s******s 发帖数: 121 | 1 http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4214667/Congress-hears-
H-1B-visas
Congress hears two views on H-1B visas
Rick Merritt
3/31/2011 3:16 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Congress got two prescriptions for the controversial H-1
B visa program in a public hearing Thursday (March 31).
The H-1B program has long been at the center of debate about immigration and
outsourcing policies in the U.S. The U.S. House of Representatives called
the hearing to come to grips with the conflicts between high tech employers
calling for more H-1B visas and groups such as IEEE-USA calling for tighter
H-1B controls.
"The 65,000 base annual quota of H-1B visas is going to come under more and
more pressure as the economy improves," said Representative Lamar Smith (R.,
Texas) who hosted the hearing. "If Congress doesn’t act to increase the H-
1B cap, then we may need to examine what sort of workers qualify for H-1B vi
sas," he said.
An outspoken opponent of expanding H-1B visas said Congress needs to fix man
y flaws in the program.
"The H-1B program, as currently designed and administered, does more harm th
an good," said Ronil Hira, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Rochester
Institute of Technology. "To meet the needs of the U.S. economy and U.S. wo
rkers, the H-1B visa program needs immediate and substantial overhaul," he s
aid in prepared testimony.
"Loopholes in the program have made it too easy to bring in cheaper foreign
workers, with ordinary skills, who directly substitute for, rather than comp
lement, workers already in America," Hira said. The flaws "provide an unfair
competitive advantage to companies specializing in offshore outsourcing, sp
eeding up the process of shipping high-wage, high-tech jobs overseas," he ad
ded.
Hira called for more detailed management of H-1Bs including
Requiring employers to show qualified American workers are unavailable befor
e hiring foreign workers
Monitoring H-1B wages to make sure they are at market levels
Limiting H-1B visas to three years with no renewals
Preventing companies from having more than 15 percent of their employees on
H-1B visas
Hira showed a chart of top companies using H-1B visas. India consulting firm
s Infosys and Wipro ranked highest by far at 9,625 and 7,216 H-1B employees
from 2007-2009. Microsoft ranked fourth at 3,318. IBM and Intel were among t
he top ten at about 1,500 each.
Bruce Morrison, a former member of Congress who helped create the H-1B progr
am, provided a different view, speaking as a representative of the IEEE-USA.
He called on Congress to pave the road for foreign students in science, tec
hnology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines to get U.S. jobs and citize
nship.
"There are no problems for which green cards are not a better solution than
temporary visas," said Morrison in his testimony.
"We are asking this subcommittee to change the subject--from H-1B to green c
ards--at least long enough to address the opportunity to retain this spring'
s new STEM graduates permanently in America and to help their predecessors t
o not continue having to wait in endless lines for their dates to come up in
the green card queue," he said.
Morrison said Congress should start providing green cards to STEM graduates
this year.
Law makers also should eliminate the per-country limit on employment-based v
isas, recognizing that the biggest talent pools come from countries such as
India and China, he said.
"Giving American employers enough green cards to hire new Americans means mo
re jobs for Americans," he said. | l****l 发帖数: 3394 | 2 STEM green card bill would be too big for anyone to touch now. | t***e 发帖数: 3601 | 3 Pretty sure if STEM green card bill ever happen, there will be a huge market
for wild chicken universities such as west pacific university. US will be
flooded with students buy their faked MS degrees. |
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