Des Moines Register
06-06-07
Grassley-Durbin probe takes look at visas
The senators suspect foreign firms may be denying high-tech jobs to American
workers.
By JANE NORMAN
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU
Washington, D.C. - Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois have launched a bipartisan probe into whether foreign
high-tech companies are abusing the visa system and denying jobs to U.S.
workers.
The questions that the senators are raising already have produced an
international fuss. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab was confronted
with the issue by an Indian government minister at trade talks in Brussels,
Belgium.
Under scrutiny are H-1B visas, issued by the government for highly skilled
workers, generally in the high-tech industry or other specialty fields.
Such visas are supposed to allow employers to offer jobs to foreign workers on a
temporary basis, at prevailing wages, but Grassley and Durbin contend
something else is happening.
"More and more, it appears that companies are using H-1B visas to displace
qualified American workers," Grassley said.
Grassley, in light of a push from industries to increase the number of visas from
the 65,000 now allocated, called for "a good, hard look" at employers using them.
The issue has been part of the larger immigration debate in the Senate.
High-tech companies say educated foreigners are needed so that companies
have access to top talent, especially when many engineering degrees at U.S.
universities are going to foreign nationals. It makes no sense to educate them
and then send them home, they say.
Compete America, a group of companies supporting expanded visa availability,
says that more than a third of engineering master's degrees at Iowa State
University and the University of Iowa went to foreign nationals in 2006.
Bill Gates, head of Microsoft Corp., this year urged members of Congress to
increase the number of H-1B visas, saying that "America will find it infinitely more
difficult to maintain its technological leadership if it shuts out the very people who
are most able to help us compete."
Grassley and Durbin are also behind language in the immigration bill that would
require all employers seeking H-1B visas to pledge that they have made goodfaith efforts to hire U.S. workers first, and that the visa holders won't displace
American workers.
Grassley and Durbin wrote to nine information technology companies based in
India, saying they were concerned about fraud and abuses in visa programs. The
nine companies accounted for nearly 20,000 of the visas issued.
The senators noted in a letter to Infosys Technologies of Fremont, Calif., that a
study found wages paid to visa holders were significantly lower than those of new
U.S. graduates.
They also said a number of consulting groups reportedly recruit foreign workers
and then outsource them to other job sites or companies. Some firms also have
laid off American workers while continuing to employ visa holders, they noted.
An Infosys spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Grassley and Durbin asked for information such as how many U.S. citizens the
companies employ, how many workers hold H-1B visas, the average age and
experience level of the workers, what efforts have been made to recruit
Americans, and whether there were layoffs - and, if so, who was laid off.
NASSCOM, a trade body in India representing the nine companies, sent a letter
back denying any abuses of the visa program, and saying the program benefits
both India and the United States.
It also labeled as "protectionist" a move by the two senators to insert language
into the immigration bill that would ban companies from hiring H-1B employees if
they employ more than 50 people and more than 50 percent are already visa
holders.
According to the Financial Times of London, India's government "reacted angrily"
to the Grassley-Durbin letter and the Brussels talks were overshadowed by the
visa flap.
Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath sent a letter to the U.S. trade
representative saying that the "direct intervention" by the senators would
undermine business confidence.
Said Beth Levine, press secretary to Grassley: "Senator Grassley is just
requesting information."
Reporter Jane Norman can be reached at