Worker Visas Intensify Debate on Immigration

Austin Farshi, head of Virtual Atlantic, oversees foreign workers Paul Murphy and Pranay Gujjeti, foreground, and Darren Gibney. Legal immigrants offer more "expertise than many Americans coming out of college," Farshi says. (By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)

"This bill is pretty much a disaster for high-tech employers," said Stuart Anderson of the nonprofit National Foundation for American Policy in Arlington County. He said the proposed rules, which would require employers to prove a temporary foreign worker has special skills and would not displace a U.S. worker, are "so onerous and vague that you would start shackling fast-moving companies. The risk is that they may decide it is better to expand outside the United States."

A study released this week by the policy group found that, contrary to allegations that foreign workers are flooding a number of high-skilled industries, new H-1B visa holders account for only 0.07 percent of the total U.S. workforce and that 57 percent of them have advanced degrees. It also found that, contrary to fears that Americans are being displaced, computer and math professions in the United States are at "virtual full employment," with jobless rates of 2.4 percent.

But many employers of skilled visa workers, in a variety of fields, say they genuinely need their abilities and are not just looking to save money. They insist that U.S. universities produce nowhere near enough highly qualified graduates in a number of technical fields and that H-1B visas are their only relief.

"It's not mostly about the salary; it's about the attitude," said Farshi, of Virtual Atlantic. "They do the same work Americans do, and they earn the same amount. But they have more technical expertise than many Americans coming out of college, and they see working in this field as a prestigious opportunity instead of taking it for granted. We are getting the best of the best."

This year, the demand for H-1B visas was so great that April 2, when the government opened its doors to applicants for the annual quota, all 65,000 slots were claimed the same day and thousands more were rejected. Industry advocates and lawyers said that even if the ceiling were increased to 115,000 as the Senate bill proposes, next year's quota would also be immediately filled.

"I had 24 candidates this year, and we didn't get a single hit," said Ali Saberi, a Bethesda man whose company provides technology and management for public utilities. "It's not fair. I have made commitments to so many customers and contracts, and I won't have people to support them. It is hard to find people in the U.S. who know the new technology, and training them is a lot tougher than bringing someone in who already knows it."

Although most skilled visa positions are in highly specialized fields, employers sponsor foreign workers for jobs as diverse as hotel managers, exotic cuisine chefs and public accountants. In every case, they say -- but do not have to prove -- they cannot find an U.S.-born worker with the specific skills they seek.

Jerry Love, a partner in a Texas accounting firm and an industry advocate for H-1B visas, said his field has been experiencing an enormous demand for young accountants that U.S. colleges cannot fill. He said the profession is far more attractive to foreign-born students than U.S. natives even though firms such as his offer equal salaries and benefits to both groups.

"In accounting, we have more than enough demand for every single person who graduates today," Love said. "A lot of large universities are at maximum capacity in accounting, and a large percentage of those students are already foreign." U.S. students, he said, "may not think they are good in math, or they don't see accountants on TV the way they see doctors and lawyers."

At Virtual Atlantic, U.S.-born software workers outnumber the handful of foreign visa holders, but the three young immigrants seem to infuse the enterprise with a go-getting professional spirit -- as well as a passion for music and soccer.

"If you're smart and want to work hard, this is the best place," said Murphy, 26, who has a master's degree in engineering and makes more than $60,000 a year. "At home, you start with the same salary, but then it takes a long time to rise," he said. "In America, you get recognized, you move faster. It's great."