Debate over tech workers grows as H-1B visas filled

The U.S. government has filled its allotment of 65,000 visas for the 2006 fiscal year for foreign workers with special skills, prompting renewed debate over the need for high-tech workers from abroad. Figures from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services showed the 65,000 limit for the so-called H-1B visa program was reached last week for the fiscal year starting October 1. There remain some 12,000 visas under a provision for foreigners with doctorates or masters' degrees. But high-tech industry representatives say the rapid filling of the main quota suggests the United States is failing to get enough qualified engineers and technical workers. The workers with H-1B visas come from many countries and industries, but historically a large number have been high-tech specialists from India, with significant numbers from China, South Korea and the Philippines. "America's well-kept secret is that it has rarely produced enough American-born workers with the requisite science and engineering background to support its knowledge economy," said John Palafoutas of the American Electronics Association. "Our safety valve has been the H-1B visa program, which was designed to augment the workforce." The tech industry says the latest figures point to a need for expanding the visa program. "Denying entry of the world's most highly educated talent into the United States is taking its toll," said Palafoutas. "We should be stapling green cards to the diplomas of every foreign national who graduates from a U.S. educational institution with a masters or PhD, and we should keep the world's best and brightest here in the U.S. to help strengthen our economy." But critics of the program say the system is being abused by companies to bring in foreigners at lower wages even when there are qualified Americans available. Jack Martin of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group aimed at curbing both legal and illegal immigration, said companies are taking advantage of the H-1B program for purposes not intended under the law. "There is no shortage unless wage offers for high-tech workers are rapidly rising, which they are not," he said. "It makes little sense to be hiring large numbers of foreign workers when jobs are being sent out of the country through outsourcing and there are large numbers of unemployed Americans with the skills to do those jobs."