Bush Administration: Tech workers won't be hurt by visa extension

Patrick Thibodeau   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Outsourcing Stories  

Extending Client Refresh - 11 Steps to Maximize Savings Lower the Cost and Complexity of a Mobile Workforce through Automation Managing Mobility: Improve Data Security, Compliance and Manageability Southern Company Defending Against the Storm Share our Strength 8 Questions To Ask About Your Intrusion-Security Solution Computerworld Technology Briefings IT Service Management Computerworld Briefing - Analytics: The Art and Science of Better Sign up to receive Resource Alerts

June 24, 2008 (Computerworld) -- In papers filed in court Monday, the Bush administration says its student visa extension won't hurt U.S. tech workers and argues that it's not a backdoor H-1B increase.

The administration was responding to a lawsuit filed in May by the Immigration Reform Institute, The Programmers Guild and other groups challenging the extension of the Optional Practical Training (OPT) provision from one year to 29 months. That provision spells out the amount of time a foreign student can work in the U.S. before getting an H-1B visa.

The case is being heard in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., with opponents seeking an injunction to block the student visa extension. The change to the OPT was put in place earlier this year through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The extension has drawn attention from major organizations on both sides of the issue. The AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the U.S., has said the extension for student workers could lower wages for U.S. tech workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has countered that foreign talent is needed to maintain competitiveness.

The Bush administration has argued that opponents of the change, a group that includes tech workers who say they are either unemployed or underemployed, have no legal standing to challenge the visa extension. The government argues that the change "will not cause plaintiffs to be unemployed or underemployed in the future."

The government expects about 12,000 foreign students to seek a visa extension, and that figure represents "barely 0.2% of the 5.5 million" engineering and computer jobs in the U.S. Opponents argue that growth in the H-1B visa program has had a huge impact on job opportunities for U.S. workers, and they contend that between 1999 and 2005 employment in computer fields grew by 332,000 jobs, while over the same period the U.S. approved 330,000 H-1B visas. Engineering employment declined by 123,900 jobs during that period.

The government argued that the extension doesn't create more H-1B visas and instead simply reduces some of the hardship imposed by the H-1B visa cap.

That cap is currently set at 85,000, a figure that includes 20,000 visas set aside for advanced degree holders. The number of visa applications has been nearly double the cap limit in recent years, a trend the government said creates a problem for students who may have to wait longer than a year for an H-1B visa.

"The extension of time permitted in this rule simply spares [foreign students] the hardship of leaving the country to change their status."

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

Google's Chrome OS hits BitTorrent Global warming research exposed after hack Some Nook e-readers won't make it for the holidays More top stories...

Free Web apps to help organize your holidays iPhone owners demand to see Apple source code Mike Elgan: Four things you need to know about Apple

See your link here

Editors' Picks Windows 7 tricks: 20 top tips and tweaks Getting to know Windows 7? Don't stop now: From speeding up taskbar thumbnails to reining in UAC, here are 20 ways to make Windows 7 act the way you want. Review: Taking the Droid on the road Is Motorola's new Droid good enough to vanquish iPhone envy? To find out, we took it on a 3-day trip. Opinion: Linux desktop turns 10; world yawns Sure, you could always use Linux as a desktop OS, but Corel Linux 1.0 was the first distro designed for ordinary users. It's been a long, strange trip since then. Review: 3 Windows 7 touch-screen laptops New touch-screen laptops from Fujitsu, HP and Lenovo take advantage of Microsoft Windows 7's touch-friendly infrastructure. » See more hot topics hot topics Windows 7 Get the latest news, reviews and more about Microsoft's newest desktop operating system. Apple Microsoft Google iPhone Mac A to Z » See more hot topics special report topics View the top-rated IT workplaces. General Mills, Genentech, San Diego Gas & Electric, University of Pennsylvania and Monsanto top the list. More Special Reports 2008 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2008 Salary Survey 2007 Salary Survey 2006 Salary Survey 2009 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008 IT Forecast 2007 IT Forecast 40 Years of Computerworld Top Green-IT 2009 Top Green-IT 2008 The FAQs About Going Green IT Schools to Watch iPhone: One Year Later Global Mobile Your Next Data Center Management: Reinventing IT Stop Data Leaks Web 2.0 Security Surviving Disasters Managing Storage Virtualization The Lean Storage Machine Storage on Trial Can Web 2.0 Save BI? Bypass These BI Potholes All Zones The SAS Zone Software Resource Center Mobile Security Disaster Recovery & Cost Savings Strategic Content Management Business Analytics Zone

• Google's Chrome OS hits BitTorrent
• Free Web apps to help organize your holidays
• Global warming research exposed after hack
• More top stories