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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday said it has received petitions for only 6,400 of the 20,000 new visas approved by Congress late last year.
The new H-1B visas are reserved for foreign workers with at least a master?s degree from a U.S. academic institution, and were added to the controversial program's original annual cap of 65,000 after businesses called for an exemption.
"We had anticipated that the petitions might come in at a much faster rate," said USCIS spokesman Chris Bentley.
On May 12, USCIS began accepting applications for the additional 20,000 visas for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2004.
H-1B visas, which allow skilled foreigners to work in the United States for up to six years, have long been a point of debate in the tech industry. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates stirred up the pot recently by calling for the elimination of H-1B visa caps.
Thirty-nine percent of visa petitions approved in 2003 were for workers in computer-related occupations, with nearly 37 percent of all approvals that year for workers born in India.
Critics who have blasted the H-1B program say it has undermined U.S. wages, is ripe for abuse and fuels the shift of skilled-labor positions to overseas locations. Industry leaders have said the visas serve instead as a brake on offshoring. They also have rejected the claim that H-1Bs amount to a cheap-labor program, defending the visas as a means to ease skilled-labor shortages and give U.S. companies access to international talent as they compete globally.
The current slow pace of petitions for the new visas is the latest twist in what has been a bumpy road for the visa program over much of the past year. On Oct. 1, USCIS said it had already received enough visa petitions to meet the annual cap of 65,000 for fiscal year 2005. Later, the agency acknowledged it had accepted 10,000 too many petitions because of a surge in applications in late September.
Given that about two-thirds of approved petitions translate into actual visas, that could mean the annual cap this year will be exceeded by 6,500 visas, Bentley said. The agency has said it has since improved its processing methods.
Apart from that error, USCIS has drawn fire for how it has handled the allotment of 20,000 new visas. In March, the agency indicated the additional visas would be available this year to a range of workers--not just to those with advanced degrees. That upset Compete America--a coalition that includes businesses, universities and trade groups--which accused the agency of reversing its position and undercutting congressional aims.
Earlier this month, USCIS said the visas will be reserved for foreign workers who have received a master's or higher degree from an academic institution in the United States.
See more CNET content tagged:
H-1B, petition, agency, cap, worker
Keeping the status quo does Not promote innovation.
Keeping the status quo does Not promote innovation.
Also, restricting H1-B applications to Master or higher means industry cannot import workers just to replace basic jobs that anyone, with any education can do. Such software jobs include QA Engineer, Build Engineer, Unix scripter... and alike.
Almost every H1B'er I have seen, has taken such a mundane development position, that's why they want people with BS degrees (because they are cheaper than MS degree or higher, as far as H1B applicants go).
What US industry wants (but does not need) is to import more people with BS degrees, in order to fill jobs that represent opportunities for US workers.
It is a fact that there are many people in software development (at all levels) that do not possess Compter Science degrees.
Also, restricting H1-B applications to Master or higher means industry cannot import workers just to replace basic jobs that anyone, with any education can do. Such software jobs include QA Engineer, Build Engineer, Unix scripter... and alike.
Almost every H1B'er I have seen, has taken such a mundane development position, that's why they want people with BS degrees (because they are cheaper than MS degree or higher, as far as H1B applicants go).
What US industry wants (but does not need) is to import more people with BS degrees, in order to fill jobs that represent opportunities for US workers.
It is a fact that there are many people in software development (at all levels) that do not possess Compter Science degrees.
Suddenly it is now marginalized.
This is a serious issue. And this report highlights an important fact. One that I think IT industry lobbyists don't want let out.
One possibility is that management really doesn't want the word to get out.
Namely that the IT industry isn't really interested in paying a living wage in the US.
Suddenly it is now marginalized.
This is a serious issue. And this report highlights an important fact. One that I think IT industry lobbyists don't want let out.
One possibility is that management really doesn't want the word to get out.
Namely that the IT industry isn't really interested in paying a living wage in the US.
Although there are bound to be over 20,000 foreigners graduating, not all of them are going to be technical and interested in pursuing a career in the US.
- MB
http://www.garamchai.com/mohan
- H-1Bs not going like hotcakes... because
- by b2bhandshake June 1, 2005 2:12 AM PDT
- Well, the reason is simple enough, and hidden in the article. The 20K H1-B's are not 'regular' work-visas but special category ones only to be issued to those [foreigners] who have graduated out of Schools in the US with a Masters'...
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(10 Comments)Although there are bound to be over 20,000 foreigners graduating, not all of them are going to be technical and interested in pursuing a career in the US.
- MB
http://www.garamchai.com/mohan