From: c.mcmanes@ieee.org
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 3:03 PM
Subject: L-1 Visa Holders Should Not Displace U.S. Workers
NEWS from IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 1202, Washington, D.C. 20036-5104
Contact: Chris McManes
Senior Marketing Communications/Public Relations Coordinator
Phone: + 1 202 785 0017, ext. 8356
E-Mail: c.mcmanes@ieee.org
IEEE-USA
Calls on Congress to Enact L-1 Visa Legislation
to Protect U.S. and Foreign Workers
WASHINGTON (9 December 2003) - Congress should enact
legislation
requiring that the use of L-1 visas not displace U.S. workers,
according to
a position recently adopted by IEEE-USA.
L-1 visas, which have no annual limit, were originally
intended to
enable multinational corporate executives, managers and employees
with
special skills to work temporarily at subsidiaries in the United
States.
The program is increasingly being used, however, to move
foreign guest
workers into the country as a source of lower-cost contract
labor,
resulting in the displacement of U.S. workers. Several foreign
corporations
have established U.S. subsidiaries for that specific purpose.
The L-1 visa
has become more attractive since the annual limit on H-1B
visas fell to
65,000 on 1 Oct.
A 2003 General Accounting Office report cited State Department
figures
showing that the number of L-1 visas issued rose from 38,307
in FY 1998 to
57,721 in FY 2002. This increase parallels the rise in U.S.
high-tech
unemployment. In 1997, electrical and electronics engineers were
unemployed
at a rate of 1.0 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
By
the third quarter of this year the figure was 6.7 percent.
IEEE-USA's position is "that the (science, engineering
and technology)
unemployment problem is exacerbated by the continuing
admission of
substantial numbers of foreign professionals on temporary visas.
Most (U.S.
IEEE members) are justifiably outraged when they learn that some
employers
are taking advantage of loopholes in the nation's immigration
laws to
replace citizens and legal permanent residents with lower-salaried
foreign
workers on temporary visas such as the L-1."
IEEE-USA is also urging Congress to require U.S. companies
to pay L-1
visa holders prevailing U.S. wages and establish other
appropriate
safeguards for U.S. and foreign workers. The entire position
statement is
available at http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POSITIONS/L1visa.html.
IEEE-USA supports the "USA Jobs Protection Act of
2003" (S. 1452, H.R.
2849), companion bills introduced by Sen. Christopher Dodd
(D-Conn.) and
Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) The purpose of the legislation
"is to ensure
that the H-1B and L-1 visa programs are utilized for the purposes
for which
they were intended, and not to displace American workers with
lower cost
foreign visa holders, by closing the loopholes in the
programs and
strengthening enforcement and penalties for violations of laws."
The "L-1 Visa (Intracompany Transferee) Reform Act
of 2003" (S. 1635)
and the "L-1 Nonimmigrant Reform Act" (H.R. 2702)
were also introduced in
Congress this year.
IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of
Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, Inc., created in 1973 to advance the
public good,
while promoting the careers and public-policy interests of
the more than
235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers
who are
U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest
technical
professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org.
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