If there is still doubt that strong demand exists for foreigners skilled in science, engineering and computer programming, it should be laid to rest.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the H-1B visa program, announced that, by its April 1 deadline, it had received a record 233,000 applications for the 85,000 available slots, which includes 20,000 slots for those with advanced degrees, according to Reuters.
That demand gave companies a 36 percent chance of winning a visa under the lottery system, Computerworld pointed out. In 2014, the U.S. received 172,500 petitions and 124,000 in 2013.
The program has long been contentious, as I wrote earlier this month.
Labor advocates argue it essentially supports a sub-contracting model that undercuts American workers. Some senators, such as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), have asked the Justice Department and other agencies to investigate the H1-B program for “unacceptable replacement of American workers by H1-B workers,” Computerworld said.
Tech industry advocates argue that they need more foreign, skilled workers, and without them, work is either not getting done or moves overseas.
One point of contention is the USCIS’s lottery system for distributing the visas, something the agency has employed for three years. It doesn’t take into account the merits of the candidate, as Gary Beach pointed out in a guest column in the Wall Street Journal.
In Washington today, Sen. Orrin Hatch will be joined with 15 immigrant entrepreneurs to promote his Immigration Innovation Act, also known as I-Squared. It would raise the cap on visas. Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us and the National Immigration Forum have flown in the entrepreneurs, says Politico.
Above: The Capitol Building. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
