Clinton, McCain and Obama on H-1B visas
InfoWorld quotes the three presidential candidates’ positions on the H-1B visa:
“Hillary Clinton
“I also want to reaffirm my commitment to the H-1B visa program and to increase the current cap. Foreign skilled workers contribute greatly to our technological development. That is well understood in Silicon Valley.”
John McCain
“I will continue to support H-1B visas, but, I’m telling you, the American peoples priority is, either rightly or wrongly, and we live in a democracy, is that we secure the borders first.”
Barack Obama
“We can do better than that and go a long way toward meeting industry’s need for skilled workers with Americans. Until we have achieved that, I will support a temporary increase in the H-1B visa program as a stopgap measure until we can reform our immigration system comprehensively.”
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Guess Who’s Getting the Most Work Visas – Via BusinessWeek
Via BusinessWeek
Moira Herbst of BusinessWeek indicates that “Indian outsourcers accounted for nearly 80% of the visa petitions approved last year for the top 10 participants in the program.” Also: “Infosys Technologies (INFY) and Wipro (WIT), both based in Bangalore, top the list of visa beneficiaries in 2007, with 4,559 and 2,567 approved visa petitions, respectively, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services.”
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) are critizing the program: “These numbers should send a red flag to every lawmaker that the H-1B visa program is not working as it was intended,” said Grassley in an e-mail.”
Perhaps these two believe that some sort of per-country limits (like for EB Green cards) should be placed on India, a reverse-affirmative action of sorts.
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H-1B visa shortage again
BANGALORE: Despite evidence of an impending recession in the US, there is expected to be a severe shortage once again of US visas for Indian IT professionals in the coming year.
April 1 is the date to begin filing H-1B cases (for entry into the US from October 1), and IT companies are already scurrying to put together all documents in the expectation that the entire H-1B quota will be exhausted on the very first day, as it did last year.
“The visa scenario is going to impact the industry adversely, says Ravi Prasad, resident partner and immigration expert in legal firm Jay Sagar Associates.
“The business volumes have gone up significantly, but the quota remains the same. This is going to be a major deterrent for the industry, as it’s tough to convince and retain clients without having some amount of physical support/presence at the clients’ premises,” Prasad adds
For the 58,200 H-1B quota, the US received 1,20,000 petitions on April 2, 2007, the first day the quota opened last year.
“Short of a miracle, we expect the same to happen this year, says Navneet S Chugh, attorney in The Chugh Firm.
“We can also reasonably expect that, like last year, this year there will be a lottery system to pick petitions for approval. So expect somewhere between 40 per cent to 50 per cent of a company’s filed petitions on April 1 to get approved.
It was widely expected last year that the US Congress would increase the H-1B quota to over a lakh. But that didn’t happen.
Several immigration bills have failed in the US House as well as the Senate. And now with the presidential election primaries underway, nobody expects US President George Bush or his Republican government to take up the matter.
Meanwhile, the demand for IT services has not faced a significant cut yet. So a visa shortage is inevitable.
“To overcome this problem, domestic companies are currently busy checking out alternative options like L visa (meant for intra-company transfer), J visa (for specialists/domain experts) and B (business) category visas, says Prasad.
Indians were 34,000 of the 58,200 H-1B recipients last year.
“We expect the number to go up slightly this year, Chugh says.
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Some Observations from DOS on India EB-2 Unavailability
Via AILA
On January 10, 2007, AILA Liaison contacted Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting at the State Department, to speak about the announcement of India EB-2 visa unavailability in the February 2008 Visa Bulletin. By early November, indications were that USCIS demand for India EB-2 visa numbers would place significant pressure on the overall annual limitation, leading to the decision to roll back the priority date for India EB-2 for December 2007 to 01JAN02, and for January 2008 to 01JAN00. Even with those significant retrogressions, USCIS requested almost 300 India EB-2 for December. (As an indication of the rate of demand and how close to the quarterly and annual limits usage is, the USCIS requested three India EB-2 numbers for January, all with dates prior to 01 JAN 00.) There is some possibility that India EB-2 could again become available if it appears that the demand for India EB-1 will not exceed the annual limit, but, that determination will not be able to be made until the second half of the fiscal year.
For China-mainland born EB-2, if demand remains as has been seen over the last couple of months, it is expected that the 01 JAN 03 cut-off date will hold, and it is likely that all numbers will be used within the current cut-off date.
As is always the case, Charlie is looking for mechanisms to maximize number usage so that no visa numbers remain unallocated, and is looking for ways to make additional India and China-mainland born numbers available, such as by making sure that unused numbers that had been sent to consular posts are promptly returned.
Divine Intervention? Indians Seek Help From the ‘Visa God’
The Wall Street Journal
December 31, 2007; Page A1
HYDERABAD, India — Lord Balaji is one of the most-worshiped local incarnations of the Hindu Lord Vishnu. His adherents flock to his many temples to pray for things like happiness, prosperity and fertility.
Lately, the deity has grown particularly popular at the once-quiet Chilkur Balaji temple here, where he goes by a new nickname: the Visa God. The temple draws 100,000 visitors a week, many of whom come to pray to Lord Balaji for visas to travel or move to the U.S. and other Western countries.
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Top IT firms used only 14% of H-1B petitions in 2006: US study
The 10 most cited outsourcing firms are Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Satyam Computer, Patni Computer, Cognizant Tech Solutions US, HCL America, Deloitte and Touche LLP, Accenture, and MphasiS.
Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee
New Delhi, Dec. 16 Countering claims by some critics that Indian IT industry was depriving US firms of H-1B visas, the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) has said that the top 10 outsourcing entities that are cited most by critics — including Indian vendors like Wipro, Infosys, and TCS — used up less than 14 per cent of new H-1B petitions approved in 2006.
In its latest study titled ‘The impact of high-skill immigration restrictions on America’, NFAP, a non-profit policy research group, said that “in 2007, critics started arguing that most H-1B visas were used by companies headquartered in India and that this deprived US companies of the visas. However, the top 10 outsourcing companies cited most by the critics, used less than 14 per cent of the new H-1B petitions approved in 2006 for initial employment.” The “vast majority of H-1B visas go to US high-tech companies, financial institutions, and US Universities.”
NFAP pointed out that employers had snapped up all the H-1B visas the first day the applications were submitted in FY 2008, meaning that about 15,000 petitions used by the 10 companies had no major impact on the overall availability of H-1Bs. The list of 10 most cited outsourcing firms are Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Satyam Computer Services, Patni Computer Systems, Cognizant Tech Solutions US, HCL America, Deloitte and Touche LLP, Accenture, and MphasiS, according to NFAP.
When contacted, the NFAP Executive Director, Mr Stuart Anderson, told Business Line from Arlington, Virginia, that against the total visa pool (65,000 cap for H-1B visa; 20,000 H-1B visas for foreign workers with Master’s or higher level degree from US institution; and visas available for those working with varsities or research institutions), the companies together used only 14 per cent of the total available numbers.
Mr Anderson said H-1B cap needed to be hiked to reflect the market demand for skilled professionals. “Any new restriction on high-skill immigration will hurt the US industry, as much as Indian firms. For US firms, it means that either they would not be able to grow for the lack of skilled professionals or they would have to pursue offshore alternatives,” he added.
IT worker who became an H-1B activist ends his fight
Via Computerworld
John Bauman, who led the grass-roots group TORAW, says it’s disbanding due to dwindling funds and membership.
H-1B visa: US Senator questions federal entities
| Via The Hindu Move comes within 7 months of missive sent to Indian cos |
Details have been sought of the number of H-1B visa workers employed by the NIH between January 2002 and now (both full and part time workers), the job titles under which H-1B visa workers were employed, and a description of the efforts the NIH made to hire domestic workers before seeking an H-1B workers.
Our Bureau
New Delhi, Dec. 25 Months after asking nine Indian IT firms to explain the use of H-1B visas, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has now turned up the H-1B-heat on two US Government-backed entities — National Institutes of Health and Fannie Mae — that are among the top 200 users of these high-skilled visas.
The Senator — who serves as a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees US’ immigration and visa policies including the H-1B visa programme — has sought details of the number of H-1B visa workers employed by the NIH between January 2002 and now (both full and part-time workers), the job titles under which H-1B visa workers were employed, and a description of the efforts the NIH made to hire domestic workers before seeking an H-1B worker.
Citing US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) data that showed the NIH to be among the top 100 H-1B employers in America, the Senator has also asked the two entities to give details of the expense incurred by them in the H-1B visa process, and the number of layoffs, by year since 2002.
“While the H-1B programme has served a valuable purpose in allowing companies to bring in temporary workers for high-skilled jobs, the US Congress has a responsibility to make sure that Americans are not overlooked in the process. I’m asking questions today to find out how many taxpayer dollars are being used to recruit foreign workers and how invested our Government-backed entities are in this visa programme,” Senator Grassley has said in the letter to the two entities.
The move comes within seven months of the Senator (along with Senator Richard Durbin) sending letters to nine Indian firms that were issued an estimated 20,000 of the 65,000 visas issued in 2006, asking for information on the utilisation of H-1B visas.
‘It turned out I was the bad guy’
Via The Chicago-Sun Times
Corina Turcinovic came to the U.S. 17 years ago to care for her disabled fiance. Now that he has died, she’s getting kicked out.
ICE Will No Longer Sedate Deportees
U.S. immigration agents must not sedate deportees without a judge’s permission, according to a policy change issued this week.
Republican Prez hopeful bats for raising H-1B quota
Via ReDiff.com
By Sridhar Krishnaswami
“A leading Republican Presidential hopeful has
thrown his weight behind the H-1B visa programme stressing that
bringing high skilled workers on a permanent basis to the US will be
beneficial to the economy.
Former Massachusetts Gover Mitt Romney
has said that while he is for increasing the quota for H-1B visa, a
majority of whose aspirants are Indians, the exact figures would depend
on a number of things including the strength of the US economy and the
implications for the local workforce.
“I like H-1B visas. I like
the idea of the best and brightest in the world coming here. I’d rather
have them come here permanently rather than come and go, but I believe
our visa programme is designed to help us solve gaps in our employment
pool,” he said in an interview to TechCrunch, a weblog dedicated to
profiling and reviewing new internet products and companies.
“Where
there are individuals who have skills that we do not have in abundance
here, I’d like to bring them here and contribute to our economy,” he
added.”
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
Answering a reader’s comment regarding NY driver’s licenses
“Interesting article by Clark Kent Ervin discusses the benefits of the controversial (thanks to Lou Dobbs) NY plan to provide Driver’s Licenses for undocumented people.”
The reader comment is in bold, my response is in italics.
The reference to Lou Dobbs is troubling. He simply brought the issue to the public’s attention and the public predictably opposed it. Californians already booted ex-Governor Gray Davis from office because he too tried to give licenses to illegal aliens. Of course New Yorkers are going to react the same way.
The most troubling thing about the open-border crowd, however, is their attempt to advance pro-illegal alien policies in secret. Mr. Sharma seems upset that Dobbs shed light on the subject. The Bush Administration was upset that the recent amnesty was actually debated; recall that supporting senators didn’t want to put it through committee. Same with the DREAM Act.
This is an issue of the elites trying to avoid public input. Dobbs wants public input. For anyone to lament increased public input is troubling.
– JD
—–
To set your mind at ease, I would like to formally declare that I am not upset at Dobbs and I don’t lament public input. Though you appear to be doubley “troubled” by my public input. The real issue is that the idea to grant such licenses is not far-fetched, nor unique to New York, nor even a new idea. Several states currently grant Driver’s Licenses to undocumented people on a regular and systematic basis. And they have been doing it for years, openly, bereft of special attention. What people like Lou Dobbs (likeable fellow) do though, is largely enflame the passions of people who have 8 minutes of CNN or FOX NEWS scholarship on the subject. Why are some people so hysterical about the New York driver’s license issue when as of 2006 the following states did not have a Legal Presence Requirement?
Alaska, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas.
– Ashwin