Dear [ Decision Maker ] , I am writing to express my deepest opposition to the immigration reform bill that is currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate. In particular the provisions that relate to the H-1b visa program. The bill would allow for an unwarranted increase in this program which would result in displacing domestic workers in favor of guest workers, further stagnate and drive down wages and working conditions. It also does nothing to address the ongoing abuses employees face from the program. Among the most egregious provisions: -Mandates a retroactive increase to 195,000 from the current 65,000 H-1B visa cap (exclusive of existing exemptions) for the years of 2004-2006, in effect allowing for a one time visa grab by employers of nearly 400,000 visas! -Increases the 65,000 visa cap to 115,000?a 60% hike! -Requires an automatic 20% annual hike in the new cap whenever the visas are exhausted, thus establishing a new annual cap for each successive year. This in effect rips the lid off of any meaningful annual visa limitation. -Adds still another open-ended exemption from the cap for any foreign national that has an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering or math from anywhere on the planet. At least the previous exemption authored by the committee restricted such visas to foreign graduates of U.S. institutions and limited it to 20,000 annually. Taken together, within one year over 600,000 new foreign professionals could flood the U.S. market, the result of which would be to inflict serious economic harm on highly skilled, well educated American workers. We view that outcome as well as the underlying proposal as ridiculous in the extreme. The demand for high-tech workers in this country exceeds the current supply, because of the aggressive exporting of jobs by high-tech employers. This bill would only further increase supply at the expense of workers currently working and displaced in the industry. Furthermore, if a skilled shortage existed, then it would be reflected in wage increases for workers. WashTech recently reported that at Microsoft wages have been frozen in a majority of its pay grades over the past few fiscal years. If Microsoft faced a shortage as Mr. Gates has claimed then employees at his company would be experiencing be seeing that reflected in increases to their pay. Again, please vote against any immigration bill that would expand the H-1b visa program.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
Congress Considers Massive H-1B Expansion Congress is contemplating legislation that would allow up to 600,000 skilled professional guest workers to enter the U.S. in a single year. This would be the biggest one time expansion of the controversial H-1b visa program to date |
