Bill May Help U.S. Firms Find Scarce Workers : Workplace: The measure would make it easier for foreigners with special skills, especially in the sciences, to immigrate.

Companies looking for scarce skilled workers--such as engineers or nurses--see some relief in a new immigration bill that would dramatically boost the flow of legal immigrants, including those with special job skills.

Beginning in 1992, under legislation approved Wednesday by a House-Senate conference committee, the number of foreigners allowed to immigrate to the United States would increase to 700,000 from the current 500,000. After three years, the figure would fall to 675,000.

The legislation would also make it easier for individuals with specialized skills or education to immigrate here. During the first three years, 140,000 visas would be granted to those with special job skills and 20,000 to people with special talents.

In recent years, a shortage of skilled U.S.-born professionals in the scientific, engineering and medical fields have forced many companies to look overseas to fill the gap.

“There is quite a shortage in the engineering field and we have been recruiting a lot of our technical professionals from outside of the United States,” said Debra Williams, spokeswoman for Pasadena-based engineering firm Parsons Corp. Williams noted that the growing number of contracts to build and expand petrochemical facilities will increase the demand for engineers.

The high-technology company Hewlett Packard has had to hire foreigners to fill key spots that require doctorates in computer science and engineering, said Mary Maxwell, the company’s immigration specialist.

“These are key people we want to get,” Maxwell said, “Sometimes it can take years because of the quota systems.”

And once workers get here on temporary work visas, “sometimes they may have to wait seven years or 15 years” before they are granted permanent resident status, said Phyllis Fliegel, acting director of nurse recruitment in for Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Southern California.

“We do rely on foreign-born nurses because the pool of nurses is getting smaller all the time,” Fliegel said. “The enrollment in nursing schools has been decreasing in recent years.”

But many union groups have opposed increasing the flow of legal immigrants, arguing they would take jobs from U.S. workers. Supporters of the bill, however, argue that union and blue-collar workers will not be greatly affected by the increase in immigrants.

“We are not bringing in auto workers--we are bringing in chemists,” said Carl Shusterman, a Los Angeles immigration lawyer. “Americans are just shunning the sciences.”