In a message dated 8/28/07 2:54:16 A.M. Central Daylight Time, News@jobdestruction.info writes:

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER  No. 1745 -- 8/28/2007 >>>>>

The Wall Street Journal published a very biased article to make a case for
more H-1B visas. This is all part of the national PR campaign that is being
initiated by the cheap labor lobby to pressure Congress when they come back
from their lavish vacations.

The WSJ article is loaded with the usual clichés, but this one really
grabbed my eye:

   Many of the Intel Corp. job candidates who failed to get H-1Bs will
   stay in school and try for the visa next year while Intel holds
   open the jobs; one will work abroad for a year, then plans to come
   to the U.S. on a different visa.

I suspect most of the foreign students are already working at Intel on
optional practical training visas (OPT) so the job positions will never be
offered to Americans. Intel should make a new logo that says "H-1B Inside!"
It's worth noting that Intel is so determined not to hire Americans they
are willing to hold job positions open for over a year if the foreign
student's OPT runs out and has to return to their home country to get a
visa alternative to H-1B. Apparently foreign students aren't expected to
"hit the ground running" like Americans do.


The following excerpt is actually kind of funny. The WSJ makes it sound
like a big deal that Microsoft budgets several thousand dollars for the
legal fees for each H-1B they hire. I'm sure they budget that much money
but only a nincompoop like a WSJ reporter would fail to ask how much
Microsoft actually spends. Most H-1B visas entail nothing more than some
routine paperwork so the total cost is usually not close to thousands of
dollars.

   Employers who use H-1Bs say they aren't trying to save money;
   they say they incur significant expenses to obtain foreign
   workers with much-needed skills. Intel and Microsoft say they
   budget several thousand dollars in legal fees for each
   foreign hire, to cover an H-1B visa and a permanent-residency
   permit.

Predictably the WSJ author never thinks to ask about the total cost savings
for employers who use H-1B visa holders instead of more expensive
Americans. Microsoft and so many other companies are willing to spend
$3,000 for an H-1B because they can save at least $120,000 on wages
(assuming $20K for six years). For corporate employers it's simply a matter
of cost per unit of labor.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB118816920171709180-lMyQjAxMDE3ODI4NzEy
Njc5Wj.html

Managing Firms Get Creative To Work Around Visa Bottlenecks

By PHRED DVORAK
August 27, 2007; Page B1

Janet Reardon wants to hire a senior engineer for her company's Los Angeles
office -- but first she has to send him to Canada. That's because the
engineer, an Indian now working in Kuwait, is among tens of thousands of
educated foreigners offered jobs in the U.S. this year but unable to get
visas.

Ms. Reardon, a human-resource manager at Corrpro Cos. Inc., has asked the
corrosion-prevention firm's Canadian unit to take on the engineer until the
company can reapply for a visa next year. But no one is particularly happy
about that. The engineer, with 20 years' experience, would rather move to
Southern California; Corrpro's Canadian managers are reluctant to hire an
employee they might lose in months; and Ms. Reardon can't be sure that next
year will bring the coveted visa.

But she persists because corrosion specialists are rare. "It's like hitting
the jackpot," she says. "Corrosion is not the sexiest industry."

As opponents worry about foreigners undercutting well-paid American workers
and debate continues over reshaping U.S. immigration laws, companies like
Corrpro are quietly taking matters into their own hands, with elaborate
workarounds to retain foreign job applicants who can't get visas.

Since 2004, the U.S. has limited the number of so-called H-1Bs --
three-year visas for skilled workers with college degrees -- to 65,000 per
year; an additional 20,000 visas are available for applicants with advanced
degrees from U.S. schools. The quota was originally set in the early 1990s
and was boosted temporarily to meet soaring demand -- particularly for
technology workers -- earlier this decade. When jobs dried up after the
tech bust, pressure faded to keep higher caps. Now companies are claiming
they need more workers again, but disagreement on how to fix the broader
immigration system, including what to do with undocumented workers, is
bogging down change.

In 2004, it took about 10 months to reach the cap; last year, it took just
under two months; this year, the cap was reached the first day applications
were accepted in April. That forced the government for the first time to
hold a lottery to allocate all of the visas, which take effect Oct. 1.
About half of the applicants missed out, including the Indian engineer Ms.
Reardon wants to hire and one of Corrpro's three other H-1B applicants.

The visa squeeze leaves companies scrambling for ways to retain valuable
job candidates, including using other types of visas and temporary overseas
assignments. Google Inc., which filed more than 300 H-1B applications this
year, says it will send 70 new hires who didn't get visas to overseas
offices until it can try again next year. Many of the Intel Corp. job
candidates who failed to get H-1Bs will stay in school and try for the visa
next year while Intel holds open the jobs; one will work abroad for a year,
then plans to come to the U.S. on a different visa.

Some companies say they are moving jobs overseas in response to the
restrictions. Chip maker Analog Devices Inc. says it will hire more
engineers in countries like Canada and India next year, boosting the share
of its engineers overseas to 60% from 50%. National Semiconductor Corp.,
which has design centers in India, China and Taiwan, says some job
candidates from those countries who didn't get H-1Bs are being offered
positions at home.

Microsoft Corp., which was the third-biggest user of H-1B visas issued in
the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2006, plans to open a new development
center next month in Richmond, British Columbia -- 133 miles from its
Redmond, Wash., headquarters -- largely in response to the U.S. visa rules.
Many of the 200 initial employees failed to get H-1B visas this year, a
Microsoft spokesman says.

"Addressing this issue has been the No. 1 priority for this office," says
Jack Krumhold, who runs Microsoft's government-affairs office in
Washington, D.C.

Critics of H-1B visas say employers use them to replace well-paid U.S.
workers with cheaper foreigners. Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public
policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, says big
information-technology outsourcing firms, such as Infosys Technologies Ltd.
and Wipro Ltd. of India, gobble up a disproportionate number of them,
applying for thousands of visas to hire low-level technical workers for
their U.S. offices. The practice contributes to the visa shortage and
displaces Americans, Mr. Hira says.

Mr. Hira, an electrical engineer by training, urges better policing of
rules requiring H-1B workers be paid market wages, and an added condition
that companies be required to first look for U.S. workers.

Infosys and Wipro referred questions on their H-1B practices to industry
associations. Jeff Lande, senior vice president at the Information
Technology Association of America, says the companies already follow H-1B
rules that mandate that companies pay prevailing wages. He adds that this
year's H-1B application figures show there wouldn't be enough visas to
satisfy demand even without the Indian firms.

Employers who use H-1Bs say they aren't trying to save money; they say they
incur significant expenses to obtain foreign workers with much-needed
skills. Intel and Microsoft say they budget several thousand dollars in
legal fees for each foreign hire, to cover an H-1B visa and a
permanent-residency permit.

The expense soars when companies have to park people, like Corrpro's Indian
engineer, in other countries while navigating visa issues. Leslie Dahan, an
immigration lawyer at Littler Mendelson PC, says one client spends $30,000
for each employee it sends on an offshore assignment. Ms. Dahan says one
client this year shifted a Korean hire to its U.K. branch; another asked an
Indian to work from the Netherlands.

At Intel, which hired Littler Mendelson to handle its employees' visa
applications, Ms. Dahan started warning managers in March that H-1Bs would
be tight this year; she urged them to file applications the first day they
would be accepted, April 2. Intel filed more than 200 applications that
day, but 30 of those prospects lost out in the lottery.

Ms. Dahan then counseled Intel's hiring managers on their options for
unsuccessful visa candidates, crafting "decision trees" to help managers
navigate tricky immigration rules. The next round of visas won't take
effect until October 2008, so managers had to find alternatives to cover
roughly 18 months.

Prospective employees leaving U.S. colleges, for example, could legally
work in the U.S. for a year. If that employee gets the H-1B in 2008, that
would still likely leave them a gap of a few months before the visas take
effect in October of that year. Ms. Dahan says during those months, the
employees could return to school to legally stay in the U.S., take a leave
of absence and leave the country, or work abroad.

Other prospective hires were urged to delay graduation until the fall, so
they could work in the U.S. until October 2008; at least 47 people took
that route. Others enrolled in an advanced-degree program -- sometimes
their second -- in order to stay in school until the company could reapply
for an H-1B next year, says Ms. Dahan.

Where those alternatives weren't practical, Intel managers considered
sending candidates abroad, says Margie Jones, Intel's U.S. immigration
manager. Managers had to weigh whether Intel had an appropriate overseas
office, whether the job could be done remotely and whether the business
division could afford the expense. In some cases, managers rescinded job
offers, Ms. Jones says.

Ms. Dahan points out that the alternative strategies have a big flaw: They
assume Intel's foreign job candidates will be more successful in getting
H-1Bs next year.

Write to Phred Dvorak at phred.dvorak@wsj.com1

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