Openers

Dear Readers:

Our firm represents its fair share of computer programmers and other high tech workers. The high tech industry has suffered greatly in the current recession and, even though H-1B petitions for tech workers have dropped dramatically and employers have pointed out that the workers being recruited typically have skills that are still hard to find, politicians, members of the media and others are trying to portray foreign technology workers as a threat to the country.

Congress is finally starting to wake up to the fact that, after October 1st, the H-1B program reverts to its old 1990 Act quota numbers. Those numbers were barely adequate for our economy 13 years ago and, even in recession, they are not enough even to take us through a few months a year. Plus, as you'll see if you read our article this week on new H-1B data, the types of workers using the H-1B visa represent many fields, including several that are clearly facing shortages. They include doctors, schoolteachers, nurses and many others.

Special kudos go to Steve Yale-Loehr, my friend and J-1 Visa Guidebook co-author who testified recently in front of Congress regarding the benefits of the H-1B program. He has done this country a service and is owed our thanks.

In addition to our coverage of the H-1B debate this week, we have two in-depth articles on topics not usually covered on immigration sites in much depth. First, in our ABCs article, we focus on the Hague Convention and intercountry adoptions. And then regular guest columnist Steven Weiser writes on estate tax issues for non-citizen spouses.

In firm news, this week I attended and spoke at the International Bar Association's annual meeting in San Francisco. I was on a panel with lawyers from Germany, Holland, England and Canada. What was very interesting was learning about how different our systems are. But a common theme was the continued tightening of immigration rules in all five countries. The program covered entertainers and athletes. At the end of the program, it became clear that the US had the toughest rules.

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind