Senator Hatch wants White House to seek H-1B expansion

Treasury secretary says he agrees with Hatch on need to increase H-1B visa program

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) berated the White House on Wednesday for failing to urge expansion of the H-1B program.

Hatch, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance, raised his concern at a committee hearing on President Obama's proposed 2012 federal budget. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was its sole witness.

One of the things that would "help our country a great deal is to expand the H-1B and allow these Ph.D.s who are educated here who want to stay here, who are brilliant, who can help us in the high-tech world and other worlds, to stay here," Hatch told Geithner.

"It's ridiculous that the administration doesn't weigh in on [H-1B], and I know why they don't -- but it's ridiculous not to," Hatch said, "And we've now created real competitors in India and China, just to mention two places, but others as well. "

In China, but especially in India, the H-1B visa is critical to offshore outsourcing companies in providing overseas services. These companies were critical of the Senate last year for approving a $2,000 visa fee increase specifically aimed at them. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who sought the fee increase, said the H-1B program has created "multinational temp agencies."

"We are not doing things that we really ought to do to get competitive," Hatch said. "Weigh in on this H-1B thing. That would help us a great deal."

In response, Geithner said, "I agree with you on H-1B, by the way. It's just a question about how best to do it."

Hatch quickly answered, "Expand it."

The U.S. issues 85,000 H-1B visas each year, of which 20,000 are reserved for advanced-degree graduates of U.S. universities.

The Obama administration has said little about the H-1B program specifically, but in his State of the Union address last month, he urged an easier path to immigration for foreign students who graduate with advanced degrees from U.S. institutions.

Legislation to accomplish that may soon emerge from U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). Lofgren drafted a proposal that would create a new employment-based permanent residency, or green card, category for advanced-degree graduates. It would bypass the need for an H-1B visa.

Two other senators, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), want to limit the number of H-1B or L-1 visas to 50% of a company's U.S. workforce, the so-called 50/50 rule.

Patrick Thibodeau covers SaaS and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @DCgov or subscribe to Patrick's RSS feed . His e-mail address is pthibodeau@computerworld.com.

Durbin-Grassley's Letter to DHS Secretary to terminate 17-month OPT extension program for STEM students

Senator Grassley and Senator Durbin's letter to DHS Secretary, Janet Napolitano requesting restoring integrity of H1-B Program and reconsidering terminating 17-month OPT extension program for STEM students.

H1B FY 2010 Filings Reflect Market Condition

Today, USCIS announced that it has not reached the H1B cap for FY 2010. It has been five business days since H1B cap has been opened. USCIS announced it continues to accept H-1B non immigrant visa petitions subject to the fiscal year 2010 (FY 2010) cap. USCIS will continue to monitor the number of H-1B petitions received for both the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption cap. USCIS mentioned that they would announce to public, the day (final receipt date) when the cap is reached for respective case. The application received on final receipt date would undergo a Mini lottery through computerized generated random selection process. It is not clear as of now whether USCIS will post H1B cap count on daily basis, as they had been doing for so many years or will they just publish the "final receipt date" when cap is reached. If USCIS fails to keep tabs on the updated count on USCIS website, this could be considered as a smart move from their side. By this they could avoid plenty last minute rushed H1B application that are received every year nearing final receipt date, thus reducing their added workload.

It should be recalled that cap for the FY 2009 and FY 2008 were met on first day of April each year, whereas H1B Cap FY 2010 is still open past five business days. USCIS has informed that this year they have received more application under Master’s degree or higher educational exemption cap case whereas number for regular cap is still far from numerical limitation on approved quota. This signifies that demand in H1B filings every year is indicative of the real market condition and America is always in need of skilled workers to thrive in competitive global economy. The filing trend for the fiscal year FY 2010 is reflective of current market condition, inwhere with many unemployed workers available in market there is less need of H1Bs with bachelor’s degree, but unquestionably there is a shortage of personals in few specialized areas which need expertise in highly specific fields that usually require advanced studies.

It should be recalled that author has mentioned in his previous post that America needs talented and skilled workers with advanced degrees and there is a need to reform the immigration system. This calls for total H1B CAP exempt for International students who have earned Masters and PhD from American Universities, thus preventing reverse brain drain of talented individuals who contribute to continuous development of technology in the country. These individuals not only include STEM majors but also Business majors who contribute so much to American Financial System.

Moreover to make America more competitive, there is an acute need to make graduate and post graduate education highly subsidized by US government. This will help every American to get trained in specialized areas requiring expertise. With this done, every American can compete with an international student (F1B) with a higher advanced degree, making it is easy to sustain in any type of economy.

H1B Cap FY 2010 could lead to much needed Reform

For five business days beginning Wednesday, April 1st, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) started accepting petitions for the H-1B for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. In recent years, visa limits were reached on the first days of the application period.Last year, USCIS published a new rule according to which they will select H1-B visa application received during first five business days through H1B lottery process if cap limit is reached on first day of application. Successively after five business days if cap is not reached, any applications received on the day cap is reached will be used for H1B lottery process. It should be noted that though there is a notion from the last year, that USCIS will accept application for first five business days for H1B lottery if cap is reached anytime within first five days, but this statement has not been explicitly published anywhere this year on USCIS website.

There were wide reports that the H-1B cap filing for FY 2010 will be much lighter this year because of current economic recession and hiring freeze in the companies. With companies laying off so many workers and stringent laws imposed on companies getting bailout money through Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP), you would expect that H1B cap for FY 2010 will last for few months. But recent article published in New York Times suggests that there still may be rush for H1B visa application this year even as the demands seems to dip. This may be due to large amount of backlog from applicants from last two years, who could not get H1B because of lottery in FY 2009 and FY 2008. Failure to get selected through H1B lottery last year forced these applicants to work on Optional Practical Training (OPT) for more than a year, thanks to the new rule published last year on OPT extension for 17 months for STEM (Science, Technological, Mathematics and Engineering) students. Needless to say big Indian technological companies, who could not get visas last year will try for them this year.

There have been recent reports that Department of Labor (DOL) has become strict on many US based small consulting companies who exploit H1B visa program by filing many H1B application with no legitimate client requirements. These companies are in strict scrutiny by DOL and hopefully will be filing less worker visas this year. There is also information that these small companies to surmount any explanation to DOL this year, plan to file many H1B under Consular Processing (CP). Consular Processing requires applicant to obtain H1B visa stamped before they could work for an employer who filed a petition. This way they will only provide I-797 to their employees when they will have legitimate requirements from the clients.

It has been 3 official days since Cap has been open but there is no formal release on H1B cap count for FY 2010 on USCIS website. There are unconfirmed reports or rumors that on the first day, the agency had received less than 40,000 out of the total cap of 75,820 excluding the free trade special H-1B1 cap numbers for Singapore and Chile (Oh Law firm). Considering the fact that most of the employers had sent in cap petitions on the first day of April, the volume can be considered much lighter this year than that of last year. Those who have filed or will file before the end of the day of April 7, 2009 have good chances to get their H1B application accepted. Only cases that will be subject to the lottery will be those received on final receipt day when cap is reached.

Looking back at those 40,000 numbers for the first day of H1B filing, they seems a lot in this market condition. If cap is reached within few days from now, then there is a specific need to overhaul H1B visa Program plus immediate need to ban some of the participating companies who abuse the system left and right. It is less likely in this economic recession that there is such a high demand for H1B visas when there are so many right candidates available in America especially when unemployment rate hit 8.3% in March 2009.

There is no doubt that America needs talented and skilled workers for continuous economic growth but this should be achieved with rational means and by bringing reform in H1B system through strict regulations by DOL. Major reform in the system also calls for total H1B CAP exempt for International students who have earned Masters and PhD from American Universities thus preventing reverse brain drain of talented individuals who contribute to continuous development of technology in the country. These individuals not only include STEM majors but also Business majors who add so much to American Financial System.