H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help Employers and Protect Workers: HEHS-00-157.

VISAS; EMPLOYERS; SKILLED labor; FOREIGN workers; LABOR supply

The H-1B visa program allows employers to hire skilled foreign workers for as long as six years to fill hundreds of thousands of jobs in the computer programming, engineering, education, and medical fields. In fiscal year 1999, these workers had a median age of 28 and were offered a median salary of $45,000; almost half were born in India. GAO found that the Department of Labor's limited legal authority to enforce program requirements--and weaknesses in the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) administration--leave the H-1B program vulnerable to abuse. For example, Labor can certify that an employer's application form for H-1B workers is error free, but it has no authority to verify the information on the form. Labor cannot take enforcement action even if it believes that employers are violating the law. INS is responsible for ensuring that H-1B that positions are specialty occupations and that workers granted entry are qualified for those jobs. INS staff are judged on the number of H-1B requests processed; they do not analyze a petitioner's merit. Labor and the National Science Foundation are trying to improve the information technology skills of the U.S. workforce through retraining programs for new and existing employees and through more computer training and mentoring for students in elementary and secondary schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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