Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 23:23:45 -0800 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: White House advocates labor market test for H-1B To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter There is a rather startling document at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/summary.10002378.2005.html This is the White House's assessment of how well the H-1B program is working. In it, they say, We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:...Advocating the need for statutory changes that would require employers filing H-1B applications to test the labor market to ensure no U.S. workers are available and willing to fill the position. This is really a sea change. The industry has always opposed this, and they even fooled Congress into thinking we've always had it anyway. (Many congressional letters to constituents say the latter.) In a pratical sense, it would not bring so much benefit. The employment-based green card process does have such a test, and in the infamous words of immigration attorney Joel Stewarti, "Employers who favor aliens have an arsenal of legal means to reject all U.S. workers who apply." As I've said, the biggest single problem with current H-1B law, by far, is that it does not have a meaningful definition of prevailing wage. Unfortunately, the White House document here repeats the statement that is so often made that all that is needed is better enforcement. It's still a sea change, though. Norm