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So
what's going on in the tumultuous H-1B world?
Written
by Jennifer Wipf
for
Immigration
Newsman*
Dateline 01/25/00
As
if visa processing isn't uncertain enough in its own
right, the big H-1B blunder by the INS has left many
foreign workers in an even more precarious situation.
While law makers and corporate decision makers continue
to duke it out over whether and how to limit these ever-sought-
after specialty worker visas, many are left to ponder
their potential futures as H-1B holders. And all this
at a time when the United States is experiencing a significant
shortage of technology workers. Go figure.
H-1B
visas enable notably skilled foreign workers--often those
in high tech jobs--to come to the U.S. to fill specific
positions. The cap for the last fiscal year was 115,000,
and was hit in August of 1999. The current demand for
high-techies has companies fighting for a higher cap
as human resource execs bite their nails trying to do
their jobs. One pending bill even requests an additional
65,000 visas for those with advanced degrees, and many
still call that a conservative number. To add a little
more spice to the mix, with the presidential election
coming up in November, this has naturally become a major
political debate with high stakes for those involved.
Things
started to go awry last year when a possible combination
of software and human error glitches at the Immigration
and Naturalization Service resulted in the agency's granting
of 10,000 to 20,000 too many H-1B visas for the period
ending September 30th.
Initially,
employees panicked that some 10,000 to 20,000 employees
could conceivably be told to pack it up and head home.
It won't happen, promises the INS, which has thus far
made some vague references to a "compromise with Congress" and
has contracted Big Five accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick
to conduct an audit of the H-1B count FY 1999, with recommendations
for improvements.
In
a letter to Attorney General Reno, Senator Abraham pointed
out that the INS' own instructions on how to count visas
need to be carefully scrutinized as a possibly major
contributing factor to the errors. Apparently, there
may be a mix up between tabulations of approvals and
actual conferral of visas.
Also
cited is "evidence from INS' own instruction sheets and
briefings that it has been inflating the visa count," which
means we really don't know for sure how high or low the
miscount actually is. Leave it to the good old INS to
leave us back at square one, scratching our heads.
The
agency also recently announced that last June's statement
on the number of H-1B visas filed in fiscal 1998 by the
top 20 U.S. companies, was filled with inaccuracies.
Interestingly enough, one of those companies was KPMG.
According
to INS spokeswoman Eyleen Schmidt, the INS is holding
off on any and all decisions until the count is in. KPMG
is expected to deliver later this month, but a detailed
report on causes and recommendations won't be in until
Late winter or early spring.
There
are two things that definitely won't happen says the
INS: The agency will not revoke any already approved
H-1B visa petitions (phew), nor will it assign the surplus
to previous years when a quota was unmet (shucks).
But
the agency is still considering a deduction of the surplus
from this year's quota, and that has many critics up
in arms. Citing the political heat involved, however,
many suspect that Congress may not want to cut into the
cap when the GOP has, in fact, been eyeing an increase
with growing enthusiasm.
These
reporting problems and uncertainties are not being taken
lightly by employers who make major hiring and organizational
decisions based on the numbers they thought they could
count on.
But
the INS has promised to clean up its act, and quickly.
We
shall see.
*This article originally appeared in Immigration Newsman, the print newspaper
for all immigrants in America.
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