A requirement that bailout recipients hire Americans over H1-B visa holders could be extended to all U.S. companies. April 1, 2009
As U.S. employers start applying today for visas for foreign workers, the hiring of talent from other countries is facing heightened scrutiny and the threat of greater restrictions as domestic unemployment soars.
In recent years, the annual competition for 85,000 temporary work visas awarded to foreign computer technicians, engineers, university educators and other highly skilled professionals has drawn twice as many applications as spots available.
But this year immigration attorneys are predicting that the recession will result in fewer applications, while critics of the visa program are vowing a renewed push to regulate it more closely.
In February, President Obama signed off on a stimulus package that explicitly requires recipients of bailout funds to hire Americans over foreigners with the special visas, known as H-1Bs. Legislation that would impose similar restrictions on all employers is expected to be introduced in Congress this month.
"It's wrong to bring in H-1B workers if we have
workers here, and it's more unconscionable when you have a recession," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who is sponsoring legislation that would require firms seeking visas for foreign workers to make a good-faith effort to recruit Americans first, advertise positions on a Department of Labor website and take other actions.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-visa1-2009apr01,0,6445330.story
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