Bush Administration Announces Plan to Improve Permanent Visa Processing with Revenues Received from H-1B Employers

The Bush Administration proposes to eliminate several DOL administered programs, including H-1B Training Grants and the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers’ programs. The savings generated from eliminating these programs are earmarked for the reduction of processing backlogs in permanent resident applications.

Congress created H-1B training grants in 1997 as a compromise measure. At that time, only 65,000 H-1B visas were available for each fiscal year. Year after year, U.S. companies used all 65,000 H-1B visas well before the end of the fiscal year for highly skilled professionals. The shortage of H-1B visas created a crisis for employers who would have to wait 5 or 6 months to fill vacancies. Additionally, their prospective employees were left in an immigration limbo after many graduated from U.S. universities, but were unable to change their nonimmigrant status from student to specialty worker. Congress understood the needs of industry to employ highly skilled professionals to spur further development and to avoid inflation resulting from a tightening employment market. However, to quell anti-immigrant special interest groups, legislators required most employers to pay a $500 fee for each H-1B petition filed at the INS. In 2000, the fee was increased to $1000 when U.S. employers could not find qualified professionals and the number of H-1B visas was increased to 195,000 for three years.

The purported purpose of the fee was to establish a fund to train U.S. workers for shortage occupations. However, in making the announcement that the Bush Administration intended to eliminate these training grants, DOL Assistant Secretary of Labor Emily DeRocco pointed out that the program “never has filled and has no prospect of filling these labor shortages.” Underscoring this point, the DOL assessment noted that these funds have been used to train workers “at decidedly low-tech jobs,” such as cable installers or licensed practical nurses.”

Acknowledging that the proposal may face resistance within Congress, Assistant Secretary DeRocco expressed hopes that legislators will understand that eliminating H-1B training grants is the best solution given budgetary constraints. Given recent Congressional legislation, which set forth a blueprint for the Immigration & Naturalization Service to improve process all requests for immigration benefits within 180 days, it would seem that lawmakers realize the significant problems that exist in the permanent visa system and the profound implications to U.S. economic interests.

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