Somebody's Got to do IT

If passed, legislation on Capitol Hill would enable wireless and other high-tech companies to sponsor as many as 200,000 new foreign IT workers annually using temporary H-1B visas.

But critics say it's too soon. They point to the fact that President Clinton and Congress increased the visa cap just last year from 65,000 to 115,000. The ramifications of that increase are unclear, but it could infuse nearly 600,000 foreign workers over five years into the U.S marketplace.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) approved all 65,000 visas in 1997 and 1998. And petitions for all 115,000 visas available for fiscal 1999 were collected by mid-June. Barring legislative alteration, 115,000 visas will be available for 2000 and 107,500 in 2001.

The wireless industry has yet to take an overt stance on the H-1B visa issue. CTIA's government-affairs wing does not offer an official opinion. However, some vendors, including Lucent and Qualcomm, have expressed concern about H-1B caps, a CTIA spokesman said. Although Motorola wouldn't comment on the H-1B issue, a spokesperson said that recruitment was thus far limited to northern Illinois and Wisconsin for the IT positions among 2,000 new hires at its Harvard, IL, plant.

The IEEE, on the other hand, is opposed to another increase of H-1B visa limits. Paul Kostek, 1999 president of the U.S. arm of the IEEE, said the government has yet to fulfill its obligations to last year's legislation. He said The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Science, is planning to issue a report of IT market conditions in fall of 2000.

"The rules and regulations that were to implement these changes ... have been written and are just in the approval stage now," Kostek said. "That's one reason why I think we've seen such big surge in the number of H-1B visas being used this year. These companies were probably concerned about the new rules and regulations, and decided to get their paperwork in the pipeline."

A Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics review that found IT unemployment rates lower than national averages is insufficient evidence of a true shortage of workers, the IEEE said.

At the very least, the IEEE wants high-tech companies seeking more H-1B visas to prove they have not had any recent significant layoffs and that they have exhausted every avenue for filling IT jobs, including advertising and retraining their workforces, particularly older employees.

The H-1B visas are good for three years and renewable for another three years. However, due to a lack of portability, the IEEE says foreign workers are beholden to their H-1B visa sponsor companies. That limitation clearly has the potential to keep down IT salaries and foster wage-scale abuse of foreign workers, according to the IEEE.

Supporters argue that such a notion is unfair, considering that, by law, the foreign IT workers must be paid the prevailing wage for IT workers. They claim rising IT salaries in the wireless industry is a fair indication that supply is not keeping pace with demand.

Kathy Dempsey, spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), said the Lone Star politician's legislation calling for a 200,000-visa cap is awaiting committee approval. Dempsey said that Gramm believes the caps need to be raised because it is important to maintain a steady stream of highly skilled workers, allowing U.S. businesses to grow and prosper.