> I'm more concerned about what someone mentioned previously... the
> offshore folk who work for peanuts, but still do decent work..... it
> seems this type of foreign competition is pervasive throughout our
> economy anymore ... Can anyone give me a reason to say those fears for
> the future are unfounded??? Sometimes I feel like we're all just
> "circlin' the drain", albeit slowly
I was shocked but very happy to see in my local newspaper this past
weekend that the government is stepping up to the plate, and may help in
this area. I have pasted the contents of the article below since the
sun-sentinel.com site requires a free login.
-----------------------------------------------
Foreign worker visas to be cut
By Joan Fleischer Tamen
Business Writer
September 27, 2003
Aiming to curb abuses in foreign worker visa programs that critics say
displace American workers at a time of rising unemployment, U.S.
legislators from Florida and several New England states are pushing for
stricter laws on the use of such employment visas.
Barring any last-minute action in Congress -- and there is little sign
of it -- the annual quota for H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers
automatically drops from 195,000 to 65,000 on Oct. 1. A $1,000 fee for
each visa used to fund training programs for U.S. workers and students
also will expire.
But some worry it's too little, too late.
Many companies skirt U.S. immigration laws and bring over inexpensive
foreign workers with visas other than the H1-B, such as the L-1.
The L-1 is intended for intra-company transfers but now is routinely
used by computer consultant companies that lease out temporary foreign
workers to other employers.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, said he is joining a bipartisan
group of legislators led by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, that
would close loopholes in immigration laws that allow companies to bring
in foreign workers, pay them less and replace American workers.
"The more I learned about abuses by certain companies and how workers in
South Florida are affected, I became convinced I should be a part of the
effort to reform the visa programs," said Wexler, who this week said he
is co-sponsoring a bill called the "L-1 Non-Immigration Reform Act."
Wexler said he was moved by the personal accounts of displaced South
Florida technology workers profiled in a South Florida Sun-Sentinel
story that ran Aug. 10. It reported on potential abuses in the foreign
worker visa programs and how South Florida workers not only were
displaced by visa holders but often were required to train their
replacements.
"In this so-called jobless recovery, with so many Americans still out of
work and with high-technology workers especially hurting, it doesn't
make sense to keep lax liberal immigration laws," said Wexler.
Coral Springs resident Phil Marraffini, 47, a senior systems analyst who
lost his job to visa holders and was profiled in the story, said he was
gratified when contacted by Wexler.
"I'm hoping that it can help make a difference," said Marraffini, who
now works as a housepainter. "It is an outrage what has been done to so
many American technology workers."
*Bill seeks cap
*DeLauro's bill would place an annual cap of 35,000 L-1 visas and
require L-1 workers to be paid prevailing U.S. wages. The bill would
also deny L-1s to any company that has laid off an American worker in
the six months before or after filing an L-1 application.
The cap on H1-B visas at 65,000, Wexler said "is still too high."
"I'd certainly be amenable to a larger drop, and for keeping the $1,000
training fee," said the Democrat from Boca Raton. "In the past during a
strong economy, I supported increasing the caps."
In 1998 and again in 2000, Congress increased the numbers on H-1B visas
-- from 65,000 a year to 115,000 a year for two years beginning in 1999;
and to 195,000 a year for three years beginning in 2001.
Not all visas issued count toward the cap. Those applying to extend
their three-year visa for another three years, for example, or those in
academia or research are not counted.
A just-published report by the Department of Homeland Security's Office
of Immigration Statistics shows that 197,537 H1-B visas were approved in
2002, down 40 percent from 331,206 in 2001.
But at the same time, the number of workers coming in on the much less
regulated L-1 visa is on the rise.
There are an estimated 325,000 L-1 visa holders currently working in the
United States. Florida ranks third after California and New York for
having the largest number of these visa holders.
"We don't believe that Congress intended -- or could have even
anticipated -- that the L-1 visa program would be used by some companies
to import substantial numbers of technical workers, IT professionals and
engineers and then use those employees to provide services under
contract or lease arrangements with other U.S.-based employers who, in
turn, lay off many of their U.S. workers," said John Steadman,
president-elect of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers-USA.
*Risks outlined
*"Ultimately at risk is America's ability to innovate and to use
technology to provide competitive advantage and ensure our national
economic and military security," Steadman said.
But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several high-tech companies such as
Intel Corp. caution that businesses must still have access to skilled
foreign workers or risk losing them to competitors elsewhere in the world.
South Florida immigration attorneys already have seen a scramble by
companies in recent weeks to fill remaining slots early before the 2003
ceiling was reached.
"Some clients willingly agreed to pay the $1,000 fee rather than risk
not having a slot after Oct. 1," said Summer McDonald, an immigration
attorney and H1-B specialist at Hackley & Serrone in Weston.
The Weston law firm said it works with businesses and universities,
including the University of Miami, that want to hire certain foreign
professionals with advanced education and specialized research.
"It's not just high-tech," said McDonald. "We place aeronautical
engineers, medical researchers and entertainers."
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