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You could hire that worker after allBy Grant Sovern
The spectrum of recriminations and potential solutions is also quite dramatic. But while this debate about lower-skill jobs rages in the media and in Washington, employers looking for high-skilled and professional employees need and have some immediate immigration solutions. High-tech, biotech, professional services and multinational companies need and find qualified engineers, scientists, executives, analysts and other professional employees who were not born in the U.S. The qualified potential employees might be recent international graduates of universities, such as UW, with specific skills, employees of a competitor firm with work visas, or employees transferring to the U.S. from a company overseas. Congress has already decided that employees such as these qualify for employment authorization and visas in the U.S. in several different foreign worker programs. The H-1B specialty worker program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign nationals who have at least a bachelor's degree for a position that requires a bachelor's degree in a specialty field. Many employers believe that in order to get H-1B status for an employee they must demonstrate there are no Americans who can fill the position or that the skill required is highly unusual. This is not true for the H-1B program (but is true for a green card application, in most cases). However, the Department of Labor does require employers to certify that they are not adversely affecting the working conditions of U.S. workers and that they are paying the prevailing wage. Many Capital Region employers find key employees and hire them with an H-1B visa. In fact, in 2005 the government ran out of the annually allotted 65,000 H-1B visas before the fiscal year even began, leaving employers without access to this valuable program until October 2006. However, people already working in H-1B status for for-profit entities can still transfer to new employers even when the government has run out of the visas. In 2004, Congress made an additional 20,000 H-1B visas available annually to foreign nationals who earned master's degrees or higher at U.S. universities. U.S. employers even used up those extra visas half-way through this fiscal year. It is clear that the U.S. economy has more capacity and need than Congress recognized. In January of this year, the Senate passed but the House of Representatives rejected a measure that would have effectively increased even more the number of H-1Bs for a short period of time. There are other temporary visa programs that allow professional foreign nationals to work for petitioning U.S. employers. The TN program allows Canadians and Mexicans with bachelor's degrees or special backgrounds to work in the U.S. for sponsoring employers. The O-1 program grants work permits to foreign nationals who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics to work in the U.S. The L-1 program allows multinational companies to transfer foreign employees to the U.S. if they are managers or have specialized knowledge of the company, and have worked for a part of the company located overseas for at least one year. The H-2B program can give U.S. employers the authorization to hire foreign nationals when the employers have a temporary or seasonal need for workers and the local labor market cannot furnish enough willing workers. Many people confuse these temporary programs (anywhere from one to seven years in duration) with permanent resident status or green cards. Employers may also petition for foreign-born employees to stay permanently in the U.S. if employers can demonstrate that no U.S. workers are willing, qualified, and able to take the position. Organizations and companies performing research have other green card options as well. Because the political fire is so hot on immigration issues, the regulations and liabilities connected to these programs can be confusing and significant. Oftentimes potential employees offer to do the paperwork or hire their own lawyers to file the required documents. But employers should be very careful about giving this permission. All of these programs require the employer to make certifications and representations about their business to the government. Employers should be sure to have their own counsel, who is versed in immigration law, at least review such filings. While we debate the issues surrounding the role of foreign workers in our economy and country, savvy employers are making good use of the existing immigration programs to hire experts and those with the important skills they need, no matter where they were born. madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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