Two days ago on the House of Representatives passed bill H.R. 3043, an appropriations bill for 2008, after adding in the Grassley-Sanders amendment H.ADMT.3396. This amendment contains a provision to increase the filing fees for an H1b petition from the current cost of up to $2350 for standard processing to over another $3500 more for a total of $5850.00 per petition. This increased fee will be allocated to a scholarship fund for US citizens to study the sciences and engineering, etc. The Bills are now being discussed in conference committee.
As a refresher, h1b petitions are filed by US employers who want to hire a foreign national employee to fulfill a speciality positions, such as most nurses, IT workers, engineers, managers, etc. The employers must prove the job requires a bachelor’s degree or higher in a speciality field and that the prevailing wage for the position will be paid. The employees must establish that they have the bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in the specialized field.
As another refresher, the US runs out of these h1b petitions very quickly every fiscal year. This fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2007 , employers were allowed to file h1b petitions no earlier than April 2, 2007. On April 3, 2007, only one day after the first day of filing was opened, the CIS refused to accept any more new h1b petitions, stating that it had already received 2-3 times the number of h1b petitions as it had alloted for the upcoming fiscal year and that it was holding a lottery to determine which employer’s petition would be chosen to be included in the lottery. All other employers had to wait until April 1, 2008 to try again to hire a specialty worker.
I am not the only person to think that something is seriously wrong with our immigration system when US employers have to play a lottery or wait a year before they can hire a skilled foreign worker for the prevailing wage. Yet I do not see Congress taking any steps to fix this visa shortage problem despite the urgent requests from American businesses.
So, now the Senate and the House want American businesses to pay a filing fee of up to $5850 while playing the lottery and waiting a whole year for a one day chance to hire a speciality foreign workers.
And what are they paying for? The customer service at the CIS service centers has never been worse. It has even has had to post commentary on its inability to provide its customers with a simple receipt of filing. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=82b06a9fec745110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD
Congress is quite skilled at passing bills which increase immigration filing fees. But that it about it. All of the other problems with our system remain unfixed. And it is not because the congresspeople do not know about the problems. Rather, the problems do not get fixed because they are complicated and because most politicians take the position that it is political suicide to take a reasoned approach to the immigration dilemna in the United States.
A few years ago, the filing fee for an H1b petition was $110. In late 2004 the filing fee was $185. Now the Senate and House want it to be $5850.
A US corporation could probably hire a IT worker in India for $5850. Its American stockholders would probably appreciate the reduction in overhead. Meanwhile, skilled foreign workers will immigrate to another country which will appreciate their skills, further reducing our competititiveness.
Peace,
Elizabeth
