WASHINGTON: Stressing the importance of the H1-B visas to the American economy, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has pleaded before the Senate Judiciary Committee to retain the cap of 195,000 H-1B visas allocated for fiscal year 2003 in order to maintain U.S. global competitiveness.

The reorganization of the Immigration Services, the increased focus on national security and the impending reduction in the H1-B program have generated concern in the business community, it said at a hearing on Sept 16 before the powerful Judiciary Committee, held to examine the importance of the H1- B visas to the American economy.

Employers in the United States currently need and will continue to need H1-B workers. “Through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and in coalition with businesses and trade associations across the spectrum, we seek a reasonable, market driven H1-B policy that recognizes market realities,” said Elizabeth C. Dickson, who testified on Sept 16 on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before the committee.

“Immigration policies and procedures must be rationally based and include consideration for economic security and competitiveness,” Dickson said, adding that “we must be able to tap the talent we need both domestically and abroad.”

The cap on H1-B visas is set to decline to 65,000 as of Oct. 1. Despite declining usage of the category (only approximately 79,000 visas were used in the last fiscal year), the category remains important to allow the U.S. to remain competitive in the battle for global talent, she asserted. India sends the largest number of H1-B visa holders to the U.S.

Dickson, who is director of Immigration Services of the multinational Ingersoll-Rand Company, said an employer is also limited by an annual cap on the total number of new H1-B workers.

“It is unclear what, if any rationale, was used in developing this cap. What is clear is that the cap, when reached before the beginning of the new fiscal year, causes great economic hardship to U.S. employers,” she said.

Dickson told the committee that in “fiscal years 1997 and 1998, we reached the cap. Many petitions that had been filed were put on hold until the beginning of the next fiscal year. This put candidates in limbo and required employers to remove valuable employees from payrolls. It also delayed the hiring of needed professionals. We cannot afford to let arbitrary caps dictate U.S. business immigration policy.”

She took the opportunity to debunk the

theory that H1-B workers displace American workers and lower American workers’ wages and working conditions in certain job sectors. “It is hard to displace U.S. workers when you don’t have any U.S. workers to choose from,” she pointed out.

Dickson said if the government refuses to recognize market needs and demands, the only alternative for American companies will be to move more of their operations offshore.

The solution is not, as suggested by some, to cut access to foreign talent and wait while the promise of high wages pulls U.S. students through the pipeline, she said. “In the near-term, we simply must have access to foreign nationals. Many of them have been educated in the U.S. By sending them home, we are at best sending them to our own foreign plant sites, and at worst to our competitors. The U.S. needs to maintain its global competitiveness and not let other countries lure away the talented professionals that generate ideas, innovation and prosperity. In the future, we will still want to hire the best and the brightest, whatever their nationality,” she said.

To give ample illustrations to what she said before the Committee, Dicksen quoted facts and figures to say how her company, which has world wide operations, faced great difficulties, leave alone the costs, to find an American worker before hiring foreign nationals on H1-B visas.

“America cannot maintain its global advantage without an adequate supply of top-quality engineers, including immigrants. Immigrants build wealth and create jobs for native-born Americans,” Dickson said, quoting a recent report from the Immigration Policy Center of the American Immigration Law Foundation, to point out how foreign born individuals are 28 percent of all Ph.D.s in the U.S. currently engaged in research and development in science and engineering.

“We are encouraged that the committee is exploring the economic issues surrounding the H1-B program, and hope that some constructive solutions can be can be identified,” she said.