Building Careers and Shaping Public Policy

19 October 2005

The Honorable Arlen Specter
Chair, Committee on the Judiciary
711 Hart Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Re: Pending Budget Reconciliation Proposals

Dear Senator Specter:

I am writing on behalf of IEEE-USA to strongly urge you not to adopt a proposal to increase the H-1B (Specialty Occupation) visa ceilings through a revenue-driven recapture mechanism. In our view, a more responsible way to meet pending budget reconciliation targets would be to endorse an increase in L-1 (Intra- company Transfer) visa application fees — as the House Judiciary Committee has done.

The H-1B visa program was originally intended to enable employers to hire foreign workers, including engineers and computer scientists, to meet short-term needs for professional skills deemed to be in high demand in the United States. It was also supposed to help safeguard job opportunities, wages and working conditions for US citizens, legal permanent residents and foreign nationals legally admitted to work temporarily in the United States. As presently structured and administered, the H-1B program does little to advance either of these objectives and is in desperate need of carefully considered reforms that will benefit employers and workers alike.

We call your attention to the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s recent report confirming that DHS has neither the methodology nor the technology needed to accurately count the numbers of H-1B visas it is authorized to issue, let alone administer the program as Congress originally intended.

IEEE-USA and other organizations that represent America’s high tech professionals would welcome an opportunity to work with the Committee and representatives from the Administration and the business community to help fix the H-1B temporary admissions program and to focus on responsible immigration reforms. In the meantime, we urge you not to make a bad situation worse by approving another increase in H-1B admissions ceilings.

Sincerely,

Gerard A. Alphonse, Ph.D.
IEEE-USA

[Similar letter was hand-delivered to all members of Senate Judiciary Committee]