Visa program could face scrutiny

In the wake of last week’s terrorist at-tack, there is some concern that efforts to restrict access to the U.S. could impact the flow of skilled foreign talent that the nation’s telecom companies have relied on heavily over the last few years.

Cover image: AP Photo/ Stuart Ramson Special Report Main Page

Officially, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is not considering any changes to visa programs, according to an INS spokeswoman. But there is little doubt such programs will be re-evaluated, especially if it is determined that any terrorists entered the country on a visa.

"Just looking at the measures being taken immediately with our airports, you can imagine that other areas are going to be examined," said Theo Huang, managing attorney for National Immigration Services, a law firm that represents foreign nationals applying for visas and their employers. "One of those areas is going to be what these foreign nationals use to gain entry into the U.S."

Perhaps most relevant to telecom firms is the future of the H-1B visa program, which allows high-tech professionals from other countries to work in the U.S. for as long as six years. During the telecom boom, the program blossomed, with companies pushing the government to triple the number of visas allowed in a given year (see figure).

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While many applaud the program for fueling innovation and economic growth in the U.S., the downturn in the economy has decreased companies’ needs for foreign talent.

"With the change in the market, the demand for the kinds of personnel that we recruited under H-1B has virtually vanished," said a spokesman for Lucent Technologies, which has cut its work force in half during the last year.

Not everyone agrees, though. Telica, for instance, is struggling to fill 10 engineering positions within its 200-person organization, according to Ali Kafel, vice president of marketing for the growing softswitch vendor.

‘It would be a big mistake to close the door on [foreign] talent because getting talent in some key areas is still very difficult.’ —Ali Kafel, Telica

"It would be a big mistake to close the door on [foreign] talent because getting talent in some key areas is still very difficult," Kafel said. "There are good people who get laid off, but generally, it’s not the engineers—and certainly not the top-notch engineers."

But Telica’s scenario is among those targeted by critics who contend H-1B visas take jobs from American citizens—a subject that has become more sensitive because tech companies have laid off hundreds of thousands of workers this year.

"Businesses were still using a lot of H-1Bs [this year]; they were essentially taking the opportunity to lay off American workers and replace them with H-1Bs," said Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center of Immigration Studies, a think tank in Washington.

Krikorian believes the terrorist attacks will force Congress to strengthen the country’s "laughably inadequate" border-management effort and to work harder to get workers with expired visas to leave the U.S. However, he questioned whether the H-1B visa program will be altered much.

Gartner Dataquest analyst Ron Cowles said it is too early to predict whether Congress will add restrictions to the program, but given the protectionist enthusiasm that may arise in the aftermath of last week’s events, "there’s going to be a push for it." He said the U.S. must guard against "typecasting" at all levels, though it may be difficult during such emotional times. "Even reasonable people act irrationally after these kind of events—they overreact," Cowles said.

Huang noted that the H-1B program has a better chance of remaining intact if politics do not result in it being categorized with all other visa programs.

"If there is some scrutiny that will occur within the various visa options out there, it probably will be more focused on other visas such as the J-1 visas that offer training programs, as opposed to the H-1B program, which is used predominantly by telecom and high-tech companies to bring people in with engineering and computer skills."