Should the U.S. High-Tech Visa Program Be Abolished?

(TNS) — The fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics are where the U.S. job market enjoys exploding growth. If the domestic talent pool can’t fill the demand for top-quality engineers and software designers, American companies have little choice but to look abroad.

The H-1B visa program was developed to ease employers’ ability to hire immigrant high-tech experts and remain competitive. It made little sense, for example, for foreign students to study here, gain valuable expertise, then be forced to leave for lack of a work permit. Once that happens, the people American universities have trained become competitors instead of assets.

BY THE NUMBERS 230,000 – current demand for H-1B visas by U.S. employers seeking to fill high-tech positions 195,000 – cap on H-1B visas before the Sept. 11 attacks 85,000 – currently available visas, including 20,000 reserved for holders of advanced STEM degrees 36 – percentage chance of actually getting a visa after applying

Many entities have urged Congress to raise the 85,000 annual cap on H-1B visas to keep U.S. high-tech companies competitive. But the program was never designed to put Americans out of work so that cheaper foreign workers could come here to take their jobs.

A troubling trend among outsourcing companies is to scoop up vast quantities of H-1B visas and use them to replace fully qualified American high-tech workers with lower-paid immigrants.

In Senate Judiciary Committee hearings earlier this year, Republicans and Democrats expressed anger at the abuses being exposed in the program. The chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, sent an angry letter to IBM’s top executive in April after learning that IBM was planning mass layoffs of Americans even as it was petitioning for 5,800 H-1B visas.

“The intent of the H-1B visa program was to assist companies in filling high-skill jobs where there are not sufficient American workers to meet their employment needs," he said. "Our visa programs were never intended to facilitate the replacement of qualified American workers with foreign workers.”

Others, such as Southern California Edison and Disney, have drawn heavy scrutiny for giving American workers the boot in favor of lower-paid, and often less-skilled, immigrant talent. Fossil, the watch and fashion accessories maker, reportedly laid off about 100 Texas workers, including many in the Dallas area. Many vacancies were refilled with cheaper immigrants recruited by an outsourcing firm.

After The New York Times published a recent story about Disney’s plan to do likewise, that company quickly reversed course.

Many still stand by the H-1B visas program, especially after hearing the strong case made by advocates from various universities, employers and politicians such as Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, the former senator from Texas. Many employers have told us the H-1B, when used properly, is anything but a money saver, and they’re horrified to learn that abuses are occurring.

The U.S. Department of Labor makes clear in its directives that companies seeking to hire H-1B holders must first take “good-faith steps to recruit U.S. workers for the job.” Additional conditions mandating equal salaries and benefits for foreign hires were designed to block employers from hiring H-1B workers on the cheap.

Congress is correct to scrutinize abusers and consider ways to plug loopholes. This good program deserves to be fine-tuned, not overturned because a few employers are exploiting it to save a buck.

©2015 The Dallas Morning News, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.