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High-Skill Immigration Reformand Temporary Visas
Russell HarrisonSenior Legislative RepresentativeIEEE-USA
What happens after they graduate?
Are they allowed to
work?
Are they allowed to
become Americans?
Two Visas
EB Visas • Green Cards• Permanent Legal
Status• Equivalent (almost) of
an American• Citizenship in 5 years
H-1B Visa• Temporary Work
Permit• Owned by employer• No permanent status• No citizenship
IEEE-USA Proposal
•EB Cap Exemption for all international STEM graduate students in the U.S.▫Move from student visa to green card
within one year▫Allow students to start working the day
after they graduate
•Exempt dependents from the EB cap•Speed the EB application process
Current System
1. Graduate
2. Get an H-1B visa from your first employer
3. Wait a very long time (2 to 15 years)
4. Get a EB visa green card
5. Five years later, become a citizen
The ProblemThere are only 120,000 EB visas (green cards) available for skilled workers.
▫Dependents count against the cap▫Countries are treated differently
High-Skill immigrants can’t get a green card in a reasonable amount of time.
▫Companies can’t hire permanently▫Workers can’t live as or become an
American
Benefits of EB Visa Plan
•The visa belong to the immigrant
•Convey (almost) full legal rights
•Encourage entrepreneurship
•After 5 years – Citizenship!
•Broad political support
The Other PlanExpand the EB Visa system, But…
Expand the H-1B system more•Expand the H-1B cap to 300,000 annually•Uncapped graduate exemption (+30,000)•Nonprofit exemption remains (+50,000)•Allow spouses to work (+something)
Result: 400,000 new H-1B workers each year
Problems with a H-1B centric plan•Places international workers in an easily
exploitable position
•Not easily portable
•Discriminates against American workers
•Gender discrimination
•Growing backlog
•Encourages outsourcing
Top 20 Users of the H-1BCognizant Technologies 9,281
Tata Consultancy 7,469
Infosys 5,600
Wipro 4,304
Accenture 4,037
HCL America 2,070
Satyam/Tech Mahindra 1,963
Larsen & Toubro 1,932
Deloitte 1,668
IBM India 1,635
Total: 39,959 visas 47% of cap
Microsoft 1,497
Patni Americas 1,260
Syntel 1,161
Intel 812
Amazon.com 773
Qualcomm 729
Google 646
PricewaterhouseCoopers 599
Synechron 572
Mphasis 569
Outsourcing Total: 44,120 visas
52% of all private-sector visas
If America needs more skilled workers (and IEEE-USA thinks we do) then we need them permanently to fill permanent jobs.
That requires an EB green card and, within a short time, American citizenship.
What Type of System?Green cards
Or
Guest workers
H-1B Visas Are Not Portable•Can’t switch jobs while in line for an EB
Visa
•Hard to switch jobs once you have been on an H-1B for three years
•Can’t switch jobs without permission
•Switching jobs at any point is risky▫Will you risk legal status for a raise?
▫There is no appeal or recourse when your visa is pulled
•H-1B workers almost never change jobs
Infosys Shares Slump on Results, Outlook Earlier this month, the U.S. reached a limit on the yearly allotment of applications for skilled-worker visas for jobs starting in October or later, leaving companies such as Infosys at the mercy of a random selection of applications.
Most local outsourcing companies recruit engineers in India and send them to client locations to carry out projects. This is cheaper for them than having staff in Western countries where salaries and other costs are higher.
"When we look at the visa situation, because of over-subscription, we are not confident anymore that we will get 100% of our applied visas," Mr. Shibulal said.
If visas aren't available, the company may have to hire American workers, which will increase its cost.
The Wall Street Journal, Asia Business, April 12, 2013
In their own wordsCognizant: “…the majority of our technical professionals are located in India, and the vast majority of our technical professionals in the United States and Europe are Indian nationals who are able to work in the United States and Europe only because they hold current visas and work permits..” Form 10-K, December 2011 Pg. 23
Infosys: “As of March 31, 2012, the majority of our technology professionals in the United States held either H-1B visas (approximately 10,115 persons, not including Infosys BPO employees or employees of our wholly owned subsidiaries), which allow the employee to remain in the United States for up to six years during the term of the work permit and work as long as he or she remains an employee of the sponsoring firm, or L-1 visas (approximately 1,988 persons, not including Infosys BPO employees or employees of our wholly owned subsidiaries), which allow the employee to stay in the United States only temporarily.” Form 20-F, May 3, 2012. Pg. 7