WASHINGTON, November 22, 2004
Associated Press
US Congress is allowing employers to hire another 20,000 foreign high-tech
workers under a special visa program after businesses reached the annual
ceiling on the first day of the government's fiscal year.
Businesses are limited to hiring no more than 65,000 workers annually
through the H1-B visa program. They reached that figure in one day,
Oct. 1, and immediately began complaining they would lose talented university
graduates and potential employees to competitors overseas.
In response, as part of the $388 billion (euro298 billion) spending
bill passed over the weekend and awaiting President George W. Bush's
signature, Congress is exempting from the limit 20,000 foreign students
with masters and above degrees from U.S. universities.
``This is a critical talent pool that American taxpayers have helped
to educate,'' said Sandra Boyd, who chairs the Compete America coalition
that lobbied for the exemptions. ``It's counterproductive to educate
these students and then force them abroad to compete against us.''
The coalition includes companies such as Microsoft, Texas Instruments,
Hewlett Packard and Motorola.
For example, of the 424 students who earned master's degrees in engineering
at the University of Texas at Austin last year, 228 were foreign students;
of the 135 who earned doctorates in engineering, 81 were foreigners,
Boyd said.
Dan Kane, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department's Citizenship
and Immigration Service, said the exemptions for foreign students will
be applicable this year. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, and Sen.
Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Republican, led the effort to include them
in the spending bill.
Kane said his agency will release details on how employers can apply
for visas made available after Bush signs the bill, he said.
The popular H1-B visas are granted to foreigners in specialty professions
such as architecture, engineering, medicine, biotechnology and computer
programming. Under the program, employers must pay foreign workers the
prevailing wage for their job fields and show that qualified U.S. workers
are not being passed over.
Unions and other critics say the program allows businesses to fill
jobs with cheaper foreign labor. Those who use the program say they
can't find enough Americans with the necessary math, science and engineering
skills.
In addition, Congress doubled H1-B visa application fees from $1,000
(euro767) to $2,000 (euro1,534). Small businesses with fewer than 25
employees pay fees totaling $1,250 (euro959) for each application. The
legislation also expands the authority of the Department of Labor to
investigate employers.
On a separate visa issue, Congress tightened rules for using L-1 visas,
which allow companies to transfer employees from overseas offices to
U.S. offices, while paying the employees their home country wages. Lawmakers
had been suspicious that abuse in the program was putting Americans
out of work.