Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 13:26:26 -0700 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: another stealth H-1B increase (and Sensenbrenner hypocrisy) To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter As most readers of this e-newsletter know, late last year Congress in effect increased the H-1B cap by about 30%, by creating a new 20,000-visa category for foreign nationals who hold Master's or PhDs from U.S. universities. The legislation was unwarranted, as I explained at the time; see http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/ProposedMSPhDExemption.txt In addition, many of you also know that the federal government accidentally issued 10,000 visas over the cap. I know some of you will laugh at my use of the word _accidentally_, but I'm willing to believe it. What I can't accept, though, is that Congress recently snuck through ANOTHER 10,000-visa increase, this one targeted for Australians. None of the H-1B increases, starting in 1998, has ever been warranted, as there never has been a labor shortage, but of course increases are especially unwarranted in today's job market. And it gets worse: * the new visa category is especially liberal, in that (a) it can be renewed indefinitely, and (b) it also spouses to work, so that the number of workers could be even more than 10,000 * Rep. Sensenbrenner, who had assured Americans that he was opposed to such nation-specific visas, was apparently the initiator of this legislation You can get details on the new visa at http://www.visalaw.com/05may1/4may105.html The details on Sensenbrenner are in the article enclosed below. Here is some background: Free trade agreements (FTAs) give the president carte blance authority for negotiating trade issues with other nations. Though that in itself is a troubling usurpation of Congress' constitutional authority, for us H-1B critics it is of special concern in that "trade" includes trade in services, i.e. labor. When the FTAs with Singapore and Chile were signed a year or so ago, H-1B critics were upset that special H-1B categories were established for those nations. (In addition, especially onerous agreements were reached on the rules for L-1 visas.) This actually gave cover to certain people in Congress who had privately expressed concerns about the H-1B program but were too beholden to industrial campaign contributors to openly oppose the program. The rationale given was that trade in services is actually an immigration issue, rather than a trade issue, and thus should not be wrapped up in trade agreements, as immigration policy is a congressional prerogative. Of course, that didn't make too much sense, as one could say the same thing for trade, but it was politically saleable. Immigration reform lobbyists worked closely with Rep. Sensenbrenner, chair of the House Judiciary Committee (thus in charge of immigration legislation), and he agreed not to allow policy on trade in services enter into future FTAs. He was reported in the press, and by the lobbyists I believe, as being sympathetic to those who believe that the H-1B program is overused and is abused. Or not. As seen in the enclosed article from the Australian press, it turns out that Sensenbrenner was simply weasling through a loophole, taking the "immigration is Congress' prerogative" point quite literally. While he was telling Americans that he won't allow H-1B/L-1 policy to enter FTAs, he was telling the people in Oz, "Don't worry mate, I'll get you your own H-1B visa category WITHOUT going through FTAs." By the way, there are plenty of programmers in Australia who are critical of their own government for its "H-1B" program. Unfortunately, their professional organizations keeping selling them out, just like here, so they don't get enough support. Norm http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,15474257%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html US visa tailored for technology James Riley JUNE 01, 2005 THE technology industry will be among the chief beneficiaries of a new class of US business visa that specifically targets Australian workers. The new US E-3 visa was signed into law by President George Bush two weeks ago and will allow up to 10,500 Australians live and work in the US. Previously Australian businessmen and workers were forced to compete with the rest of the world for the pool of 65,000 business-sponsored visas known as the H1-B. Last year, Australians were issued with just 986 H1-B visas. US Congressman James Sensenbrenner, who chaired the US House of Representative committee that created the new visa, said the E-3 was the only US visa that targeted the citizens of a single country for special treatment. The E-3 visa will be welcomed by industry groups like the Australian Information Industry Association and the Australian Computer Society, which were both dismayed that better provisions for business travel was not included in the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement. Congressman Sensenbrenner, who was in Canberra yesterday for talks with Immigration officials, said the visa issue could not be included in the agreement because the FTA was negotiated by the executive branch of government, while immigration was a congressional matter. "But I did tell former Ambassador (to the US Michael) Thawley ... that I could see what could be done to incorporate the request of the Australian Government into separate legislation that dealt with immigration," the Congressman said. "We were able to do it fairly quickly in terms of the timeframes of the US Congress acting on legislation, and the proper legislative authority is now passed." The first E-3 visas should be issued in the next two to three months, Congressman Sensenbrenner said, once the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had issued the administrative regulations that would enact the legislation. "What I will do is try to build a fire under Secretary Rice so that we can get these regulations promulgated as quickly as possible," he said. Congressman Sensenbrenner toured Customs facilities at Sydney airport on Monday, and said Australia was a world leader in the production of tamper-proof biometric passports. He said all visa-waiver countries - of which Australia is one - would need to introduce biometric passports by the US deadline of October 26. While Australia was well advanced in its biometric passport project, some European countries were behind. Though the US had last year extended the deadline for its biometric program by 12 months, it was unlikely to extend the deadline again. "I would think that (an extension) will be unlikely and I've told representatives of governments of visa waiver countries to expect that deadline to be adhered to," the Congressman said. "The chances of both houses passing an extension and having it signed by the president are very, very slim," he said.