High-Skill Immigration Reform and Temporary Visas Russell Harrison Senior Legislative Representative IEEE-USA

What happens after they graduate? Are they allowed to work? Are they allowed to become Americans?

Two Visas EB Visas Green Cards Permanent Legal Status Equivalent (almost) of an American Citizenship in 5 years H-1B Visa Temporary Work Permit Owned by employer No permanent status No citizenship

IEEE-USA Proposal EB Cap Exemption for all international STEM graduate students in the U.S. ▫Move from student visa to green card within one year ▫Allow students to start working the day after they graduate Exempt dependents from the EB cap Speed the EB application process

Current System 1.Graduate 2.Get an H-1B visa from your first employer 3.Wait a very long time (2 to 15 years) 4.Get a EB visa green card 5.Five years later, become a citizen

The Problem There are only 120,000 EB visas (green cards) available for skilled workers. ▫Dependents count against the cap ▫Countries are treated differently High-Skill immigrants can’t get a green card in a reasonable amount of time. ▫Companies can’t hire permanently ▫Workers can’t live as or become an American

Benefits of EB Visa Plan The visa belong to the immigrant Convey (almost) full legal rights Encourage entrepreneurship After 5 years – Citizenship! Broad political support

The Other Plan Expand the EB Visa system, But… Expand the H-1B system more Expand the H-1B cap to 300,000 annually Uncapped graduate exemption (+30,000) Nonprofit exemption remains (+50,000) Allow spouses to work (+something) Result: 400,000 new H-1B workers each year

Problems with a H-1B centric plan Places international workers in an easily exploitable position Not easily portable Discriminates against American workers Gender discrimination Growing backlog Encourages outsourcing

Top 20 Users of the H-1B Cognizant Technologies 9,281 Tata Consultancy 7,469 Infosys 5,600 Wipro 4,304 Accenture 4,037 HCL America 2,070 Satyam/Tech Mahindra 1,963 Larsen & Toubro 1,932 Deloitte 1,668 IBM India 1,635 Total: 39,959 visas 47% of cap Microsoft 1,497 Patni Americas 1,260 Syntel 1,161 Intel 812 Amazon.com 773 Qualcomm 729 Google 646 PricewaterhouseCoopers 599 Synechron 572 Mphasis 569 Outsourcing Total: 44,120 visas 52% of all private-sector visas

If America needs more skilled workers (and IEEE-USA thinks we do) then we need them permanently to fill permanent jobs. That requires an EB green card and, within a short time, American citizenship.

What Type of System? Green cards Or Guest workers

H-1B Visas Are Not Portable Can’t switch jobs while in line for an EB Visa Hard to switch jobs once you have been on an H- 1B for three years Can’t switch jobs without permission Switching jobs at any point is risky ▫Will you risk legal status for a raise? ▫There is no appeal or recourse when your visa is pulled H-1B workers almost never change jobs

Infosys Shares Slump on Results, Outlook Earlier this month, the U.S. reached a limit on the yearly allotment of applications for skilled-worker visas for jobs starting in October or later, leaving companies such as Infosys at the mercy of a random selection of applications. Most local outsourcing companies recruit engineers in India and send them to client locations to carry out projects. This is cheaper for them than having staff in Western countries where salaries and other costs are higher. "When we look at the visa situation, because of over-subscription, we are not confident anymore that we will get 100% of our applied visas," Mr. Shibulal said. If visas aren't available, the company may have to hire American workers, which will increase its cost. The Wall Street Journal, Asia Business, April 12, 2013

In their own words Cognizant: “…the majority of our technical professionals are located in India, and the vast majority of our technical professionals in the United States and Europe are Indian nationals who are able to work in the United States and Europe only because they hold current visas and work permits..” Form 10-K, December 2011 Pg. 23 Infosys: “As of March 31, 2012, the majority of our technology professionals in the United States held either H-1B visas (approximately 10,115 persons, not including Infosys BPO employees or employees of our wholly owned subsidiaries), which allow the employee to remain in the United States for up to six years during the term of the work permit and work as long as he or she remains an employee of the sponsoring firm, or L-1 visas (approximately 1,988 persons, not including Infosys BPO employees or employees of our wholly owned subsidiaries), which allow the employee to stay in the United States only temporarily.” Form 20-F, May 3, Pg. 7