USCIS SYSTEMATICALLY UNDERCOUNTING H-1B CAP USAGE

News from Greg Siskind: 

Attorney David Rubman in Chicago, Illinois has just shared with me the answer to a Freedom of Information Act request which definitively shows that USCIS has been undercounting H-1B usage by nearly 15% over the last five years. Approximately 45,000 too few H-1Bs have been approved between fiscal year 2008 and 2012. USCIS is required to approve 65,000 H-1B visas per year. They determine when the H-1B cap is hit each year based on their estimate of how many cases will be denied. They also are supposed to add withdrawn H-1Bs back to the total. USCIS has had wildly inaccurate estimates of their denial rates which has resulted in the undercounting. For example, for the current fiscal year, USCIS stopped accepting applications last January. But their data shows only 55,706 applications were approved and 1,820 cases were withdrawn. That means 11,000 more applications should have been approved.

This is an extremely serious failure on the part of USCIS and the employer community deserves an explanation. Right now, we're in a 13 month blackout with no H-1Bs available. The cap for the coming fiscal year was reached last June. USCIS more than likely has undercounted again and they need to reopen the application process. Furthermore, USCIS needs to add back cap numbers to account for the undercounting.

Here are the numbers for each of you to see. Now let us see how USCIS responds.

(follow this link): http://www.docstoc.com/docs/130551432/H-1B-FOIA

SCHUMER PROPSES 55,000 MORE VISAS FOR STEM GRADS

New York Senator Charles Schumer is releasing information about a bill he plans to introduce before the Senate tomorrow. The bill calls for the creation of a two-year pilot program that would allow 55,000 additional green cards each year for foreign-born graduates with master's degrees or higher from American universities in science, math, technology or engineering (STEM) fields. This would be wonderful.
This bill is substantially similar to the one introduced by Texas Representative Lamar Smith in the House except that Smith's bill would eliminate the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery altogether.
Schumer's office has reportedly already been reaching out to businesses in the high-tech community to rally support for his measure. Of course, it remains to be seen whether either Mr. Schumer's bill or Mr. Smith's will ever even be voted upon, as there is very limited time remaining in this session of Congress; perhaps both of these bills are just political maneuvers, attempting to cull additional business support before the election without intending to provide any real change.
Good news, let's see the language and whether this gets voted on.

SEATTLE TECH COMMUNITY CALLS FOR H-1B VISA REFORM

Many Seattle-area businesses, most of which are technology giants, immigration reform is a critical issue that may make or break their businesses. Last Friday morning they discussed immigration reform at an event hosted by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, where USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas, was the keynote speaker.
Technology companies in the Seattle area, such as Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia, use some of the highest numbers of H-1B Visas in the country, most of which are given to computer/tech related occupations and industries. With the low amount of visas that are allowed to be given each year under the Congressional cap, technology companies are struggling to recruit and hire necessary workers.
Mayorkas admitted that his department struggles to understand the business community's needs when it comes to issuing H-1B Visas and other immigration issues. This is an understatement.
Mayorkas said that “The way we interact with the business community needs to change,” that there is no direct way to communicate with the business community, and as of now, the only line of communication between the government and businesses is through lawyers filing requests for evidence. Well, the vast majority of these requests for additional evidence coming from the agency are unnecessary and unduly burdensome. Some of these are outright outrageous asking companies to prove anything and include any document. Opening up to businesses means training officers and going after officers who abuse the system and really limiting the use of the RFE (requests for additional evidence) that ask for specific, relevant and limited information when absolutely necessary, not just to satisfy a whim of an examiner.