Bush Wants to Raise H1-B Visa Limit

Demonstrating yet again his commitment to business interests at the expense of American workers, President Bush is calling for an increase in the federal cap on H1-B visas to allow high-tech workers from other countries to take jobs in the United States.

The cap is currently set at 65,000, with another 20,000 visas for foreign students who graduate from U.S. universities with advanced degrees. High-tech executives want the cap raised to 115,000, which the last Congress rejected. Now pressure is being exerted on the new Congress.

Ignoring evidence that high-tech employers are bypassing qualified American applicants for foreign workers who may not earn as much, Bush told a thousand DuPont employees in Delaware last week that he wants to raise the cap.

To add insult to injury, WashTech-CWA points out that for the last three years, the administration has failed to comply with the requirement to submit an annual H1-B visa report to Congress. A WashTech campaign led several elected officials to contact the Department of Homeland Security, which finally released two years of reports.

"They are still a year behind," WashTech said in an e-mail alert. "This makes it even more ridiculous to suggest an increase in the number of H1-B visas to be issued, as President Bush is suggesting."

Another critic, an official with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., told ComputerWorld that under the H1-B program, "Employers do not have to search for Americans, and can prefer an H1-B [visa holder] over an American citizen or green card holder."

You can tell Congress to reject what WashTech calls the Bush "surge" in H1-B visas by using the link at www.washtech.org or clicking here: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/noH1bSurge/