WashTech News: Labor News
April 16, 2008
WashTech News

DHS Changes Rule; Extends Stay For 20,000 Foreign Grads

Priyanka Joshi

April 16, 2008

The American tech job market is about to get tighter, as a new rule
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from the Department of Homeland Security allowing employers to hire foreign students holding F-1 visas for "Optional Practical Training" for 29 months as opposed to the hitherto 12 months, takes shape.

The April 4 rule change comes within days of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reporting that since April 1, it has received 163,000 H1B visa applications for the 65,000 available visa slots, not including 20,000 visas reserved for students graduating at U.S. universities.

The new rule, applicable to students graduating in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics has received critical attention for not including public opinion on the issue, and the blogosphere has been buzzing on the subject ever since it was announced.

Ben Worthen, writer for the Wall Street Journal, posted on his business technology blog, "What's striking about the new rule is how it came about." Worthen, referring to the backhanded way the rule was formulated, added, "Instead of releasing a draft and soliciting comments from the public" - the typical process for governmental rule changes - " DHS cited a clause in the Administrative Procedures Act, which is reserved for emergencies, to make the rule effective immediately".

The invoking of the emergency clause has also earned liberal brickbats from American IT workers stuck in their gritty zeitgeist of rapidly diminishing job opportunities, short term contract only positions, low pay, no health benefits, all made worse by inflation, and the recession- the direst emergencies of their lives for most!

Microsoft, which has long lobbied Congress for drastically increasing the cap on H1B visas, predictably, lavished praise on DHS. The decision is, "an important step toward ensuring that American companies can continue to hire many of the world's most talented students graduating from U.S. universities," Jack Krumholtz, Microsoft's managing director federal government affairs, said in a statement.

According to DHS, the rule, "...Responds to the situation in which an F-1 student's status and work authorization expire before he or she can begin employment under the H-1B visa program. The interim final rule addresses this problem by automatically extending the period of stay and work authorization for all F-1 students with pending H-1B petitions. The rule will also implement certain programmatic changes, including allowing students to apply for OPT within 60 days of graduation." In a press release issued on April 4, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said: "This rule will enable businesses to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers, giving U.S. companies a competitive advantage in the world economy."

The public is getting edgier with each such announcement from the government and one has to barely skim the comments on the blogs to gauge the street sentiment accurately. A comment from "SPT" on Worther's post says, "BLS reports losing 80,000 jobs through March, layoffs at Motorola, Dell, Yahoo, AMD ... The US is in a recession, Americans are getting laid off, and DHS wants to legislate via executive edict to increase the supply of the US labor pool with foreign workers? This is insane."

In response to the same post, is a comment that starts off sounding objective enough, but quickly lays bare the street sentiment and sums up an abrasive immigrant viewpoint which many Americans are getting acquainted with the hard way.

"the Truth" writes, "...Unfortunately globalization has these side effects. ...But life is a race, a fight for survival just like in the jungle. So all you Americans who watch TV for hours every day, maybe brush up on your skills and exercise some self critique. Only the fittest will survive... That applies to everyone. To me, to the Indians, Chinese, Americans and everyone. That is the inconvenient truth."



 
Talkback on Article
 
Apr 30, 2008, 2:24 pm
I'd like to see our politicians and the media gather and present some facts for a change instead of spewing BS like: * "Immigrants do jobs Americans won't do" * "Lower taxes and business subsidies boost the economy" * "Deregulation lowers prices" and the list goes on. Some questions I'd like answers to: * What tax cuts have boosted the economy, and in what specific way? * Do you have any hard numbers showing where business subsidies have brought more money to all the taxpayers that shelled them out? * In what industry has deregulation lowered prices, how much, and for whom? * What jobs won't Americans do, and how did you determine that Americans won't do them? * If we don't have enough workers, why has our reported unemployment rate remained at least 4-5% fairly consistently during that time? * Has our legal working age population decreased at all since the last illegal immigrant amnesty in 1986? * Who are the employers who need immigrants, for what jobs, how many, and where? * When was the last time those employers tried to hire US citizens, and what recruiting strategies did they use: Newspapers, job boards, headhunters? * How many employers of illegal immigrants have ever TRIED to bring workers into the US legally? Most importantly: * Why haven't the media been asking these questions and digging up the answers? * What's the media's stake in keeping all this crap going?

     Linda Wilson,
 
Apr 28, 2008, 5:48 pm
The DHS is accepting public commentary on the OPT extension at regulation.gov. If you need instructions on how to use this site, email me at admin@jobdestruction.info. I just published a newsletter with detailed information which I can forward to you. There isn't enough room in this comment section.

     Rob Sanchez, Chandler
 
Apr 28, 2008, 5:45 pm
Terry Olsen is right, we need to eliminate OPT and H-1B. Right now though, we need to concentrate on rescinding the OPT extension. Keep in mind that the OPT extension is regulatory activism on the part of the DHS, whereas elimination of OPT requires an act of Congress. I argue that the OPT extension is un-Constitutional because the executive doesn't have to right to set immigration limits.

     Rob Sanchez, Chandler
 
Apr 28, 2008, 5:39 pm
I wrote an op-ed about the OPT extension. To read it go here: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/114926 I totally support the Washtech article and urge everyone to send Chertoff a message to end this insanity.

     Rob Sanchez, Chandler, AZ
 
Apr 24, 2008, 4:00 pm
I agree with most of the comments above. Esp., Progressive Geek. I'd also like to ask, what's happened to US corporations? They used to be patriotic, or at least, loyal to the American Dream concept. I don't think we need globalism. I stopped looking for a regular IT job over a year and a half ago. I was only wasting my time, money and other resources in looking. I am also in forbearance and facing default on my Sally Mae loans. Thanks, Washtech, for giving us a voice.

     Patrick Sullivan, Baton Rouge LA, USA
 
Apr 17, 2008, 2:33 pm
Sorry guys, I have to disagree with you on this one. Why should we allow foreign nationals to take advantage of our educational system and live in this country for several years and receive nothing for our effort? America is no longer the land of opportunity such as it used to be. Decent wages, relative to the standard of living are being paid in other countries in the world. The people in question have lived here and become familiar with our country. They know how much it costs to live here. They have or should have made acquaintances and forged intellectual bonds with American students. These are not the people who can be taken advantage of by falling for pie in the sky promises byprospective employers. I think the H1-B people that are recruited from and educated in other countries, who know nothing of American life are the ones who will accept lower salaries just on a promise. These are the people I believe who are bringing the economy down. These are the people we have to protect ourselves against. As far as those who have lived and been educated here for several years, I do not mind if they are encouraged to stay and provide us some return on our investment. Have A Day, Gene Schreiber, CT

     Gene Scriber, CT, USA
 
Apr 17, 2008, 2:29 pm
I think the attached message is too soft. The OPT should be eliminated; Not reset to 12 months. Get them out of here. There should be preferential seating in American institutions of learning for Americans. We need to be finding a way for this country to fund our own people through our own schools. This is totally ridiculous. Terry Olsen, Sammamish, WA.

     Terry Olsen,
 
Apr 17, 2008, 11:05 am
The April 17, 2008 Washington Post discloses that amid rising student loan defaults and "forbearances," Sallie Mae (the biggest US student loan provider) has cut about 1,000 jobs in the past 6 months. No mention that since October 1, 2000, Sallie Mae hired at least 78 H-1Bs, who likely are still employed. Massive student loan defaults are caused by huge job cuts.

     Dr. Gene Nelson, Arlington, VA USA
 
Apr 17, 2008, 9:24 am
People have invested tens of thousands in education and are now being left high and dry. The H1B program and offshoring has become nothing short of class warfare and has turned us into a third world country.I have told my children repeatedly not to even think about going into the High-Tech field because they will have no future. The only future they can have in this field is to move to a foreign country and apply for an H1B visa than maybe they can make a good living.

     Richard, River Edge USA
 
Apr 16, 2008, 7:52 pm
Isn’t it incredible that the U.S. government doesn’t even pretend to represent the U.S. citizenry anymore? Sometimes I feel like moving out of the country, wondering if I might be treated better somewhere else. progressivegeek.com

     Progressive Geek, Seattle