Senate OKs Bill to Increase High-Tech Worker Visas

Responding to loud pleas from the Silicon Valley, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to allow as many as 30,000 additional foreign engineers and other high-tech workers into the country during the next four months.

Designed to address the labor shortage in the burgeoning information-technology industry, which is expected to create as many as 1.3 million jobs during the next decade, the bill boosts the annual cap on temporary visas for such skilled workers to 95,000 until 2002. It also removes the limits on how many permanent employment visas can be granted to natives of a particular country.

“We can allow people who want these jobs to come to America, or we can allow the companies with the jobs to go to other places,” Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) said before the 78-20 vote. “It doesn’t take a highly trained computer expert to figure out which one of those we want: We want those jobs here.”

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up a similar measure this week. Although that bill imposes more restrictions on employers, a version closer to the Senate legislation is expected to prevail.

Lawmakers said the Senate-passed measure, which won bipartisan backing and enjoys broad support in the business community, reflects an unfortunate irony of the booming U.S. economy: The undisputed world leader in technology is struggling to fill gobs of high-paying jobs with American students, who rank near the bottom on international math and science tests.

“I become very saddened by our high-tech CEOs who consistently tell me they cannot find qualified workers,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who criticized the bill but ultimately voted for it, as did Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). “This really troubles me. These are exactly the jobs that graduates of the new age, graduates into the global economy, all over the United States should be taking.”

Experts estimate that there are about 340,000 unfilled high-tech jobs, and that American colleges and universities produce just a quarter of the computer-science graduates that the industry is demanding. In California, Feinstein said, the 814,000 information-technology jobs account for more than 18% of the state’s employment base.

Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), chairman of the immigration subcommittee and sponsor of the legislation, said that increasing the number of available visas--known as H1-Bs--is just a short-term fix. For the long term, the bill also includes $155 million in scholarships to help low-income children study math, science and engineering; $10 million to train unemployed people for info-tech jobs; and $8 million to develop an online job bank.

“We hope . . . that in those five years we can develop the skills that we need, the training that we need, right here at home. Until the education system can adjust . . . we need to do something,” Abraham said. “If we can’t hire these talented people and bring them here now, foreign competitors can and will. If American companies can’t bring the talent here to fill their needs . . . they’ll move some of the operations overseas.”

Feinstein and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said that Abraham’s training provisions were not sufficient and offered amendments requiring companies to make more substantive efforts to recruit Americans and preventing the use of H1-Bs within six months of layoffs at a company. The amendments died on votes of 60 to 38 and 59 to 39, respectively.

Kennedy called the legislation “an embarrassing indictment of our failure to provide the adequate training for American workers,” and ticked off anecdotes about American citizens who have been displaced by foreigners or unable to find work in high-tech fields.

In a role reversal reflecting the power of the high-tech lobby, Kennedy--one of Congress’ most liberal voices on immigration policy--pushed for a more restrictionist policy, while Republicans rushed to let in more foreigners.

Few paid attention when Feinstein pointed out that while H1-B visas last only six years, nearly half of the recipients eventually become legal permanent residents, often providing a beachhead for more immigration as their relatives pour in from overseas.

“Sen. Kennedy is trying to preserve the jobs of the 1950s; Sen. Abraham is trying to create jobs now and in the 21st century,” said Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), normally conservative on immigration issues. “It’s really a debate between the past and the future.”

Indeed, some believe the lifting of the visa cap signals a potential tectonic shift in immigration policy to favor educated, skilled newcomers over the fabled huddled masses. The chairman of the House immigration subcommittee wants to put people with high-school diplomas at the front of the line in every immigration category.

With the annual allotment of 65,000 temporary visas filled a week ago, executives from the Silicon Valley and other high-tech areas welcomed the Senate vote.

“It’s a triumph for American competitiveness,” said Lowell Sachs, government relations representative for Mountain View-based Sun Microsystems, which has 15 foreigners awaiting visas. “Hopefully it means we’re on the road to seeing relief from the current situation, which is holding up progress on important projects and keeping the U.S. high-tech industry behind the curve.”

Of the top 100 companies using H1-B visas to import foreign workers this year, 18 were based in California, according to an Immigration and Naturalization Service report. They recruited a total of 1,039 employees.

Last year was the first time since the H1-B program was established in 1990 that the annual cap of 65,000 was reached. Among the nearly 50,000 visas that were granted between October 1997 and March 31, 1998, INS officials said, 44% were from India. The predominance of workers from India led to a last-minute amendment Monday that allows the attorney general to reject a visa petition if she suspects it would aid the development of nuclear weapons.

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High-Tech Visa Holders by Country

As of March 31, 49,854 people had been granted temporary, six-year visas under the H1-B program for high-skilled workers. Among the countries from which they came:

India: 44%

China: 9%

Britain: 5%

Philippines: 3%

Canada: 3%

Taiwan: 2%

Japan: 2%

Germany: 2%

Pakistan: 2%

France: 2%

Source: Immigration and Naturalization Service

compiled by TRICIA FORD / Los Angeles Times