User:STEMLaborPolicy/H-1B visa

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=== H-1B Visa === The United States Chamber of Commerce maintains a list of years when the random selection process (lottery) was implemented.

H-1B "cap cases" are delineated on the envelope's label, preferably in red ink, with "Regular Cap" for the bachelor's degree, "C/S Cap" for H-1B1 treaty cases and "U.S. Master"s for the U.S. master's degrees or higher exemption. USCIS publishes a memo when enough cap-subject applications have been received, indicating the closure of cap-subject application season, the associated random selection process is often referred to as the H-1B lottery. In recent years, the lottery has started on March 1st of each year, running through the first part of March, with selections being notified in the end of the month. Employers may register their employees for the H-1B lottery through a USCIS online H-1B registrant account. Unlike in the actual H-1B petition to be filed in April, USCIS required only basic information to register for the H-1B lottery.

Some recent news reports suggest that the recession that started in 2008 will exacerbate the H-1B visa situation, both for supporters of the program and for those who oppose it. The process to obtain the green card has become so long that during these recession years it has not been unusual that sponsoring companies fail and disappear, thus forcing the H-1B employee to find another sponsor, and lose their place in line for the green card. An H-1B employee could be just one month from obtaining their green card, but if the employee is laid off, he or she may have to leave the country, or go to the end of the line and start over the process to get the green card, and wait as much as 15 more years, depending on the nationality and visa category.

H-1B visa holders may be sponsored for their green cards by their employers through an Application for Alien Labor Certification, filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. In the past, the sponsorship process has taken several years, and for much of that time the H-1B visa holder was unable to change jobs without losing their place in line for the green card. This created an element of enforced loyalty to an employer by an H-1B visa holder. Critics alleged that employers benefit from this enforced loyalty because it reduced the risk that the H-1B employee might leave the job and go work for a competitor, and that it put citizen workers at a disadvantage in the job market, since the employer has less assurance that the citizen will stay at the job for an extended period of time, especially if the work conditions are tough, wages are lower or the work is difficult or complex. It has been argued that this makes the H-1B program extremely attractive to employers, and that labor legislation in this regard has been influenced by corporations seeking and benefiting from such advantages.

, such as protection orders, police reports, court records, medical records, reports from social services agencies, a signed statement from the applicant detailing abuse suffered since your admission to the United States, and/or affidavits from other people who can knowledgeably attest to the abuse experienced.

Problem & Guest Worker Labor Supply: Critics of the H-1B labor subsidy says that it distorts the functioning of the labor market.

Problem & Restrictions: Guestworkers are immobile as they are tied to their employer at a set wage.

Problem & Dual Intent:
Employers sponsor their H-1B visa workers for green cards.

The U.S. Department of Labor has a permanent labor certification (PERM) process for an employer to sponsor an H-1B worker for a Green Card. This process is to ensure that there are no qualified Americans who the employer can hire first.

Key findings from the hearing were that half of new STEM graduates find jobs in STEM occupations.

The Trump administration. These were relatively modest steps.

The Trump administration proposed ending the lottery altogether in October, 2020.

On April 22, 2020, The Trump Administration suspended immigration for sixty days due to the coronavirus pandemic, and mass joblessness of Americans.

L-1 Visa
The L-1 visa is described as the "Computer Visa" (Hal Salzman).

L-1 visa have even less regulations than the H-1B visa. There are no protections for American and visa workers. There is no employer attestation that there are no Americans available to do the job. Free trade agreements limits L-1 visa worker rights such as with NAFTA, the U.S-Singapore, and U.S-Chile agreements.

There is no requirement for USCIS to report to Congress about L-1 visa statistics or details. Between 1999 and 2004, nine of the top ten firms submitting L-1 visa applications were IT and computer companies.

Additionally, between 2002 and 2011, nine out of ten L-1 visa employers were outsourcing firms.

Optional Practical Training
OPT has increased in prominence.

In 2012, The Obama Administration expanded the number of programs eligible for STEM OPT from three hundred to four hundred, without public notice or comment and without publishing it in the Federal Register.

Academic institutions benefit from having students with OPT.

J-1 Visa
With the J-1 visa, corporate sponsor agencies profit through deceiving workers and paying them sub-par wages.

International students have been exploited by employers.

There were 400 international students working in at the Hershey chocolate factory.