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Congress adjourned for its August recess without passing legislation to increase the H-1B cap. Acritcle blow-by-blow coverage of the legislative battle is not accessible now ( had been presented by an immigration lawyer ). Lastly the legislators proposed a deal as shown below, in a bulletin of another immigration lawyer. |
Message-Id: <199807250321.WAA24584@babel.telalink.net> Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 22:38:33 -0500 To: visalaw@userhome.com From: "Gregory Siskind, Attorney at Law" <gsiskind@visalaw.com> Subject: SISKIND'S IMMIGRATION ALERT - H-1B DEAL REACHED Siskind's Immigration Bulletin Special Bulletin A DEAL HAS BEEN REACHED! The following is a press release issued by House Immigration Subcommittee Congressman Lamar Smith's office within the last few minutes: Smith Announces H1-B Agreement FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 24, 1998 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman Lamar Smith, announced Friday that an initial agreement on temporary foreign worker legislation containing meaningful safeguards for American workers was reached late Thursday. "This agreement is good for business, good for workers, good for America", Smith said. "It targets likely abusers of the system with stiff penalties". The compromise House-Senate bill was agreed to by House and Senate immigration policy-makers and by the House and Senate leadership. The legislation will require companies who are heavy users of foreign temporary workers to attest thatthey have recruited American workers and that they have not laid off an American worker to hire a foreign worker. "These same companies also will have to attest that they do not provide temporary workers to othercompanies who then use them to replace laid off workers," Smith, Chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, said. "If found to have done so, the companies could be fined and face debarment fromusing the H-1B program for one year." In the most recent listing of the top 25 users of H-1B visas, at least six are publicly identified as heavyusers of foreign workers, with at least 15 percent of their employees being temporary foreign workers. We will provide more details on our H-1B Emergency Update on our web site at http://www.visalaw.com. |
An excerpt from MIGRATION NEWS
Vol. 5, No. 8, August 1998
by Philip Martin,
University of California,
Davis CA 95616
House and Senate Republican leaders on July 24, 1998 reached a compromise to increase the annual ceiling on the number of professionals admitted to the US. The compromise raises the annual ceiling from the current 65,000 to 85,000 in FY98, 95,000 in 1999, 105,000 in 2000, and 115,000 in 2001 and 2002. The 65,000 limit was reached on May 7, 1998; no more H-1B visas can be issued until FY99 begins on October 1, 1998, or Congress raises the quota. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) promised action before Congress adjourns in August. Under the House bill, the Workforce Improvement and Protection Act of 1998 (HR 3736), U.S. employers asserting that they need H-1B workers to fill vacant jobs at prevailing wages--this is the major current requirement for hiring foreign professionals--would also have to attest under the House bill that: (1) they tried to find U.S. workers; and (2) they did not lay off U.S. workers to make room for the foreigners. President Clinton threatened to veto a bill raising the quota that does not include the worker protections in the House bill. Some advocates for raising the ceiling said that it would be better not to raise the annual ceiling if worker protections are added. The worker protection issue divided the Senate and House. Senator Abraham (R-MI), whose American Competitiveness Act S1723 was approved 78 to 20 in June 1998, said that worker protections would "could completely undermine the whole H-1B program." Representative Smith (R-TX) countered that "I don't think a bill will pass the House floor unless it had some safeguards for workers." The compromise requires "heavy users" of H-1B workers--those in which 15 percent or more of the employees are H-1Bs-- to attest that they tried to recruit US workers and that they have not laid off an American worker to hire a foreign worker. Complaints that US employers laid off US workers to hire H-1Bs would be resolved by a three-member arbitration panel selected by both parties. Most of the H-1B workers employed in the U.S. work in high-tech industries as programmers. About 44 percent of H-1B visas issued so far in FY98 went to Indians, followed by nine percent to Chinese, five percent for Britains, and three percent each for Filipinos and Canadians. Most of the Indians are recruited by brokers in India for a fee and hired by temporary staffing firms in the U.S. that often employ only H-1B workers. A July 26, 1998 profile of H-1B Indians in Silicon Valley noted that many "techno-braceros" are easily exploited by their US employers because they are earning five to 15 times more in the US and they want their employers to sponsor them for immigration status; the carrot of a green card is reportedly a powerful lure to keep H-1Bs hard at work. Many H-1Bs sign contracts that require payments of $10,000 to $20,000 to their original employer if they switch jobs. The Indian H-1Bs interviewed acknowledged earning far more in the US than they could earn in India, but also complained that they earned less than similar US workers, and that they were expected to work longer hours than other workers. A Boston Globe profile of H-1B brokers in India reported that recruitment fees are typically $1,500 a worker, and that 20,000 Indians were sent to the U.S. as H-1Bs in 1997. Many of those sent to the U.S. earn $10,000 a year in India, and $20,000 to $40,000 a year in the U.S. Since many of the H-1B workers are able to find a U.S. employer to sponsor them for permanent immigrant status, the dowry expected from a woman marrying an Indian man with an H-1B visa can double to $100,000. India has 1,700 computer colleges and institutes that produce 55,000 new programmers and engineers a year; starting salaries are $150 a month. The American Consulate-General in Chennai, India reported that many of the Indians seeking to migrate to the U.S. as H-1B workers are using false certificates to show that they are professionals, or are claiming work experience from non-existent firms. In some areas of the US, employers have stepped up their hiring of H-2B nonfarm, non-professional workers. There is an annual cap of 66,000 such workers, but only 14,345 were admitted in FY96. However, in Vermont, the number of jobs that employers wanted to fill with H-2B workers jumped from 164 in FY96 to 326 in FY98, as employers outside the ski industry requested foreign workers. The number of jobs approved to be filled by H-2B workers rose only from 112 to 124. William Branigin, "High Tech's Hired Hands, Critics Say Visa Program, Immigrants Exploited," Washington Post, July 26, 1998. Michelle Mittelstadt, "Clinton Threatens Visa Program Veto, AP, July 16, 1998. "Congressional Consideration of Legislation to Increase the Number of H-1B Visas, Office of the Press Secretary, July 16, 1998. John Stackhouse, "Boom times for India's brain brokers," Boston Globe, Tuesday, July 14, 1998. |
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