Dear Readers:  

If you are one of the tens of thousands of H-1B applicants who are angling for a fiscal year 2009 visa, best of luck. We don’t know how many people will apply, but all indications are that the competition will be fierce. Which raises the question of why there needs to be this type of competition in the first place? I’ve reported on study after study that shows that H-1Bs deliver enormous benefit to the country and the costs to Americans are relatively small. In most fields filled by H-1B employees, shortages of Americans persist and the long-term demographic trends in the US point to decades-long problems.  

H-1B workers not only help the companies that sponsor them, but many eventually start their own firms. Some of the country’s best known companies were started by people on this visa and studies show a substantial portion of the jobs created in high tech were at companies started by immigrants. And while there are not many studies on the subject, anecdotal evidence points to the fact that the children of these workers perform extremely well in US schools. Take a look at the finalists for the National Spelling Bee and you’ll see a lot of children of people who received work visas.  

Perhaps the best indicator of our problem is the fact that our major competitors, such as the UK and Canada , take an unlimited number of professionals similar to our H-1Bs. And that is precisely why Microsoft opened a research center just north of the border in Vancouver . Look for that outsourcing trend to continue if we don’t get our hands around this issue.  

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Finally, immigration legislation seems to be moving in Congress. An O-1 30 day bill has passed in the House. The bill, HR 1312, would mandate O-1 cases be adjudicated in a one month timetable or automatically convert at no cost to the applicant to premium processing. Today, the House Immigration Subcommittee moved extension bills for religious workers, immigrant investors and physicians.  

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In firm news, we’ve been busy speaking at various seminars and forums. Christi Hufford and I were speakers at ILW.com’s latest national teleconference. We each spoke on issues in consular processing. I was a speaker last Friday at the West Tennessee Associated Builders and Contractors annual conference here in Memphis. I spoke on immigration compliance issues for employers and spoke on the same topic the day before in front of the local Hispanic Business Alliance and the week before at a local meeting of the National Federation for Independent Business (NFIB).

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Finally, as always, if you are interested in becoming a Siskind Susser Bland client, please feel welcome to email me at gsiskind@visalaw.com or contact us at 800-748-3819 to arrange for a telephone or in person consultation with one of our lawyers.

Regards, 

Greg Siskind