Worker Visas Intensify Debate on Immigration

The US Congress hears two different tales when it comes to the need for high-tech workers: Older workers, once highly paid, complain that they cannot obtain work and must seek jobs in other industries; the high-tech industry complains of a dire shortage of workers with computer and math skills. A proposed US immigration reform bill gives priority to skilled labor and would almost double the annual limit on H-1B visas issued, up to 115,000 – but both opponents and supporters of the visas have problems with the legislation. Associations that represent US engineers and computer scientists oppose the bill for reducing wages for high-tech workers, while industry representatives oppose the bill for onerous regulations and not allowing employers to sponsor individual workers. The visas are supposed to go to highly skilled professionals in short supply throughout the US, and employers are required to pay the prevailing wage. But a report from the Center for Immigration Studies reports that few H-1B workers are “highly skilled” and that their salary averages about $12,000 less than what’s earned by US counterparts. H-1B visa holders represent less than 1 percent of the US labor force, and almost 60 percent have advanced degrees. The scramble for the visas is so fierce that the US government has little time to sort through the applications in any logical way, but foreign students armed with graduate degrees from US institutions remain exempt from the limits. – YaleGlobal