H-1B visa

Next DHS secretary supports expanding H-1B visas

Judi Hasson — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:29:43 -0500

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is expected to be named as the new secretary of Homeland Security by President-elect Barack Obama--a move that may bode well for the high-tech industry, but disappoint some IT workers. The two-term governor is a strong supporter of increasing the H-1B visa cap to deal with a shortage of skilled workers. Increasing the cap has been a priority for technology companies, and has been protested by many American workers, who believe this will deprive them of jobs and drive down wages.

Napolitano was among 12 governors who sent a letter in September 2007 to congressional leaders urging an increase in the number of visas. When she becomes secretary of a critical U.S. agency, her influence on the issue is likely to grow stronger.

"Until we are able to address this workforce shortage, we must recognize that foreign talent has a role to play in our ability to keep companies located in our state and country; and therefore, need to ensure the increase availability of temporary H-1B visas and permanent residency visas (green cards)," the governors wrote.

Napolitano has repeatedly called for major H-1B expansion in her role as a governor of a border state. Napolitano has also indicated she supports making it easier for foreign graduates of U.S. schools to get green cards, which bypasses the need for H-1B visas.

For more on the Arizona governor and H-1B visas:
- check out this Computerworld article

The IT labor shortage is real

Paul Mah — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:29:42 -0500

Jason Hiner over at TechRepublic wrote a piece yesterday where he presented the results of the 2008 "IT Trends Survey" by the Society of Information Management. Despite perceptions fueled by the media, it appears that the budget allocated to offshore outsourcing accounts for between just 3 and 4 percent of IT budgets. This is dwarfed by the projected 2009 IT budget of 33.7 percent that is dedicated to internal staffers, or the 6.2 percent of the budget for domestic outsourced staffers.

Jerry Luftman, an IT professor and SIM director, points to the media for exaggerating the impact of IT outsourcing. Indeed, CIOs are saying that they have trouble finding enough candidates to fill open IT positions. Hiner notes that the bigger threat in the current economic climate is not outsourcing, but the lack of qualified candidates in the labor market. On the other hand, there is no question that abuse of the H-1B visa program appears to be rampant. What do you think? What is your opinion on this matter?

To read more about this story:
- check out this TechRepublic article

IT industry hopeful about Obama

Judi Hasson — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:46:59 -0500

The election of Democrat Barack Obama has brought a sense of cautious optimism to many in the technology community who have long felt that they did not get enough attention and were not well understood by the Bush administration. Ed Black, president and chief executive of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said the Obama camp has tech-savvy advisers who understand the sector and its users.

"There has not been much leadership on technology issues in Washington over the past eight years," Black said. "We don't want special favors. We just want people to understand us."

Paul Gallant, a telecommunications analyst at Stanford Washington Research Group, said Obama may embrace one big priority for the industry: Extending the concept behind network neutrality principles, which prohibit broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against online traffic traveling over their networks, into the wireless arena.

But there also are some notes of caution. Christopher Hansen, president and chief executive of the American Electronics Association, said Obama has not directly addressed a key item on the industry's agenda: Raising the cap on H-1B visas to allow technology companies to bring in more highly-skilled workers from overseas. He also said the industry is worried Obama might seek to discourage the offshoring of operations and jobs.

For more on Obama and IT:
- check out this AP.Google.com article

Also see:
> Obama's Internet connection remade politics. Article
> Obama wants to expand federal teleworking. Article
> Tech lobbyists hope to have Obama's ear. Article

VA company nabbed for H-1B violations

Judi Hasson — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:03:41 -0400

An IT company located in the suburbs of Washington, DC has been caught and fined for cheating immigrant employees working under the government's H-1B visa program. The U.S. Labor Department said Sterling, VA-based Globalcynex Inc., will pay nearly $1.7 million to 343 employees holding H-1B visas who did not receive their required wages from March 2005 through March 2007.

In addition, the government said the workers were illegally charged training fees of $1,000 to $2,500. If the settlement were split evenly among all 343 employees, they would get nearly $5,000 each.

"This case underscores the firm stance the wage and hour division is taking to ensure that employers do not undercut American workers by underpaying temporary foreign workers," said Corlis Sellers, regional administrator for the Labor Department's wage and hour division's northeast region, in a statement.

A recent study by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services looked at about 250 H-1B users and concluded that as many as one in five H-1B visa applications involved fraud or the use of inaccurate data.

Globalcynex runs operations in Hyderabad, India, and provides offshore services including data warehousing. In 2006, Globalcynex had 137 H-1B petitions approved and in 2007, it had 142, according to government records.

For more on this H-1B issue:
- see this Computerworld.com article

McCain lays out tech policy

Judi Hasson — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:30:38 -0400

Republican presidential candidate John McCain this week outlined his technology policy, a plan that he said would encourage American innovation and competitiveness through tax breaks and incentives for research. He said it includes a permanent research and development tax credit, and a plan that would allow companies to expense the costs of new equipment or technology in the first year.

He added that he favors open trade, worker retraining, a reduction in business regulations, as well as protection of intellectual property. McCain also vowed to keep the Internet free of unnecessary regulation and backs network neutrality laws. Finally, he said he supports increased access to broadband, and strongly backs a hike in the number of H-1B visas issued annually with the U.S. Department of Labor determining the number of visas issued each year.

"American workers should always be the first choice for highly skilled technology jobs. However, there is a critical shortage of these workers and American competitiveness is suffering as a result," McCain campaign statement said. "John McCain will expand the number of H-1B visas to allow our companies to keep top-notch talent--often trained in our graduate schools--in the United States."

The statement later continued, "For every foreign worker hired, corporations generally hire five to ten additional American workers."

For more on McCain's tech policies:
- see this InformationWeek.com article

Judge allows extension of student visas

Judi Hasson — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:57:30 -0400

A federal judge in New Jersey refused to stop a federal Department of Homeland Security policy extending foreign student visas from one year to 29 months. The Programmers Guild, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and other groups wanted to block the initiative, believing that the plan to aid foreign students would, in the end, hurt U.S. workers--particularly those in the IT field.

But the judge ruled that the groups could not show they had been directly hurt by the student visa extension. "Instead of alleging concrete injury, plaintiffs assert a generalized grievance with a particular government policy," the judge wrote.

Those favoring the policy maintain it was needed to give students more time to seek an H-1B visas--the program allowing foreigners to work in the U.S. The Programmers Guild argued that its members "will experience further job displacement, denials of job opportunities, wage depression'' and other harm.

For more on this legal battle:
- see this Computerworld.com article

Farm workers vs IT workers on H-1B visas

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Legislation to make it easier for foreign high tech workers to stay in the U.S. ran into a bit of a buzz saw last week from one lawmaker who wants the same kind of equity for immigrants further down the economic scale.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) told a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing that the high tech companies should get "the innovators they need,'' but added that farm workers are "just as critical and relevant to the innovation of that industry." He urged the panel to take a "holistic approach" to immigration so that the most vulnerable "are not stigmatized by actions of the Congress."

His concerns reflect one of many elements involved in the contentious effort to reform the nation's immigration system, and why the push to separately raise caps on H-1B visas and green cards faces such a difficult time in Congress.

For more on the ongoing immigration debate:
- see this Computerworld.com article

Google loses H-1B visa sweepstakes

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Apparently not even Google can always get its way, at least when it comes to hiring foreign nationals and having them stay in the U.S. Like so many others in the IT field, Google claims to be constrained by the congressionally-mandated yearly cap on H-1B visas, complaining publicly that 90 of its 300 H-1B applications were rejected in the recent government visa lottery. That's still a winning percentage, but not good enough for Google.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency held a lottery after receiving 163,000 applications for 85,000 visa slots. A disappointed Google spokesperson said some of the individuals who did not get visas can still work for the company in other countries, but added that "worker satisfaction is higher when employees can work in the location they prefer."

For more on Google's H-1B headaches:
- check out this Computerworld article

Prospects dim for more H-1B visas

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

It's a presidential election year, and with limited time available in the 2008 session, and little appetite for rocking the boat, any reforms of the U.S. immigration system will not be on the congressional agenda.

That applies to increasing the number of H-1B visas that will be available to American firms seeking to hire qualified foreign IT workers. George Fishman, chief Republican counsel to the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee, said at a recent panel discussion that the House Democratic leadership has given the Congressional Hispanic Caucus "veto power" over any immigration-related bill that comes to the House floor.

"The Hispanic Caucus sees it as a bargaining chip to get what they want, which is comprehensive immigration reform, amnesty for illegal immigrants, whatever you want to call it," Fishman said. "Until the Democratic leadership allows legislation [related to H-1Bs] to go to the floor on its own merits, that's the situation we have here."

To read more on the situation in Congress
- see this news.com article

H-1B visas top out

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

The IT community knew that nothing was changing this year for H-1B visas. And so it comes as no surprise that it took just a week for government authorities to announce that the number of visa applications for 2009--85,000--had been taken. Last year, the U.S. department of citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said they had given out all of the applications on April 1, the day that the 2008 applications became available. This year, USCIS didn't say, but we can assume they went very, very quickly. This is an issue that many people have opinions on, and we'd like to hear yours in the comments.

For more on this year's H-1B visa sprint:
- See this PCWorld article
- Also see this InfoWorld article