Abstract
This Article will examine the numerous claims of U.S. employers that they cannot fill professional-level job openings with home-grown U.S. workers, and the complaints of those who oppose the importation of foreign professional labor. By shedding some light on these broad questions, we should put into proper perspective the motivating elements behind our ever-changing United States immigration laws, separating the valid impetuses from the rhetoric. This should serve to paint a clearer picture of the actual state of affairs affecting our labor needs, and to suggest courses of action designed to stabilize and to correct the U.S. employment-based immigration system.
First, this Article will provide a cursory overview of the H-1B temporary professional specialty occupation visa program. Having laid this groundwork, we will then examine the various criticisms of the H-1B program, identifying the groups both supporting and opposing the issue, and their reasons for their positions. Finally, based upon this review of the political and economic climate affecting the evolution of the H1-B visa system, this article will propose recommendations for improving the system to better serve U.S. employers to complete effectively in the global economy, both in the long-term and the short-term. The reader will find that much of the existing law is sufficient to serve the needs of U.S. employers to compete effectively. However, the delegated agencies charged with administering these laws do so with great inefficiency, poor attitude and poor quality control. Thus, while some aspects of the process can certainly stand reasonable updating, many key areas of the controlling laws and regulations are quite satisfactory, if only they were properly implemented or enforced.
Recommended Citation
Brian John Halliday,
In Order to Hire the Best Person for the Job, We Have to What?,
11 U. Fla. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y
(1999).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/jlpp/vol11/iss1/3