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Immigration Law

: Greg Siskind's Blog

H-1B VISAS AND THE BANKS - THE REAL STORY

By Greg Siskind

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Unfortunately, facts are not important to the AP. So the National Foundation for American Policy has been doing the investigating that reporters are apparently too lazy to do themselves:

A National Foundation for American Policy analysis finds the Associated Press report overstated the current use of H-1B visas by these institutions by combining 6 years of past data and focusing on applications filed with the Department of Labor, which often exaggerate actual visa usage because employers may file applications for multiple geographic areas for one individual to comply with H-1B wage rules. In fact, if one examines actual petitions the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued in 2007 none among 12 large recipients of TARP funds hired more than a negligible number of new H-1B visa holders. For example, Bank of America employed 210,000 people in 2007 and received petitions for 66 new H-1B visa holders, representing 0.03 percent of its workforce. A March 2008 NFAP Policy Brief found rather than displacing Americans, data showed for every H-1B position requested, U.S. technology companies increased their employment by 5 workers. Examining companies that had layoffs, the analysis found for every H-1B position requested, total employment was 2 workers more than it otherwise would have been. It would appear to be an unwise policy choice to deny companies in difficult circumstances access to talented people only because such individuals were not born in the United States.

The news release linked above has a bank by bank breakdown showing H-1B usage.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).