The Honorable Henry J. Hyde Re: Pending H-1B Visa Legislation, including H.R. 4227. Dear Chairman Hyde, I am writing to express the very serious concerns of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – United States of America (IEEE-USA) about pending legislation calling for substantial increases in the numbers of foreign professionals who can be admitted to work "temporarily" in the United States on H-1B guest-worker visas. Rather than increasing H-1B admissions to 200,000 a year as Representatives Dreier and Lofgren have proposed, or blowing the lid off entirely as Congressmen Smith, Campbell and Goodlate recommend, Congress ought to fix what’s really broken -- the nation’s permanent employment-based immigration system. Legal permanent residents, not temporary guest-workers, should provide the knowledge and skills needed to meet urgent workforce demands that cannot be met through better education and improved utilization of American citizens. Upward adjustments in admissions ceilings must be accompanied by commensurate improvements in safeguards for U.S. workers, including citizens, legal permanent residents and foreign nationals who are legally allowed to work in the United States. We strongly recommend that the domestic recruitment and retention attestation requirements that were established for "H-1B dependent" employers in 1998 should apply to all petitioning employers, including educational and not-for-profit organizations. The minimum salary and English language requirements for instructional personnel in Title II and the anti-fraud provisions in Title III of the New Technology Temporary Worker Relief Act (H.R. 4227) are needed to improve the integrity of the H-1B program and to minimize the potentially adverse effects that substantial increases in admissions will have on educational and employment opportunities for citizens and legal permanent residents. And because effective program administration, enforcement and Congressional oversight is impossible without the timely availability of accurate statistical information, the new electronic transparency (reporting) requirements for employers and the Secretary of Labor in Section 202 of the bill are critically important and should be retained when the Judiciary Committee marks up H.R. 4227 later this month. Sincerely Merrill W. Buckley, Jr. (Note: Same Letter sent to all members of the House Judiciary Committee) The Institute of Electrical
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