Senate Votes To Add More Foreign Tech Workers

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October 03, 2000 (9:20 AM EDT)

Senate Votes To Add More Foreign Tech Workers

By Mary Mosquera,

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that will increase the number of temporary foreign workers to ease the U.S. high-tech worker crunch.

The H-1B visa bill, S. 2045, passed almost unanimously, 96-1. Democratic Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings of South Carolina was the lone vote against it.

The bill increases to almost 200,000 the number of high-tech workers allowed in the United States under the H-1B visa program, reforms a few provisions of immigration law, and funnels some visa fees toward scholarships for U.S. students studying math and science.

"This legislation gives our IT companies the short-term relief they need to meet today's labor demands and ensure that high-tech is able to continue to help grow our economy," said Rhett Dawson, president of the Information Technology Industry Council. "We are grateful that the Senate realized the national importance of this legislation and refused to let it fall victim to end of the year partisan politics," he said.

Congress is in its final days before adjournment, trying to pass a flurry of spending bills and other legislation held up by partisan bickering. The U.S. House of Representatives must also vote for the H-1B visa expansion or the measure could be attached to an overall omnibus spending bill Congress must pass before it adjourns.

The legislation expands the number of skilled foreign temporary workers from 115,000 to 195,000 for the next three fiscal years. Under its provisions, employees of U.S. universities will be exempt from the visa numeric count. If a bill to add more foreign workers does not become law, the current visa provisions will reduce the number of temporary skilled workers to 107,500.

Under the bill, visas will be available on a quarterly basis without regard to country limit. The bill extends visas for some students/workers filing petitions for permanent residency. Many H-1B workers are foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities.

Previously, temporary foreign workers could not accept another job other than the one they accepted as part of the visa program, thus dampening some competition for wages and workers. The bill allows them to accept new employment when the prospective employer files for an H-1B worker.

Besides scholarships, the visa fees will help underwrite private-public education partnerships in math, science, and technology, such as grants to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for after-school technology programs.

The high-tech industry lobbied hard for the bill to ease the skilled worker shortfall that is cramping the industry's growth. It was the most important legislation this year for the technology sector after congressional action to extend permanent normal trading relations to China.

"Because this program helps mitigate the problem of skilled-worker shortages, this program has been, and will continue to be, a top priority for the high-tech industry," said William Archey, president of the American Electronics Association. "And because our industry has largely been propelling the national economy, it should also be a top priority for everyone who desires a continuation of the nation's prosperity."

Labor unions and critics have said the bill provides cheaper labor at the expense of U.S. workers. Some older engineers have said they cannot find jobs.

The National Science Foundation and Labor Department will monitor the H-1B grant process to reduce the possibility of abuses.

The visa vote comes shortly before the National Academy of Sciences is to release a report reviewing labor needs of the high-tech industry. The report is the result of questions raised about the H-1B process.