In a message dated 12/6/07 1:52:38 A.M. Central Standard Time, matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu writes:

To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter 102

The first H-1B increase was enacted near the end of 1998.  Bill
Clinton's cabinet members repeatedly stated that year that he would not
sign such legislation, but of course he did.  Ever since then, I look
skeptically at politicians' statements that there won't be an H-1B
increase in whatever Congress is in session at the time, and even more
skeptically when they say, "There is still a chance we might get this
through."

In 2004 there was H-1B in the "lame duck" session in December after
Congress had already adjourned.  This added a new 20,000-visa category
for foreign grads of U.S. universities, and even worse, added yet
another loophole to the prevailing wage requirement. 

Keep these points in mind in reading the two articles enclosed below.
But even more importantly, note carefully that when the politicians say
here legislation on H-1B is unlikely, they are NOT saying anything about
employer-sponsored green cards, the proposed F-4 visa, and so on.  In
other words, there could well be other legislation enacted that harms
American programmers and engineers, even if nothing happens at all on
H-1B.

Norm

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/05/BUVGTO9A7.DTL

San Francisco Chronicle

Bay Area Council weighs in on immigration policy

Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

A Bay Area business group hopes to jump-start immigration overhaul by persuading
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and San Jose Rep. Zoe Lofgren to craft a deal: Let
industry hire more guest workers from abroad, and in return industry will back
measures like improving border security and helping the children of undocumented
migrants obtain legal status by going to college or joining the military.

In a letter obtained by The Chronicle, the business-backed Bay Area Council warns
that  the  failure  of  comprehensive  immigration reform has left Northern
California's high-tech, tourism and agribusiness firms unable to hire enough
foreign workers under special visas called the H-1B, H-2B and H-2A, respectively.

The national gambit is a departure for the council, which normally focuses on
state or regional issues, but the local business leaders think they have extra
clout on immigration because Lofgren chairs a key committee and Pelosi runs the
House.

"The immigration issue is bigger than tech, it's bigger than H-1B," said Robert
Hoffman, a lobbyist for Oracle Corp., which belongs to the council as well as to
various tech groups. "Immigration is central to all the industries in the Bay
Area economy, which is why it's a high priority for the council."

Letter short on solutions

The two-page letter sent to the lawmakers doesn't explain how Pelosi and Lofgren
might solve issues that stymied the Senate this summer. And immigration experts
say the two leaders face opposite pressure from Democratic hard-liners who think
a crackdown on undocumented workers, rather than more legal immigrants, should
come first.

"There's ultimately got to be a leadership call," said Doris Meissner, a senior
fellow with the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. She said there is some
chance that the Bay Area gambit will spark discussion, but added that many in
Congress resent the business community for not pushing harder on comprehensive
reform.

Officially, however, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly welcomed the Bay Area Council
letter in a carefully worded statement that did not shut the door on a partial
solution.

Pelosi "has been pretty clear that there would be no H-1B or H-2A or H-2B fixes
unless there is genuine action on proactive immigration reform," he said.

That statement substitutes the word "proactive" for what she and other democratic
leaders had previously called "comprehensive" immigration reform, and with that
shift, Pelosi signals a willingness to touch several different political nerves.

To begin with, Capitol Hill insiders say, Pelosi must contend with members of the
Latino  caucus  who are most bitter about the collapse of the comprehensive
immigration bill and most leery of cutting any deal with industry that would
solve its problems - getting more foreign workers for tech firms, ski resorts and
farms - without tackling any of the issues important to their constituents.

Given that the whole concept of amnesty for illegal migrants sank the Senate bill
earlier this year, the Bay Area Council initiative seeks to lure Latino lawmakers
into  the  deal by pledging something more modest - business backing of the
so-called DREAM Act, a bill to help the children of undocumented workers get
legal status by graduating from high school and attending college.

Whether that would be sufficient inducement to get the Latinos aboard - or excite
the vehement opposition of enforcement-minded members of either party - remains
to be seen.

'Noah's Ark'

But Pelosi seemed to invite some sort of new deal-making gambit in November when
she spoke about what she called the "Noah's Ark" path to immigration reform. In
the biblical story, male and female animals walked aboard the vessel together but
this, of course, is politics, so what she envisioned was a pairing of strange
bedfellows. "(In) this Noah's Ark approach, you get this, we get this, we work
together to get them both."

So  while Pelosi might like to get opposing factions on immigration to work
together  - and get high-tech and other industries more imported labor - it
remains to be seen whether the political animals of Capitol Hill will line up as
meekly as the beasts in the Bible.

"Right now immigration is so toxic it's hard to get any sort of compromise," said
Meissner, the think tank expert.

E-mail Tom Abate at tabate@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/business/stories/2007/12/05/H1B_CONGRESS.html

High-tech companies scramble to boost H-1B visas
By EUNICE MOSCOSO
Cox News Service
Published on: 12/05/07

WASHINGTON - With little time left in the Congressional calendar, high tech
companies are scrambling to get an increase in H-1B visas this year, but the
prospects are fading.

"Time is short and it is a bit of a long shot, but the urgency of our situation
necessitates us continuing to walk the halls of Congress, " said Robert Hoffman,
a vice president for government and public affairs at Oracle and co-chair of
Compete America, a coalition of high-tech companies that includes Microsoft Corp.
and Google, Inc. "As long as they continue to talk to us, we have reason to be
hopeful."

Hoffman said he is in discussions with House leaders and other key lawmakers,
hoping to attach an H-1B amendment to a larger measure. But the task is difficult
because  Congress  is facing a heavy agenda in the final weeks of the year,
including 11 "must-pass" spending bills to fund various government agencies.

U.S. businesses say the H-1B visas, which allow well-educated foreigners to work
in the United States for up to six years, are vital to the nation's economy and
ability to compete in a global market. Currently, they say, thousands of talented
foreign citizens educated at U.S. universities are sent away, shipping future
leaders and innovators to other countries.

Jeff Lande, senior vice president of the Information Technology Association of
America, which represents more than 300 companies, said that obtaining more H-1B
visas is his highest priority and that "there's certainly a chance" that it will
happen.

Lawmakers who strongly support expanding this category also said there is still
hope for legislation.

"There's always a chance," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "It makes no sense to
educate foreign students at our flagship universities in critical skills and
training areas and then to send them away ././. and have them compete with us
from their native lands."

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she is working on a measure to increase the
cap, but that the vehicle was uncertain as of Tuesday. She said there is still "a
slight chance" for an increase.

The  number  of H-1B visas allowed by law has fluctuated in recent years in
response to the U.S. economy and the highs and lows of the technology industry,
and is now set by Congress at 65,000. In addition, 20,000 more foreign citizens
with advanced degrees from American universities are allowed to stay and work in
the United States.

This year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services returned thousands of
petitions for H-1B visas after receiving more than 133,000 applications in two
days.

Critics say, however, that the H-1B program depresses wages for American workers
and has many flaws, including limited enforcement mechanisms.

Legislation designed to protect American workers from being displaced by foreign
H-1B employees has also stalled in Congress. The measure by Sens. Richard Durbin,
D-Ill., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, would prohibit businesses from hiring H-1B
workers who are then outsourced to other companies and would give the Department
of Labor more authority to conduct employer investigations.

Durbin said it is unlikely that an H-1B increase would pass this year. "I doubt
it. We're running out of time," he said.

Ted Ruthizer, chairman of the Business Immigration Group at Kramer Levin Naftalis
& Frankel, a New York law firm, said it would be "disastrous" for Congress to
leave the H-1B cap at 65,000, the same limit as in 1990.

"This ought to be a no-brainer," he said. "Having a number that was set almost 20
years  ago for the H-1B quota is just an insanity given how the economy has
grown."

Ruthizer,  who teaches at Columbia Law School, also said that lawmakers are
responding to election-related political pressure to be tough on immigration.

"Nobody gets any extra votes by being pro-immigants," he said.

Several  immigration-related  provisions have failed in Congress this year,
including a broad package backed by the White House. That measure would have
increased border security, given many illegal immigrants a path to citizenship,
and created a large temporary worker program. It also included an increase in
H-1B visas. Critics decried the overall measure as an amnesty for lawbreakers.