Several Bills to Increase H1-B Visas Could
Cause Trouble for the Visa Program
R S Shankar
Silicon Valley executives are getting ready to launch a solid effort to ensure that Congress passes a bill that will, hopefully, increase the quota for H-1B visas to 195,000. Many Valley executives are afraid that the task is not going to be an easy one. Even though many Democrats and Republicans are sympathetic to the urgings of the industry to boost the number of visas, the labor movement is strongly opposed to it.
Those opposed to the visas say there is widespread fraud -- and among the cases they point out to is the sensational case involving Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy and his son Vijaykumar who are charged with misusing H1-B visas.
If the efforts to boost the visas fail, the current number of nearly 110,000 visas will drop back to the 1998 level of 65,000. Many industry leaders say there will be chaos and huge losses if the numbers drop to the 1998 level.
To make things more complicated for the high-tech industry three bills have been introduced in the Congress -- all want to increase the number of H-1B visas, but each has different stipulations and target numbers. Industry leaders fear the competition between the three bills could cause damage to H1-B visa cause.
Meanwhile, the White House, which is beholden to Silicon Valley and labor unions at the same time, has said it would sign legislation that temporarily increase the visas as long as it (H1-B visa progam) provided more money for education and retraining. The money for retraining would come from charging higher visa fees. President Clinton and Vice-President Gore are reportedly in favor of increasing the visas to 150,000, a compromise they feel will appease the unions.
The bills: The bipartisan Senate bill, co-sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat from California, would raise the annual visa cap to 195,000 for three years, but would not increase the $ 500 per-visa fee.
A bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives, co-sponsored by Representatives Zoe Lofgren, Democrat from San Jose, and Anna Eshoo, Democrat from Palo Alto, would hike the cap raised to 200,000 and double the fee. Lofgren also wants the creation of new techie visas that will make it easier for foreigners with high-tech degrees from American universities to stay back.
Another bill in the House, co-sponsored by Representative Tom Campbell, Republican from California, would also double the fee, but only increases the number to 160,000 in 2001 and to 107,500 in 2002.
Campbell has good support in the Republican wing of Indians in Silicon Valley including that of the president of The Indus Entrepreneurs, Kanwal Rekhi.
But the industry in general is not enthusiastic about his bill because not only it will permit a modest increase in the numbers of visa recipients but it also wants to ensure higher pay for foreign workers. Typically, H1-B visa holders get about $ 50,000, nearly 20% less than their American peers. Campbell wants the newcomers get the prevalent market rate.
Meanwhile, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA, which represents 220,000 engineers and programmers, is demanding that the H1-B visa system be abolished and instead the foreign tech workers be given instant 'conditional green cards' until their permanent residency is approved by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
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