Final WP#1 w/Suggestions for Revision

Rocki Passano

Eng 102-2315

Professor Devon Adams

5 December 2007

Suggestions for Revision and WP#1 –

At first I had problems understanding the requirements for this assignment. The first most noticeable area I had difficulties with was the MLA citing for this assignment. I still have some confusion in this area and my solution to this problem is to buy a more recent edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. I was able to gain a better understanding of the MLA citing procedure by WP#3.

A stronger opening for this writing assignment is necessary to have more of an initial impact on the audience for this paper. More focus needs to be placed on the purpose as well as my role as a writer for this paper. Additionally I don’t need to be so cautious about my own ideas and ideas that I inhibit my writing abilities to generate a sound and reasonable thesis for my paper.

Had I accomplished the above I would have achieve the following outcomes –

· Generate, format, and edit writing using appropriate technologies.

· Identify, select and use an appropriate documentation style to maintain academic integrity.

· Integrate sources through summarizing, paraphrasing and quotation from sources to develop and support one’s own ideas.

Rocki Passano

English 102-2513

Deadline #6

HW#2 – WP#1

Thursday, September 27, 2007

rocki, WE DISCUSSED THIS ONLINE, SO I KNOW YOU ARE BACK ON TRACK :) -Devoncadams 10/17/07 7:52 PM

H-1B Visa Program

During the 1990s, the high technology industry was evolving and invading every aspect of daily life from personal computers to e-mail; to intelligent computer chips in automobiles and washing machines. Sweeping changes in high technology trade programs and as well as changes in telecommunication monopolies (i.e., telephone, television, cable, satellite) were in progress. Classrooms across the country were being wired for internet access during weekend volunteer programs. Venture capital money freely flowed into Silicon Valley enticing entrepreneurs to begin internet start-up companies that would become Yahoo and Google. This great unplanned success overwhelmed the existing technology workforce creating a demand for qualified skilled high technology workers in both the software and hardware fields. During this same time Congress had undertaken a major reform of the nation’s Immigration Act.

The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program was established with the U.S. Immigration Act of 1990 to assist U.S. employers in temporarily filling certain positions with highly-skilled foreign workers¹. Currently Congress has limited the number of H-1B visas to 65,000 each year, with exemptions. Now, in the early twenty first century, corporations and special interest groups advocate a desperate need to increase the current cap again, citing a lack of qualified skilled Americans to fill their vacancies.

There are also groups and individuals who thoroughly discredit the need for an increase in the H-1B Visa program and advocate the program be shut down. Although it is clear that the number of applicants for H-1B visa consistently exceeds the 65,000 total available in the US each year, is an increase in this program necessary?

High technology has continued its evolution; new companies opened, failed, succeeded, merged or were acquired. High technology stocks hit record highs then record lows. A majority of the high tech companies from the 1980s and early 1990s do not exist anymore. The technology revolution slowed in its normal progression, it is estimated that approximately 100,000 American software engineers are currently unemployed².

Special interests groups AILA (American Immigrations Lawyers Association)³, ITAA (Information Technology Association of America)⁴, and several U.S. Senators and Governors⁵ are appealing to Congress to increase the current H-1B Visa Program limits, insisting that there is a shortage of qualified skilled U.S. employees to fill vacant positions. High tech companies like Microsoft, Oracle and Sun Microsystems have lobbied Congress heavily since 1998 for increases in the H-1B Visa program. Department of Labor records show Sun Microsystems has applied for a steadily increasing number of H-1B visas: 751 in 1999; 1870 in 2000; 5179 in 2001. The total number of Sun Microsystems worldwide employees in 2002 was 58,000⁶.

According to Normal Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California-Davis, the failure of the current immigration reform bill only delays a predictable increase in the number of H-1B visas and green cards allowing an opportunity for high tech companies to exploit the system. “There’s no shortage of American workers for these jobs,” Mattloff says. “I don’t like being lied to and the tech industry is lying to us. They simply want access to cheap labor⁷”. Federal auditors in a 2006 GAO audit determined that some H-1B workers are underpaid. GAO found approximately 3200 petitions for H-1B visa workers have gained approval even though the employers involved didn’t commit to paying wages at the prevailing rate⁸. It is estimated that there are approximately 450,000 H-1B Visa workers in the U.S. today.

Further Lou Dobbs of CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight reported recently that U.S. Lawyers were giving advice to companies seeking foreign tech workers to circumvent regulations requiring Americans be given first shot at jobs that go to H-1B visa holders. ⁹ On the video, it is clear that corporations are looking for any means to avoid hiring U.S. workers for these jobs. One example is the use of head hunters to give the appearance of interviewing U.S. workers but never hiring them for the positions. Some head hunting firms have said they receive over one hundred thousand resumes for one position. These resumes are eliminated for lack of degrees, age, or lack of very specific skill set. Salaries for technology workers have been flat for the past eight years and many U.S. tech workers feel the H-1B Visa Program is partially responsible for the salary situation.

Several years ago, my husband and I both worked in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, California. I worked for a technology based trade show company, Interop, that had grown from a weekend bake-off at someone’s home in Monterrey to the top trade show company in the world. Interop was sold to Ziff-Davis after three successful years. Just before this sale became official and public knowledge, Ron and Jacqui Catterall of London England were persuaded to sell their London based IP Company to Ziff Davis and become part of the ZD organization through the H-1B Visa program. The Catteralls sold their business and home, packed and shipped their personal belongings and moved to the US. Immediately upon arrival they began working at Ziff Davis; Ron as my immediate Director and Jacqui as my subordinate. They lived in a hotel in Sunnyvale, Ca for six months while having a home built. Ron, Jacqui, my husband and I became friends and often socialized together. Two and one half years later during a dinner party entertaining friends, Immigration and Naturalization Service arrived at their door. INS declared the Catteralls were illegally in the United States and had thirty days to leave the country for good. Ron and Jacqui were under the impression that Ziff Davis was processing the paper work to obtain green cards for that in accordance with their agreement of employment and the sale of their IP Company. ZD failed to notify Ron and Jacqui they would not be applying for their green card; or that because Ron and Jacqui did not have green cards their H-1B status would expire; or that ZD would be terminating their employment immediately the next day. ZD had contacted INS prior to advising the Catteralls of the change in their status or of their pending termination. The Catteralls moved to Mexico where they currently reside, but to this day still have problems visiting the U.S. It was all very strange as Ziff Davis had assisted when the Catteralls needed social security numbers so they could pay SSI and all associated income taxes and disability. Ziff Davis eventually sold Interop+Networld (the trade show company) to a Korean/Japanese Conglomerate and I left the company. My husband became employed with RedBack, Inc. and we moved to Arizona.

At RedBack, Inc. my husband traveled ninety percent of the time, mostly to Europe, Asia, throughout the U.S. and Canada and occasionally to New Zealand and Australia. When not flying all over the world, he was a technical instructor, training customer engineers on RedBack’s equipment. Shortly after the high tech stock bubble burst, mergers and acquisitions and then corporate downsizing, the next thing we knew my husband is training hundreds of H-1Bs to do installations and training. Six months later my husband and several hundred of his co-workers were laid off in a reduction in force. It took my husband five years with out of pocket expenses to keep his skill set competitive and leading edge to find another job in the technology field as a contractor with no benefits. During the five years, my husband sent out thousands of resumes and went to hundreds of interviews. But of course he is well over 35 (the industry nondiscriminatory age cap) and he was never hired. Two or three H-1Bs could be hired instead of my husband for less than he would cost.

I don’t like being lied to in much the same way as Norman Matloff, I want to know the real reason behind this push for more foreign labor into the U.S. and I don’t think I am alone. Corporations have a fiduciary right to keep cost down and profits up for their shareholders which in many ways justifies their need for H-1B workers. If the motivation for an increase of H-1B Visas is strictly financial, than tell the truth. Amazingly, Americans can adapt, improvise and overcome should the need present itself (i.e., the Space Race), but we don’t like being lied to.

Works Cited

1 United States Government Accountability Office Testimony – Before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives; “H-1B Visa Program – More Oversight by Labor Can Improve Compliance with Program Requirements”; Statement of Sigurd R. Nielsen, Director Education, Workforce, and Income Security – GAO -06-901T, June 22, 20006

2 NumbersUSA

3 AILA – http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=1021

“The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is the national association of over 10,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. AILA Member attorneys represent tens of thousands of U.S. families who have applied for permanent residence for their spouses, children, and other close relatives to lawfully enter and reside in the United States. AILA Members also represent thousands of U.S. businesses and industries who sponsor highly skilled foreign workers seeking to enter the United States in a temporary or --having proven the unavailability of U.S. workers -- permanent basis. AILA Members also represent foreign students, entertainers, athletes, and asylum seekers, often on a pro bono basis. Founded in 1946, AILA is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that provides its Members with continuing legal education, information, professional services, and expertise through its 35 chapters and over 50 national committees. AILA is an Affiliated Organization of the American Bar Association and is represented in the ABA House of Delegates.”

4 ITAA -- http://www.itaa.org/index.cfm

Unable to locate a definitive mission statement for this organization

5 Letter from Governors to House & Senate -- Letter from 13 U.S. Governors Urging Congressional Action to Increase Availability of H1-B and Permanent Resident Visas

6 January 17, 2002; http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2002-01/sunflash.20020117.2.xml?printFriendly=true

7 Barrett, Larry; “H-1B Bump: Not Dead Yet” July 2, 2007; CIO Insight

8 United States Government Accountability Office Testimony – Before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives; “H-1B Visa Program – More Oversight by Labor Can Improve Compliance with Program Requirements”; Statement of Sigurd R. Nielsen, Director Education, Workforce, and Income Security – GAO -06-901T, June 22, 20006

9 CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight; “U.S. Lawyers Intentionally Cripple America’s High-Tech Workers (video)