US proposes raising H1-B visas for Indians
Via The Times Of India
08/28/2006
NEW DELHI: The US on Friday said it
has a proposal to raise the H1-B visa quota for Indians by 25 per cent and is
taking steps to reduce the waiting period for visa applications, particularly
students, of this country.
It also denied that religion was any
criteria for issuance or denial of visa to anybody.
Efforts are
underway to raise the quota for H1-B (short duration stay) visas for Indians and
there is a proposal to hike it by 25 per cent, Peter G Kaestner, newly-appointed
Minister for Consular Affairs at the US Embassy said.
At present, the
limit of such visas meant for those employed temporarily is 80,000. Last year,
the cap was one lakh.
The issue is political in nature and US
Congress has to decide on it finally, the official said.
Kaestner,
who has served at the US Embassy earlier also, said he felt the number would
remain inadequate even after the hike.
The US H1B visa is
non-immigrant visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign individual for
up to six years. The H1B visa-seekers could be those employed temporarily in a
speciality occupation or as a fashion model of distinguished merit and
ability.
Kaestner said the number of Indian students in the US was
growing, recording an increase of 30 per cent last year.
The US
Embassy is making efforts to reduce the waiting period for visa seekers,
particularly students and cut down on the backlog.
AAO Unpublished Decision on “Specialty Occupation” for Film and Video Director
VIA AILA
In an unpublished decision provided to AILA courtesy of member Daniel
Huang, the AAO addressed whether the occupation of “film and video director” is
a “specialty occupation” for H-1B purposes. The AAO concluded that, despite the
fact that the DOL’s Occupational Outlook Handbook does not state that a
baccalaureate level education in a specific specialty is normally the minimum
requirement for entry into the position of director, the duties of this
particular position are so specialized and complex that knowledge required to
perform them is “usually associated with the attainment of a baccalaureate
degree or higher degree”.
Reaching the H-1B Master’s Cap Shows Need for Visa Reform
Via AILA
Another Cap Hit – Underscores the Need for Visa Reform
20,000 Slots Reserved for U.S. Advanced Degree Graduates Exhausted
Washington, D.C. – On July 28th, the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that, as of July 26th, it had
received enough H-1B petitions for “foreign workers who have earned a
master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education”
to meet the exemption limit of 20,000 established by Congress for
fiscal year (FY) 2007. This is on top of having reached the overall
H-1B cap of 65,000 on May 6, more than four months before the start of
the fiscal year.
U.S. companies need high-skilled, specialized workers to stay
competitive in the global marketplace. Allowing foreign-born,
U.S.-educated workers to work for a U.S. company fuels the ability of
U.S. companies to stay at the forefront of scientific research and
innovation.
Both the House and Senate have introduced the Securing Knowledge
Innovation and Leadership Bill, (“SKIL Bill”, S.2691/H.R. 5744), a
measure that would provide much needed reform to the H-1B visa system.
“Passage and enactment of the SKIL Bill would fix the broken H-1B
system,” said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, president of AILA. “History has
shown that highly educated foreign-born professionals bring great
benefits to the U.S. economy and we urge Congress to act on this
critical issue.”
Highlights of the SKIL Bill include the following:
- Exemptions for U.S.-educated foreign workers with master’s or
higher degrees from the H-1B and employment based (E
green card
quotas so their talent can be retained in the United States. - Creation of a flexible, market-based H-1B cap so that U.S.
employers are not locked out of hiring critical talent for over a year
at a time. - Extension of foreign students’ post-graduation practical training from 12 months to 24 months.
- Removal of EB immigrant spouses and children from the annual cap,
thus making more visas available for the innovative professionals we
need.
USCIS REACHES H-1B EXEMPTION CAP FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007
VIA USCIS PRESS RELEASE 07/28/2006
20,000 Slots Reserved for Aliens with Master’s Degrees or Higher Exhausted
Washington, D.C.– U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions requesting “foreign workers who have earned a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education” to meet the exemption limit of 20,000 established by Congress for fiscal year (FY) 2007. Consequently, USCIS has determined that the “final receipt date” for these exempt H-1B petitions is July 26, 2006. Petitions received on July 26, 2006 are subject to the random selection process described below. USCIS will reject petitions requesting a foreign worker with a master’s or higher degree earned from a U.S. institution of higher education that are received after the “final receipt date” unless the petition is otherwise eligible for a separate cap exemption.
USCIS has implemented the following procedure for H-1B filings for FY 2007 in accordance with the procedures announced in 70 FR 23775 (Allocation of Additional H-1B Visas Created by the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004):
- • If USCIS determines that the numerical limits have been exceeded, USCIS will identify those H-1B petitions seeking an FY 2007 number that were received on that date.
- • USCIS will then conduct a computer-generated random selection of the petitions received on that date to allocate any remaining FY 2007 H-1B numbers.
- • After random selection, any remaining H-1B petitions that do not receive an FY 2007 number and are not otherwise exempt will be rejected and returned.
- • Returned petitions will be accompanied by the filing fee.
- • Petitioners may re-submit their petitions when H-1B visas become available for FY 2008.
- • The earliest date a petitioner may file a petition requesting FY 2008 H-1B employment with an employment start date of October 1, 2007, would be April 1, 2007.
Petitions for current H-1B workers do not count towards the congressionally mandated H-1B cap. Accordingly, USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:
- • Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States.
- • Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers.
- • Allow current H-1B workers to change employers.
- • Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.
USCIS also notes that petitions for new H-1B employment are exempt from the annual cap if the alien will be employed at an institution of higher education or a related or affiliated nonprofit entity, or at a nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization.
The H-1B visa program is utilized by some U.S. businesses to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in a specialized field, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers. As part of the H-1B program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requires U.S. employers to meet specific labor conditions to ensure that American workers are not adversely impacted, while the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division safeguards the treatment and compensation of H-1B workers.
USCIS received enough H-1B petitions to meet the general population H-1B cap of 65,000 for fiscal year 2007 on May 26, 2006. This information was communicated to the public via Press Release issued by USCIS on June 1, 2006. More information about the H-1B program and about USCIS is available at http://www.uscis.gov.
– USCIS –
On March 1, 2003, U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services became one of three legacy INS components to join the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. USCIS is charged with fundamentally transforming and improving the delivery of immigration and citizenship services,
while enhancing our nation’s security.
H-1B Cap Count as of 07/27/2006
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption
The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, which took effect on May 5, 2005, changed the H-1B filing procedures for FY 2005 and for future fiscal years. The Act also makes available 20,000 new H-1B visas for foreign workers with a Master’s or higher level degree from a U.S. academic institution.
| Cap | Beneficiaries Approved | Beneficiaries Pending | Beneficiary Target 1 | Total | Date of Last Count |
H-1B | 58,200 2 | —— | —— | —— | Cap Reached | 5/26/2006 |
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption | 20,000 | 7,258 | 12,132 | 21,000 | 19,390 | 7/26/20063 |
H-1B (FY 06) | 58,200 | —— | —— | —— | Cap Reached | 8/10/2005 |
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption (FY 06) | 20,000 | —— | —— | —— | Cap Reached | 1/17/2006 |
1 Refers to the estimated number on April 1, 2006, of beneficiary applications needed to reach the cap, with an allowance for denials and revocations. This target is subject to revision later in the cap cycle as more petitions are processed.
2 6,800 visas are set aside during the fiscal year for the H-1B1 program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements. Unused numbers in this pool can be made available for H-1B use with start dates beginning on October 1, 2006, the start of FY 2007. USCIS has added the projected number of unused H-1B1 Chile/Singapore visas to the FY 2007 H-1B cap as announced in the H-1B Press Release, dated June 1, 2006.
3 The numbers on the table for H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption include only receipted petitions. As of July 26, 2006, an estimated 655 I-129 H-1B petitions seeking the Advanced Degree exemption had yet to be receipted or entered into the C3 database. These petitions were received primarily on July 25 and 26, 2006.
New Program Aims to Help Employers Comply with Immigration Law
Via HR.BLR.com The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched a new initiative to help employers ensure that they are hiring and employing a workforce that is authorized to work in the United States. Called the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE), the program is designed to build cooperative relationships between government and businesses to strengthen hiring practices and reduce the employment of illegal aliens. The initiative also seeks to accomplish greater industry compliance and corporate due diligence through enhanced enhanced federal training and education of employers . Under the program, the department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will partner with companies that will serve as charter members of IMAGE and liaisons to the larger business community. As part of this program, businesses must also adhere to a series of best practices, including the use of the Basic Pilot Employment Verification Program, administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). To date, more than 10,000 employers are using the Basic Pilot Employment Verification to check the work authorization of their newly hired employees. ICE will provide training and education to IMAGE partners on proper hiring procedures, fraudulent document detection, and anti-discrimination laws. ICE will also share data with employers on the latest illegal schemes used to circumvent legal hiring processes. Furthermore, ICE will review the hiring and employment practices of IMAGE partners. Those companies that comply with the terms of IMAGE will become “IMAGE certified,” a distinction that ICE says could become an industry standard. In order to participate in the program, companies must first agree to a Form I-9 audit by ICE. They must also use the Basic Pilot Employment Verification program when hiring employees. In order to become IMAGE-certified, partners must also adhere to a series of best practices. These include the creation of internal training programs for completing employment verification forms and detecting fraudulent documents. IMAGE partners must also arrange for audits by neutral parties and establish protocols for responding to no-match letters from the Social Security Administration. ICE is also asking employers to establish a tip line for employees to report violations and mechanisms for companies to self-report violations to ICE. A full list of best practices can be found at www.ice.gov .
07/27/2006
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption Cap Count as of 07/25/2006
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption
The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, which took effect on May
5, 2005, changed the H-1B filing procedures for FY 2005 and for future fiscal
years. The Act also makes available 20,000 new H-1B visas for foreign workers
with a Master’s or higher level degree from a U.S. academic institution.
|
|
Cap |
Beneficiaries Approved |
Beneficiaries Pending |
Beneficiary Target 1 |
Total |
Date of Last Count |
|
H-1B |
58,200 2 |
—— |
—— |
—— |
Cap Reached |
5/26/2006 |
|
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption |
20,000 |
6,832 |
12,100 |
21,000 |
18,932 |
7/25/20063 |
|
H-1B (FY 06) |
58,200 |
—— |
—— |
—— |
Cap Reached |
8/10/2005 |
|
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption |
20,000 |
—— |
—— |
—— |
Cap Reached |
1/17/2006 |
1 Refers to the estimated number on April 1, 2006,
of beneficiary applications needed to reach the cap, with an allowance for
denials and revocations. Each target is subject to revision later in the cap
cycle as more petitions are processed.
2 6,800 visas are set aside during the fiscal year for the H-1B1
program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and
U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements. Unused numbers in this pool can be made
available for H-1B use with start dates beginning on October 1, 2006, the
start of FY 2007. USCIS has added the projected number of unused H-1B1
Chile/Singapore visas to the FY 2007 H-1B cap as announced in the H-1B
Press Release, dated June 1, 2006.
3
The numbers on the table for H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption include
only receipted petitions. As of July 25, 2006, an estimated 645 I-129
H-1B petitions seeking the Advanced Degree exemption had yet to be
receipted or entered into the C3 database. These petitions were
received primarily on July 24 and 25, 2006.
Wait for green card gets longer
Via The Times of India
07/23/2006
NEW
DELHI: If the H1B cap wasn’t tough enough to deal with, here’s
another piece of bad news for those dreaming the American dream. The wait for a
green card is only growing longer.
A study conducted by the
National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) estimates that the current wait
in the skilled workers and professional category exceeds five years.
The problem, it states, will
go from bad to worse if Congress doesn’t increase the number of
employment-based immigrant visas. “The problem has got worse in the last few
years.
Now, it takes anywhere
between six to twelve years to get a green card,” says Aman Kapoor, a computer
programmer who moved to the US in 1997.
By December last year, when
Congress killed a budget amendment that would have paved the road for
highlyskilled professionals like him, Aman’s patience had worn thin.
An online message board soon
transformed into Immigration Voice, a non-profit organisation determined to push
for immigration reform. Says co-founder Aman, “We decided to make a collective
change.”
Six months later,
Immigration Voice boasts of 5,000 members and has hired high-profile lobbying
firm Quinn Gillespie to make its voice heard on Capitol Hill.
With
the immigration debate in the US centred around illegal aliens, more than
half-a-million high skilled immigrants a large percentage from India have seen
their applications disappear into a green card black hole.
According to the US department
of labour, there are 3.5 lakh applications pending in the first stage, some
dating back to 1999.
Meanwhile, the applicant
can’t switch jobs, relocate, get a promotion or even a pay hike because
that would mean applying fresh. Swati and Aradhana Srivastava, both software
engineers who aspire to become filmmakers, are at the end of their tether.
“Our aspirations have changed:
we now want to become filmmakers but can’t because of one document. The US
is supposed to be the land of dreams but our dreams are slowly dying here,” says
28-year-old Swati.
Understanding And Managing The H1B Visa Cap
Manufacturers need to be proactive and address the current shortage of these visas.
By Jared Leung
June 28, 2006 — H1B visas are work permits that allow immigrants, including those that have received advanced degrees at accredited learning institutions worldwide, to work in the U.S. for up to six years in “white collar” positions.
Currently, there is an annual cap of 65,000
visas available for businesses hiring immigrant workers through H1B
visas. This hiring limitation presents a problem for those looking to
expand their talent pool as the cap does not adequately support the
demand for H1B visas by U.S. businesses. The 65,000 H1B visas quickly
will be filled by July or August of 2006 — meaning that immigrants
hired after this date will not be able to work legally until the next
fiscal year.
Due to the shortage of H1B visas, a provision in
the U.S. immigration reform bill has been proposed that, if passed,
will allow immigrants who have earned an advanced degree in science,
technology, engineering or math to be exempt from the cap.
Additionally,
the provision would increase the visa cap from 65,000 to 115,000 and
allow the number of H1B visas to fluctuate depending on market demand.
Until
this proposed provision of the current immigration reform bill is
passed, companies that require immigrant workers in areas such as
manufacturing, construction and telecommunications must be educated
about H1B visas. The following is a list of tips to help these
industries manage the current visa cap:
Option #1: Hire Within U.S. Borders
One
simple option is not to hire workers who require H1B visas. However,
this option poses a drawback in that if an employer eliminates hiring
those who need H1B visas, the company may cut itself off from a large
pool of potential hires, especially in the high-tech field. This may
give competitors with open immigration policies the upper hand.
Option #2: Consult Immigration Specialists
Another
option for companies hiring international employees is to consult
outside immigration experts to educate companies’ internal hiring
managers and recruiters about the H1B cap and current U.S. immigration
policies. An immigration specialist can provide expertise on a wide
range of immigration issues. For example, new hires from college or
overseas are subject to the cap, but lateral hires for an employee
already in H1B status working with a different company are not.
Additionally, foreign nationals who hold a U.S.-earned master’s degree
or higher and workers from Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Chile or
Australia have special quotas not included in the 65,000 limit.
Option #3: Use H1B Visas Wisely
It
is also important for companies to strategically plan how they are
using H1B visas to ensure they are being effective and efficient.
First, a company must know how many H1B visas it has and in which areas
foreign workers are needed. Second, it is important for companies to
review how they recruited their H1B workforce. Knowing the pattern of
H1B hires can help corporations devise a way to minimize the effects of
the H1B cap on recruitment.
Option #4: Identify H1B Applicants Early
Companies
may choose to interview college interns to identify potential H1B
applicants early. Internship programs are a way to evaluate foreign
graduate students prior to their graduation. Through internships a
company can plan ahead to meet the cap.
International students
in the U.S. are allowed Optional Practice Training (i.e., a work
permit) for up to 12 months after graduation so they can start
employment shortly after they graduate while they await H1B status.
Option #5: Recruit Immigrants Laterally
Since
H1B employment transfer cases are not subject to the cap, companies
also have the option of directing their resources to recruit lateral
hires. It is advantageous for companies to hire immigrants with prior
experience. In addition to providing the company with a competitive
advantage, an immigrant’s experience with a previous employer may also
strengthen his or her green card application in the future.
Due
to fear of a backlash from an electorate afraid of outsourcing, it is
not clear that Congress will raise the cap in this election year.
Therefore, it is more important than ever for companies to learn how to
manage those H1B visas that are available. Even more importantly —
especially in the current political environment, employers should keep
up lobbying efforts in Congress, emphasizing that these workers are
vital to American competitiveness and pushing Congress to increase the
number of H1B visas to allow the law of supply and demand to control
the import of critical talent to the U.S
High Skill, Low Priority
Via LaTimes.com (Editorial)
07/24/2006
Though it’s making fewer headlines, reform of high-skilled immigration is also urgently needed.
ONE OF THE UNITED STATES’ greatest economic assets is its ability to
attract and stimulate the world’s most innovative minds. High-skilled
immigrants have long played a key role in the country’s technological
prowess. But that magnetism is being threatened by inadequate visa
policies and this year’s volatile immigration debate.
The H-1B visa, good for six years, is the main legal means for
employers to bring skilled and specialized workers from abroad. College
grads make up 98% of H-1B recipients; 48% hold advanced degrees; and a
large portion work in technological R&D. They supplement a
native-born workforce that earns an inadequate number of science
degrees (one-third of all doctorates in science and engineering awarded
in the U.S. go to foreign-born students).
At
the height of the dot-com boom, Congress raised the cap for H-1Bs to
195,000 per year, though that quota was never reached. Since then, the
cap has fallen to 65,000. Next year’s limit was filled within the first
two months of eligibility, far earlier than ever before. Because the
2006 fiscal year begins in October, that leaves a gaping 16-month hole
during which no business can hire skilled foreigners.
This
policy discourages talented international students from staying in the
U.S. after graduation. Besides the 65,000 H-1Bs, those with recent
advanced degrees from U.S. institutions can compete for an additional
20,000 visas. That’s only a tiny percentage welcomed from one of the
most dynamic segments of society. And those who apply typically have to
leave the country one year after graduating, because that often comes
before the next H-1B batch is doled out.
H-1B opponents argue
that the visas are abused by the tech sector to suppress labor costs,
thereby displacing American jobs. But both Silicon Valley and the
Southern California aerospace industry complain of labor shortages,
while a national unemployment rate persistently under 5% suggests the
economy needs all the brains it can get. Today’s H-1B engineer is
tomorrow’s green-card-holding entrepreneur, creating jobs that might
otherwise be shipped overseas. And though enforcement is less than
perfect, H-1Bs do mandate that immigrants receive the same wage as
qualified Americans.
The Senate has been considering a bill,
both as part of comprehensive immigration reform and separately, that
would increase the H-1B quota to 115,000, extend the grace period at
the end of a student visa from one year to two and more than double the
annual quota for high-skilled green cards (permanent residency for
workers and their families) from 140,000 to 290,000. This would
drastically reduce the multiyear bottleneck facing many desirable
immigrants.
Congress should decouple this sensible bill from the
looming train wreck of immigration reform. The next generation of tech
innovation could depend on it.
Programmers Guild Pushes for H-1B Transparency
Via Eweek.com
A request for the public release of data containing the names of the
companies requesting H-1B temporary workers and the positions they are
being hired for was filed in a public letter to the Department of Labor
July 18 by the Programmers Guild, an IT advocacy group.
In the open letter to William Carlson, chief of the Division of
Foreign Labor Certification, Programmers Guild President Kim Berry
requested on behalf of the “displaced, unemployed, and underemployed
U.S. tech workers” that the FY 2007 LCA (Labor Conditions Applications)
database be made publicly viewable, so that U.S. tech workers can apply
for these positions while they are still open.
The next batch of H-1B workers whose temporary visas have been approved will arrive on October 1.
Berry reminded Carlson in the letter that “although LCAs are
public records, U.S. workers do not have access to these records,” and
likened the records’ lack of public availability to “choosing to
reserve 65,000 U.S. jobs exclusively for foreign workers.”
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
Hired hands: Wait for green card tries visa holders
Via The Sacremento Bee
08/08/2006
Obtaining permanent residence frustrates foreign professionals.
Raghu Ballal, a
civil engineer
for the Shaw
Group, plans to
get his MBA in
the United
Kingdom after
being frustrated
at the
wait for a green
card in the U.S.
He will apply
for fast-track
residency
through the
U.K.’s Highly
Skilled Migrant
Program.
Sacramento Bee/Autumn Cruz
The Indian-born engineer regrets leaving a well-paying job with the
subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company — and giving up opportunities to
pursue a master’s degree in business administration at the University
of California at Berkeley or Los Angeles.
The long wait Ballal and his wife face for legal permanent residency —
for green cards — has pushed them to pursue the American dream in
another country.
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