R data, which the government anticipates they will use to monitor
fires, dust storms, air quality in the national parks, fish populations and
the health of ocean coral, among other things.
From a squat office building on the edge of the Colorado State campus here,
Dr. Sengupta is working to simulate and interpret the images that Goes-R
will send back -- a project aimed at giving scientists a meaningful
interpretation of the Goes-R images as soon as the satellite is launched.
Under a separate contract with the Defense Department, Dr. Sengupta also is
developing the science to forecast clouds hours before they form. Because
lasers can't see through clouds, bombing missions over distant battlefields
are often aborted when they run into overcast skies.
A physics major in his native Calcutta, Dr. Sengupta applied to U.S.
graduate schools in 1995 to study radiative science, which looks at how the
earth's heat is redistributed by clouds. Three universities offered tuition
waivers and research assistantships. He chose Pennsylvania State University
after a professor there called to invite him to join his research team as
an $18,000-a-year assistant.
In 2000, he followed his mentor to the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory in Richland, Wash., one of the government's nine national labs,
as a postdoctoral fellow. Three years ago, he moved to Fort Collins for his
current $66,000-a-year research job at the Cooperative Institute for
Research in the Atmosphere, or CIRA, which is funded by NOAA and Colorado
State.
U.S. colleges typically graduate about two dozen Ph.D.s a year in
meteorology, Dr. Sengupta's field, and CIRA illustrates how reliant U.S.
research organizations are on immigrants like him. At a recent CIRA
symposium, 10 of 14 academic papers were presented by foreign-born
researchers.
At the Ph.D. level, "our field would shrink by two-thirds if you cut out
foreign immigration," says Andrew Jones, who heads Dr. Sengupta's
data-simulation research group. When CIRA runs a job search, he adds, "the
best person goes to the top of the list. It might be No. 3 or No. 5 before
we get to an American citizen."
Dr. Sengupta arrived in the U.S. on a visa that is reserved for temporary
visitors on education exchanges. Colorado State next sponsored him for an
H-1B, which requires an employer to attest that it can't find a U.S. worker
and is paying the immigrant the prevailing U.S. wage. In February, at the
urging of CIRA's director, Colorado State offered to sponsor Dr. Sengupta
for a type of green card that is reserved for what the immigration service
calls first-priority workers.
In 2005, the immigration service awarded visas to 26,000 first-priority
workers, including 5,606 termed outstanding professors or researchers.
Because of their special talents, first-priority workers are exempt from
the first step of a three-bureaucracy process that other skilled workers
endure.
The First Step
That first step requires an employer to demonstrate to the Labor Department
that it can't find an American to fill the job. For years, the process
involved Labor Department offices at the state, regional and national
levels. By last year, that bulky process had caused a backlog of 325,000
cases, some dating back to 1998. The department finally packed the files
into cardboard boxes and dispatched them to special backlog-reduction
centers.
In a statement, the department blamed its backlog on "an out-dated, paper
based" system that it inherited "from the previous administration." The
department says it is now computerizing its files and will cut the
processing time to as little as 45 days.
In place of the Labor certification, Dr. Sengupta must prove that he is
outstanding to the Department of Homeland Security, the next bureaucracy in
the immigration process. A Nobel prize winner or a member of an
international body like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is a
shoo-in. Younger scientists like Dr. Sengupta typically submit their
published research and get noted scholars to praise their work, a process
he hasn't yet begun because he fears being diverted from his research.
Daunting Backlog
But the immigration service's backlog is as daunting as the Labor
Department's. Burned by findings that some of the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorists were in the U.S. legally, the agency began running FBI checks on
all would-be immigrants, instead of just those who aroused special
attention. By 2003, that had caused an 809,000-case green-card backlog that
the immigration service says it hopes to clear in September. But Director
Emilio Gonzalez boasts about the tough new security standards, and insists
his agency isn't about to lower its guard to speed up the process. "As long
as I'm here, national security will be our focus. We're not part of the
Department of Education or the Peace Corps," he told reporters recently.
For Dr. Sengupta, the third step in the immigrant-visa process might be the
steepest. Only 7% of the green cards reserved for skilled immigrants can go
to applicants from any one country, a Congressional restriction aimed at
encouraging diversity. That means that the State Department can give as
many green-card visas to skilled workers from Singapore and Chad, for
example, as it can to those from India and China.
The per-country cap has created a 71,000-case backlog, mostly among Indian
and Chinese nationals who already have received clearance from the
departments of Labor and Homeland Security, but exceed the 7% limit. The
State Department estimates that a first-priority worker from India or China
will wait another year to get to the head of the queue. Second-priority
workers from India -- who include physicians, professors and Ph.D.
engineers -- have a three-year wait in the State Department queue.
"It's like getting in line for a movie ticket -- only so many can get in
for each show," says Michael Aytes, director of domestic operations for the
immigration service.
The Senguptas are unabashed admirers of American ways. Dr. Sengupta says
he's lost his passion for Indian cricket and now roots for the Denver
Broncos. He drives a Ford, watches congressional debates on C-Span and
fusses about the lawn of the airy Fort Collins house he and his wife,
Nilanjana, bought two years ago for $225,000. Their 6-year-old daughter,
Pourna, an American by birth, bubbles about a kindergarten project to help
Pakistani earthquake victims.
"This is my country, as far as I'm concerned now," says Dr. Sengupta. He
insists he'd leave only "if America chases me away." Still, he's puzzled by
a system that invited and even paid him to study with leading U.S.
scientists, but now seems indifferent whether he stays. "This thing escapes
me," he says.
With four years left on his temporary visa, he isn't in imminent danger of
being forced out, but feels little government encouragement to stay and
profound uncertainty about whether his future lies here.
Once Colorado State files his application for a first-priority visa, he
won't be able to change jobs -- even to take a teaching post or more-senior
research position at the university. His ability to win grants and get
security clearance is also restricted. "You want to grow and they tie your
hands," he says. Without access to federal grants, he can't set up his own
lab and train other scientists. Without security clearances, he can't work
at many of the private-sector companies that will use his CIRA research to
develop weather-forecasting computer programs. "I can do the science, but I
cannot look at the applications the science generates," he says.
His mortgage company charges him a premium because of his temporary status.
His permanent visa will cost him $10,000 in lawyers' bills and government
fees, he calculates. His H-1B visa precludes him from earning extra income
as a consultant or outside lecturer, which worries him as he calculates the
eventual cost of Pourna's college education. Mrs. Sengupta, a
special-education teacher in India, can't work under her visitor's visa --
instead, she volunteers at a day-care center and is taking education
classes at a community college.
After Mrs. Sengupta had a difficult pregnancy with Pourna, the couple had
hoped to adopt their next child. But U.S. adoption and foster-care agencies
won't deal with immigrants who are here on a temporary visa. Adopting from
India is out of the question: The State Department predicts a five-year
wait before the child could join the Senguptas -- and that is after they
get their permanent visas.
5. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=133111
H1-B visa crunch hits Indian software companies hard
Industry loses $3.5-4 bn in revenue and $1.6-2 bn in profits due to the
proposed hike in H1-B visa limit from 65,000 to 115,000
N Shivapriya
Mumbai, July 6 The IT industry has lost between $3.5-4 billion in revenue
and between $1.6-2 billion in profits because a proposed hike in the H1-B
visa limit from 65,000 to 115,000 is yet to be approved by the US
government, according to estimates by Indian lobby groups in Washington.
About 40% of H1-B visas to the US are taken by Indian professionals. An
increase in the cap to 115,000 would have resulted in nearly 20,000 more
visas for Indian firms. The estimated revenue loss because of insufficient
H1-B visas assumes an average compensation of $ 70,000 per overseas
employee, an associated cost of 30% over it, and a billing rate of $100 an
hur.
Going by a more conservative estimate of $60 an hour, which is what top
tier Indian firms get opposed to their US peers, the revenue loss still
works out to a considerable $2 billion. Similarly, assuming a more
conservative company cost of $50,000 per employee, the estimated loss in
profit works out to $1 billion. "Top tier Indian companies charge $60 an
hour. This is forcing US companies to bring down their rates and offshore
businesses. An IBM or an Accenture, with a large offshore presence, may
charge $75 today," said an analyst with a leading brokerage.
The 65,000 H1-B visa cap for fiscal 2007 was exhausted in May. After
intense lobbying by the US and Indian technology groups for a hike in the
H1-B visa limit, the Senate had passed a Bill, increasing it to 115,000.
Fewer Tickets To Ride
Senate version proposed increase in H1-B visa cap
to 115,000
House version does not
have provision for increase
in H1-B cap
Both Bills will have to be reconciled in the House-Senate conference
Lobby groups are striving to get higher cap passed
The Senate and the House are reassembling after recess on July 11 and lobby
groups are intensifying their efforts to get the Senate's version of the
Bill approved. "Unless House leaders agree in the conference committee with
the Senate leaders, there may be no increase in H1-Bs, or the House leaders
may force a compromise on the total number of H1Bs," says Robinder Sachdev,
director, India Affairs, US India Political Action Committee (USIPAC), an
organisation campaigning for the hike in H1-B visas, among other issues.
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