Senators claim offshore IT firms are 'abusing the system' on L visas
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Two U.S. senators charged that offshore outsourcing vendors are "abusing the system" through their use of L visas, which enable companies to transfer workers to U.S. facilities.
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(InfoWorld) - As Democrats take over leadership of both houses of the U.S. Congress from Republicans, technology industry lobbyists will try again to push for worker visa reform. Legislation to allow more highly skilled foreign workers to come to the U.S. and stay longer failed in the last session of Congress, but it will be reintroduced in the next session, said Andrea Hoffman, vice president of TechNet, a lobbying group for technology companies. TechNet is pushing for three reforms, Hoffman said: Increasing the number of H1B visas granted annually to foreign workers employed temporarily at U.S. companies; granting employment-based visas to workers whose H1B visas are about to expire but whose application for lawful permanent residency (commonly known as a "green card") is backlogged; and allowing foreign workers who earn advanced degrees at U.S. colleges and universities to stay and work in the U.S. once they graduate. Legislation on those reforms became part of a controversial immigration reform bill that tied Congress up in debates about illegal immigrants, deportation, and border security and ultimately failed. With Democrats winning control of the Congress in the November elections, TechNet is going to push its reform agenda anew, Hoffman said. "We are very optimistic," she said. "The change in leadership will be a very good opportunity for the tech industry." One way to keep highly skilled and well-paying jobs in the U.S. is to reform the student visa policy, said Gary Fazzino, vice president of governmental affairs for Hewlett-PackardÂ and a member of TechNet. "We're interested in making it easier for foreign-born students who come here and receive technical degrees to remain in the U.S. more easily than has been the case in the last few years," Fazzino said. HP hosted a public forum Monday on legislative issues in the new Congress featuring U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, a Silicon Valley Democrat. "I'll be very sensitive to the needs of the valley," Lantos told IDG News Service after the event, when asked about the proposed immigration reforms. He declined to discuss specifics. Under current law, 65,000 H1B visas are granted each year to foreign workers, each of whom needs to be sponsored by a U.S. company that couldn't find an American worker who has the needed skills. But that quota for federal fiscal year 2007 was filled before the year even began, according to Hoffman. TechNet wants the ceiling raised to 115,000. Labor interest oppose raising the ceiling. Among the critics is the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, in Seattle, which argues that there are more high-tech workers available in the U.S. than jobs to fill. TechNet also advocates a new "employment-based visa" category for those who have an H1B that is about to expire but are still on a waiting list for a green card. There is a backlog of more than 500,000 green card applications in the U.S., according to ImmigrationVoice.org. "The system is archaic," Hoffman said. "It is not consistent or structured in such a way that it fits business practices and models ... and we need change."
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(InfoWorld) - Three major technology trade groups urged the U.S. Senate on Friday to resurrect a wide-ranging immigration reform bill that would expand a controversial skilled-worker visa program. The Senate late Thursday failed to gain enough votes to close debate on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act and bring the bill to a floor vote. The bill, which critics said provided amnesty to illegal aliens living in the U.S., also would have expanded exemptions to the cap on high-skilled H-1B visa programs, a move supported by many tech vendors. [ Analysis:Â Immigration reform's high-tech impactÂ ] The bill would increase the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000 and exempt foreign students who have earned a master's degree or higher from a U.S. university from the annual cap. Right now, 20,000 students are exempted from the cap. U.S. tech vendors don't want to lose those workers, especially because many of them have their education supported by U.S. tax dollars at public universities, said David LeDuc, director of public policy for the SIIA (Software & Information Industry Association). "We don't want to export our seed corn," he said. "We don't want [those students] leaving and working for our competitors." The bill also sets preferences based on merit, instead of family connections, for clearing multiyear backlogs for employment green cards, another provision supported by many tech groups. Tech vendors want to keep high-skilled workers in the U.S. under the long-term green card program but often face delays, LeDuc said. The SIIA, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the ITIÂ (Information Technology Industry Council) all urged the Senate to try again to pass the legislation. Negotiations on the bill will continue, and ITI is optimistic the bill will still move forward, said James Ratchford, communications director there. The fate of the bill should become clearer by early next week, he said. LeDuc agreed, saying SIIA is confident the bill can still pass. Many large tech vendors have in recent years urged Congress to expand the H-1B program. In March, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called for more H-1B visas during a visit to Washington, D.C. Gates said then he had "deep anxiety" about the ability of the U.S. to compete globally. SIIA's position is similar to Microsoft's. "Companies need to be able to hire the best and brightest workers regardless of where they're born," LeDuc said. The H-1B program isn't generating controversy during the congressional debate on the bill. Instead, provisions to allow illegal aliens to become permanent citizens have raised major concerns among many Republicans. But U.S.-based tech worker groups such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA have opposed a higher H-1B cap, arguing that companies use the program to hire foreign workers for less money than unemployed U.S. workers would receive.
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Two IT trade groups, as well as Microsoft, expressed disappointment after the U.S. Senate failed to move ahead with a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would include a higher annual cap on visas for highly skilled workers.
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The Senate and House make a controversial move to control alleged profiteering.
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House committee demands answers from the agency after investigators turn up dozens of intrusions last year with ties to Chinese Web servers. An IT contractor says it wasn't at fault.
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Two senators said on Sunday they were troubled by a report that US intelligence officials secretly transferred as many as a dozen detainees out of Iraq in the last six months, possibly violating international treaties.
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For a group that promotes the benefits of offshore outsourcing and the need to import foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, the nation&#39;s largest IT trade group seems to be providing fodder for the John Kerry campaign.
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US tech companies aren&#39;t just sending work overseas. They&#39;re also trying to hire more foreign workers in the USA. Congress approved 20,000 new visas for skilled foreign workers this month.
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Senators pushing a new immigration policy appealed Sunday to wavering supporters ahead of renewed debate on securing the borders and dealing with 12 million undocumented immigrants.
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(InfoWorld) - Alumni of a major Indian university want the U.S. Congress to take separate action to passÂ H-1B visaÂ legislation that went down with the immigration reform bill thatÂ failed in CongressÂ last week. Members of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni association, meeting for a three-day conference in Santa Clara, California, said Friday that they are hoping to get a separate vote on an immigration bill provision that would increase the number of visas granted to highly skilled engineers coming from abroad to work at U.S. technology companies. "Almost as soon as the bill died, there was talk of piecemeal moves to get parts of that bill passed," said Umang Gupta, chairman and CEO of Keynote Systems, a company that measures the technical performance of Web sites. He's also chairman of the board of PAN IIT, the alumni group hosting the conference, which has drawn close to 4,000 people. The legislation would increase the limit of H-1B visas to be granted every year to 115,000 from 65,000 today. Backers say the extra visas are needed because there aren't enough qualified U.S. engineers to do the work U.S. companies need done. Opponents say the visas just make it possible for U.S. companies to hire foreigners at lower wages than they would have to pay U.S. hires. The legislation would also continue to allow 20,000 visas per year to applicants who have advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities. Today, about half of the graduates of U.S. engineering schools are non-Americans, many of whom have to return to their home countries to find work when they should be allowed to work here and contribute to U.S. economic growth, said Pradeep Khosla, dean of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. "The day this country limits the free flow of skilled immigrants coming into this country, that's the day we start going downhill," said Khosla. Another IIT alum, Yogen Dalal, managing director at Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm, noted that in the early 1990s, some in Silicon Valley thought they would be overcome by the Japanese. But the success of valley companies like Google and Apple, which introduced its iPhone a week ago, shows it remains a center for innovation. "Wealth is being created by innovation right here in [Silicon Valley]. Economic value is being created here. The work force is just being redistributed," Dalal said. The H1-B discussion is happening against the backdrop of the loss of thousands of jobs in recent years, particularly in Silicon Valley, as companies outsourced work to lower-wage markets in countries like India. But as more work is done in India,Â wage inflationÂ has begun to narrow the pay gap between India and the U.S. And in some cases, Indian companies have begun moving jobs to the U.S., said Arjun Malhotra, chairman and CEO of Headstrong, an outsourcing consulting firm. "If you look at the issue today, it's not outsourcing, it's global sourcing. You go to wherever the best resources are available to do that job," said Malhotra. The Indian Institute of Technology was created in 1950, three years after India gained its independence from Great Britain. It has about 100,000 alumni, 25,000 of whom live and work in the U.S.
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A new report from Congress&#39; research arm about &quot;offshoring&quot; sheds little light about the controversial practice of sending services work abroad.
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SEC officials tell senators they're investigating more than 100 companies, many of them from the technology sector.
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STANFORD, CALIFORNIA - On Monday, the same day the California Senate passed a bill that would ban state agencies from contracting services out to companies that use overseas labor, opponents and proponents of offshore outsourcing clashed during a conference at Stanford University.
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Messages reminding people not to overstay their visas are part of a government drive to clamp down on immigration.
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Protectionist barriers such as visa restrictions may only accelerate the trend of U.S. companies outsourcing software development work offshore, according to IT market analyst Edward Yourdon in a book on outsourcing, scheduled for release October.
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Stringent US visa procedures are getting American companies increasingly worried over business losses to competitors from Asia and Europe, despite government assurances that the situation is under control.