11-22-2005, 02:08 PM
Bill to plug H-1B visa loopholes
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington
New Jersey Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell on Monday announced a Bill that if turned into law would make it prohibitive for foreigners to come to the United States on visas intended for immigrant workers.
Mr Pascrell's Bill seeks to raise the H-1B visa application fee from $1,500 to $4,500 per employee, and companies would have to allow American workers 30 days to apply for open jobs before applying for the visa. It would also change the visa's length of stay from six years divided over two three-year terms to one non-renewable term of three years, or four years divided over two two-year terms.
"My legislation faces the Americans who have high-tech degrees in one hand, and pink slips in the other," Mr Pascrell said while announcing the "Defend the American Dream Act of 2005" in Paterson, New Jersey. "We must address this fundamentally broken programme that is tearing down the labour standards American workers have worked so hard to build up."
Calling his Bill a "real job creation plan," the Congressman said it returns the "American dream to thousands of workers who have worked hard to advance the cutting edge of global technological advancement."
Mr Pascrell is supported in his effort by 34-year-old Sona Shah, an Indian American tech worker from Montclair, New Jersey, who lost her job to an H-1B visa holder in 1998. Miss Shah was born in India and came to the USA at the age of 3 and became a US citizen at 18.
"Americans are being displaced and foreign employees are underpaid and become indentured labour," said Miss Shah, who holds degrees in physics and mechanical engineering from New York University and Stevens Institute of Technology, respectively.
She has filed a discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, ADP Wilco, a financial services company. The lawsuit alleges that the company favoured lower-paid foreign workers brought in through H-1B and other temporary "guest worker" visas.
She said she felt insulted when she learned that ADP Wilco had named its Indian recruitment programme, "Project Delhi Belly" - the term "Delhi Belly" was coined by the British and was used when British officers got diarrhoea in India, Miss Shah said.
Miss Shah's fiancé, Kai Barrett, also used to work for ADP Wilco. Mr Barrett, a British citizen who was hired on an H-1B visa, is also part of the lawsuit and alleges he and other guest workers were not paid the prevailing wage for his job as a programmer.
"This H-1B visa and other such guest worker programmes have provided a vehicle for employers to discriminate against and exploit, both American and guest workers," said Miss Shah. "The negative ripple effect on the American economy, tax base and intellectual capital for America is staggering. We need Congressman Pascrell's Bill because the H-1B visa as it currently stands is riddled with loopholes that enable abuse with no system for accountability."
Mr Pascrell's Bill seeks to reduce the H-1B visa quota to its originally authorised level of 65,000 per year.
The Congressman also had the support of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA. The group's president, Gerard A. Alphonse, said, "In report after report, government investigators have found serious weaknesses and failings in the H-1B programme."
"Contrary to the law's intent, the programme can be used to fill any job at almost any wage, and the vast majority of employers are not required to recruit American workers first," he said.
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington
New Jersey Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell on Monday announced a Bill that if turned into law would make it prohibitive for foreigners to come to the United States on visas intended for immigrant workers.
Mr Pascrell's Bill seeks to raise the H-1B visa application fee from $1,500 to $4,500 per employee, and companies would have to allow American workers 30 days to apply for open jobs before applying for the visa. It would also change the visa's length of stay from six years divided over two three-year terms to one non-renewable term of three years, or four years divided over two two-year terms.
"My legislation faces the Americans who have high-tech degrees in one hand, and pink slips in the other," Mr Pascrell said while announcing the "Defend the American Dream Act of 2005" in Paterson, New Jersey. "We must address this fundamentally broken programme that is tearing down the labour standards American workers have worked so hard to build up."
Calling his Bill a "real job creation plan," the Congressman said it returns the "American dream to thousands of workers who have worked hard to advance the cutting edge of global technological advancement."
Mr Pascrell is supported in his effort by 34-year-old Sona Shah, an Indian American tech worker from Montclair, New Jersey, who lost her job to an H-1B visa holder in 1998. Miss Shah was born in India and came to the USA at the age of 3 and became a US citizen at 18.
"Americans are being displaced and foreign employees are underpaid and become indentured labour," said Miss Shah, who holds degrees in physics and mechanical engineering from New York University and Stevens Institute of Technology, respectively.
She has filed a discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, ADP Wilco, a financial services company. The lawsuit alleges that the company favoured lower-paid foreign workers brought in through H-1B and other temporary "guest worker" visas.
She said she felt insulted when she learned that ADP Wilco had named its Indian recruitment programme, "Project Delhi Belly" - the term "Delhi Belly" was coined by the British and was used when British officers got diarrhoea in India, Miss Shah said.
Miss Shah's fiancé, Kai Barrett, also used to work for ADP Wilco. Mr Barrett, a British citizen who was hired on an H-1B visa, is also part of the lawsuit and alleges he and other guest workers were not paid the prevailing wage for his job as a programmer.
"This H-1B visa and other such guest worker programmes have provided a vehicle for employers to discriminate against and exploit, both American and guest workers," said Miss Shah. "The negative ripple effect on the American economy, tax base and intellectual capital for America is staggering. We need Congressman Pascrell's Bill because the H-1B visa as it currently stands is riddled with loopholes that enable abuse with no system for accountability."
Mr Pascrell's Bill seeks to reduce the H-1B visa quota to its originally authorised level of 65,000 per year.
The Congressman also had the support of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA. The group's president, Gerard A. Alphonse, said, "In report after report, government investigators have found serious weaknesses and failings in the H-1B programme."
"Contrary to the law's intent, the programme can be used to fill any job at almost any wage, and the vast majority of employers are not required to recruit American workers first," he said.