Educational and
Employment- By Vin O'Neill Senior Legislative
Representative, Career Activities The following provides general information about immigrant and non-immigrant admissions programs commonly used by foreign-born professionals; describes statutory safeguards for educational and employment opportunities in the United States; highlight srecent statistics on permanent and temporary admissions; and explains current IEEE-USA perspectives and policy recommendations on immigration issues. Immigrant (Permanent) Admissions Programs Immigrant admissions programs govern the entry of foreign nationals who wish to establish permanent resident status in the United States. Permanent visas are available in limited numbers and are subject to admissions requirements established by Congress. Foreign nationals seeking legal permanent residence status can do so in one of three ways: 1) through the sponsorship of an immediate family member or a close relative who is already a citizen or legal permanent resident; 2) through the sponsorship of an employer or prospective employer; or 3) as refugees or other special immigrants. Family sponsored programs exist for: 1) Immediate relatives (spouses, parents and minor children); 2) Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; 3) Spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents; 4) Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; and 5) Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. Employment-based programs exist for: 1) Priority workers, including persons with extraordinary abilities, outstanding professors and researchers and certain multi-national executives and managers; 2) Professionals with advanced degrees and persons with exceptional abilities; 3) Baccalaureate degree professionals, skilled and unskilled workers; 4) Special immigrants; and 5) Employment-creating investors. Advanced degree professionals, baccalaureate degree professionals and most skilled and unskilled workers are subject to foreign labor certification requirements. These requirements are intended to ensure that qualified Americans are not readily available and that immigrant admissions will not adversely affect employment opportunities, wages and working conditions for similarly employed U.S. workers. While demand for temporary visas has increased dramatically in recent years, the numbers of foreign nationals awarded legal permanent residence on employment-based preferences - 97,015 in FY 2000 - remains considerably less than the statutory limit of 140,000 admissions per year. Some employers attribute the decline in applications for permanent admission to burdensome eligibility requirements and the time required to process applications. Delays of up to three years are common in some jurisdictions. Congress has also established other immigrant admissions programs to facilitate the permanent entry of special categories of foreign nationals. These include refugees, asylum-seekers, diversity immigrants and certain individuals who may have entered illegally but have been residing in the United States for an extended period. Non-Immigrant (Temporary) Admissions Programs In addition to permanent admissions programs, there are currently more than 26 temporary admissions programs. Each one is identifiable by a letter corresponding with a specific section of the Immigration and Nationality Act and has its own eligibility and conditions of stay requirements. The primary purpose of these temporary programs is to facilitate cultural, educational and social exchanges and promote trade, commerce and economic development. Foreign engineers, scientists and other technical professionals who come to study or work temporarily in the United States are generally admitted on one of the following non-immigrant visas: Temporary visitor for business (B-1); Treaty trader or investor (E); Academic student (F); Temporary worker (H); Exchange visitor (J); Intra-company transferee (L); Extra-ordinary ability (O); or NAFTA professional (TN) visa programs. One of the most controversial temporary, employment-based admissions programs for technical professionals is the H-1B (Specialty Occupations) visa program. H-1B Admissions Requirements An H-1B specialty occupation is one that requires a) the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge and skills and b) at least a baccalaureate degree in the specialty as a minimum requirement for employment in the United States. To be eligible for an H-1B visa, a foreign national must possess a state license to practice their profession or occupation; an appropriate university degree or equivalent experience in the same or a similar profession or occupation; and a job offer from a U.S. employer. Employers who wish to hire foreign nationals on H-1B visas must file labor condition applications with the US Department of Labor. Petitioning employers must attest: that they will pay their foreign employees the higher of the actual or the prevailing wage in the intended area of employment; that working conditions for U.S. workers will not be adversely affected; that there are no strikes or lockouts at locations where H-1B workers will be employed; and that a notice of intent to hire foreign workers is posted at their intended place(s) of employment. H-1B dependent employers (where15% or more of all employees are foreign nationals) must also attest that they have tried and been unable to recruit U.S workers and that they have not displaced and will not displace U.S. workers in order to hire H-1B workers. These requirements are intended to reduce the likelihood that the admission of foreign professionals on H-1B visas will adversely affect employment opportunities, wages and working conditions for similarly qualified U.S. workers. H-1B visas are granted for three years and can be renewed for an additional three years. Private businesses must also pay a $1,000 fee for every H-1B worker initially admitted. Fees are used by the Labor Department for jobs training programs, by the National Science Foundation for educational grants and scholarships and by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for program administration and enforcement. Educational institutions and related research organizations are currently exempt from the $1,000 H-1B application fee requirements. Characteristics of Recent H-1B Non-Immigrants The numbers of foreign workers legally authorized to enter the United States on H-1B visas has increased substantially - from 65,000 in 1992 to 115,000 in 1999 and to 195,000 beginning in 2001. Many employers believe that the limit should be raised even higher to insure the continuing availability of skilled workers in the high tech sector of the nation's economy. Other observers question whether enough is being done to increase the knowledge and skills of American workers. According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), about 60% of the H-1B workers admitted in recent years came to fill positions in information technology. Most of the rest were college or university educators, accountants and auditors and providers of health services, including physicians, nurses and therapists. Their median age was about 28. Two thirds came from six countries: India (43%); China (10%); Canada (4%); UK (3%); Philippines (3%); and Taiwan (2%). 56% had Bachelor's degrees; 31% had Master's degrees; and 8% had Ph.D.'s. Median salaries ranged from $54,000 for electrical and electronics engineers; $47,000 for systems analysts and computer programmers; $36,000 for accountants and auditors; and $35,000 for college and university educators. An estimated 60% of the H-1B visa recipients resided outside the United States at the time their applications were approved. The remaining 40% were already here on some other non-immigrant visa. 58% of these had academic student (F) visas. The INS is expected to provide statistical reports to the Congress on the numbers of foreign workers admitted on H-1B visas, including demographic information on their countries of origin, occupations, educational attainment and levels of compensation. Program Effectiveness Hampered by Limited Enforcement Authority Despite the H-1B program's utility to employers as a source of skilled foreign workers, weaknesses in the government's ability to administer and enforce program requirements leave it vulnerable to abuses. In processing an employer's labor condition application, for example, the Department of Labor is limited to ensuring that the application has no obvious errors or omissions. It does not have the authority to verify that information provided on the application is correct. Labor is also limited in its ability to ensure that employers comply with other statutory requirements. Unlike other programs that it administers, the department generally cannot initiate investigative or enforcement actions, even if it has reason to believe employers are violating the law. IEEE-USA Comments and Recommendations In testimony before the Congress, the US Commission on Immigration Reform and the private Committee for Economic Development, IEEE-USA has consistently spoken out on behalf of its constituents, including citizens, legal permanent residents and foreign nationals legally admitted to work temporarily in the United States. Comments and recommendations have included the following: To the extent that the available supply of U.S. workers is insufficient to meet employers' needs, improvements in the nation's permanent immigration system are preferable to further expansions of temporary guest-worker programs (like the H-1B program) to meet current demand for professionals and other skilled workers. The presence of substantial numbers of temporary guest-workers adversely affects educational and employment opportunities for citizens and legal permanent residents and, by depressing wages, may make engineering careers less attractive to many U.S. students, including traditionally underrepresented women and minorities. Too easy access to guest-workers reduces incentives for employers to invest in the kinds of education and training needed to reinforce and extend the technological skills and productivity of entry-level, mid-career and older workers. By tying the validity of their visas to continuing employment with sponsoring employers, guest-worker programs interfere with the normal operation of domestic labor markets by limiting the ability of guest-workers to compete freely for better jobs, compensation and working conditions based on their own skills and qualifications. Absent effective safeguards, employers are free to replace U.S. workers with temporary foreign workers -- an attractive option if foreign workers are less expensive than citizens and legal permanent residents and can be effectively tied to their sponsoring employers for periods of up to six years. The strong desire of many foreign workers to enter or remain in the United States coupled with legal restrictions on their mobility makes them an easy target for exploitation by unscrupulous employers. A dysfunctional visa application processing system, coupled with inflexible admissions ceilings and per country limits, often results in interminable delays in the award of visas to foreign applicants for legal permanent residence. Over-reliance on guest-workers in technologically-dependent industries may jeopardize America's future economic growth and national security. Over reliance on foreign technical expertise, like over dependence on foreign oil, exposes the nation to serious risks in the event of any reduction in future supplies. Excessive recruiting of skilled foreign professionals from third world countries may be perceived as creating a "brain-drain" that could erode their prospects for economic and social development and create future foreign policy problems for the United States. "Green Cards, Not Guest-Workers" Rather than continuing to increase our dependence on temporary guest-workers, IEEE-USA recommends that legal permanent immigrants be the preferred supplementary source of supply for professional and other skilled workers who may be needed to satisfy labor market needs that cannot be met through more effective education and utilization of American workers. This recommendation can best be accomplished by reforming the nation's permanent, employment-based admissions system in order to:
More specific employment-based immigration reform recommendations have included the following:
Sources of Additional Information For more information, see IEEE-USA's H-1B Visa and America's High Tech Workforce web page. Also see: 1. Committee for Economic Development, Reforming Immigration: Helping Meet America's Need for a Skilled Workforce. (New York, CED, March 2001) 2. Congressional Research Service, Immigration: Legislative Issues on Non-Immigrant Professional Specialty (H-1B) Workers. (Washington, The Library of Congress, June 2001) 3. General Accounting Office, H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help Employers and Protect Workers. (Washington, GAO, September 2000) 4. IEEE-USA, Ensuring a Strong High Tech Workforce for the 21st Century. (Washington, IEEE-USA, February 2000) | Top of Page | Policy Forum | IEEE-USA | Last updated:
14 October 2004
|
