> home
> About
> Contact Us
> Editorial Info
> IEEE-USA

02.10

By Russ Harrison

IEEE-USA has developed model legislation to help guide Congress when it takes up educational and employment-based immigration reform. The model bill lays out IEEE-USA’s perspectives on how skilled foreign professionals ought to be admitted to live and work in the United States. It builds on our “green cards not guest workers” philosophy and translates more detailed admissions policy recommendations into suggested language for enabling legislation.

Complete text of the model bill is available online.

The basic purpose of the IEEE-USA model bill is to reduce America’s growing dependence on temporary (non-immigrant) visa programs for skilled foreign professionals and place much greater emphasis on legal, permanent (immigrant) admissions to help meet the nation’s workforce needs. Far too many employers rely on the temporary H-1B and L visa programs to hire foreign workers. They do so because these visas are quick and relatively inexpensive to obtain, in contrast to permanent residency visas, especially employment-based (EB) visas, which can take years to acquire.

This reliance on temporary work permits creates several problems. First, short-term visas bind the workers to their sponsoring employers. Since the visas belong to their employers, temporary workers must stay in their employer’s good graces to maintain their legal status and remain in the country. This dependency can result in exploitation of US and foreign workers by unscrupulous employers.

Second, short-term work permits, in most cases, do not lead to citizenship. Under current law, the path to full citizenship for highly skilled foreign professionals is expensive, time-consuming and fraught with bureaucratic uncertainties. As a result, increasing numbers of talented foreign nationals are opting to go home instead of waiting indefinitely for legal permanent residence status.

Third, short-term work visas facilitate the transfer of American jobs to other countries. Many foreign-owned, US based technical services providers (job shops) use temporary H-1B and L visas to train their own workers on how to do business in the United States. Once these workers acquire the latest technical skills and become familiar with US business practices, they are rotated back to their employers’ overseas locations, often taking American jobs with them.

The IEEE-USA model bill offers practical remedies for each of these problems. By expanding the EB visa program and by including an exemption for foreign students who earn advanced degrees from US schools, it will enable more highly skilled foreign nationals to enter and remain in the United States as legal permanent residents. The result should be a win-win-win situation for foreign nationals, US-based employers and US workers.

At the same time, IEEE-USA’s model bill would place common-sense restrictions on the use of temporary H-1B and L visa holders by US-based employers. The lifespan of both visas (currently six to seven years) would be reduced to a maximum of three years. Additional disclosure requirements would also be placed on sponsoring employers. Most importantly, at least half of the employees at the US locations of firms using H-1B or L visas would have to be American citizens or permanent legal residents of the United States.

By making it easier for sponsoring employers to obtain permanent visas - and by imposing additional restrictions on their ability to use H-1B and L visa holders - the IEEE-USA model will enable more talented foreign professionals to become legal permanent residents and – at the same time – safeguard job opportunities, wage and conditions of employment for US and foreign workers.

The bill does not contemplate the admission of unlimited numbers of new foreign workers as legal permanent residents, but would rather make it easier for US-based employers to hire highly skilled foreign professionals on immigrant rather than non-immigrant visas. This will allow foreign workers to change jobs whenever they wish and, by so doing, level the competitive playing field for their American counterparts. At the same time, it would ensure greater certainty for US based employers and put more highly skilled foreign engineers and scientists on a faster path to full US citizenship.

[While focused on long-term visas, the IEEE-USA model bill also makes changes to the student and short-term visitor visa programs. In each case, IEEE-USA is recommending that Congress streamline the application process and increase its transparency.]

Depending on the outcome of the health care debate, Congress may take up immigration reform legislation in February or March. IEEE-USA has been assured that the high-skills component of such legislation in the Senate is likely to include many of the IEEE-USA recommended reforms. Alternatively, if Congressional consideration of a comprehensive bill is delayed, IEEE-USA will attempt to have its model bill introduced as stand-alone legislation later this year. While its prospects are unclear, there does appear to be broad support for IEEE-USA’s approach among House and Senate leaders.

Russell T. Harrison, CAE, is IEEE-USA's legislative representative for grassroots activities.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.