ITAA says U.S. to fall short of H-1B visa quota

A soured U.S. economic climate has created a drastic change in the country's recruitment of foreign technology talent. As a result, this could mark the first year in recent times that the United States does not butt heads against its cap on H-1B foreign worker visas -- a situation with both negative and positive effects, according to industry experts.

Over the past three years, the ceiling on H-1B visas has more than doubled as companies and industry groups pushed the government to use foreign workers as a way to solve the technology labor crisis in the United States. After heated pressure, Congress raised the number of H-1B visas available to workers from its standard limit of 65,000 to 115,000 in the last two years and then to 195,000 this year.

While both of the lower totals were met with ease, some industry observers think the U.S. will fall short of its quota in 2001, a sentiment that has sparked debate in the technology sector.

"I doubt we will hit the 195,000 mark this year," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) in an interview at an event held here.

The ITAA was one of the leading advocates of raising the H-1B visa limits, and thinks the slowdown only proves its case against staunch objectors to its lobbying efforts.

In the past three years, the United States reached its visa cap early in the year. Thus far in 2001, however, the government doled out only 72,000 H-1B visas. This number, coupled with a slower economy, leads Harris to believe the U.S. will fall short of its total for the year.

Harris contends that the reduction in H-1B visas proves the ITAA's argument that the increase in work permits was designed to solve a major shortage in skilled technology talent, and not a way to recruit cheap workers from abroad.

"It was never a floor. It was always a ceiling," he said. "If we don't use all of the visas, it just confirms our case. We were not looking for cheap labor but instead labor that could be brought in when all other U.S. recruitment tactics fail."

Some present at the ITAA's annual conference here, however, voiced strong concern over the current state of H-1B visa workers in the U.S. As the economy wanes and the chance of unemployment looms, some foreign workers are disappointed that they may have to leave the country in the 10-day post-contract period set by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

One man from India at the conference urged government representatives to take swift action to increase the time workers can stay in the U.S.

While Harris expressed sympathy for these workers, he also cautioned that such moves by the government would undermine the purpose of H-1B visas and the ITAA's long-held belief in what role the visas were meant to serve.

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