Transcripts

Help Wanted...Non h-1-b Workers

PAUL KANGAS: If your company is thinking about bringing in skilled workers from overseas, you could be out of luck for at least a year. U.S. citizenship and immigration services say the deadline for accepting what are called h-1-b visa applications was the close of business today. As Darren Gersh reports, that`s sparking debate over whether employers will be able to find the talent they need.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Employers use h- 1-b visas to bring in highly skilled foreign employees with a college degree or more. Congress caps the number of new h-1-b visas at 65,000 a year. Chris Bentley, a spokesman for U.S. citizenship and immigration services, says all of those were snapped up yesterday and today.

CHRIS BENTLEY, SPOKESMAN, U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES: Over the course of the past three fiscal years, the statutory cap has been met sooner and sooner into the filing period. Indicates there`s a tremendous, tremendous desire for h-1-b workers to augment the workforce here in the economy.

GERSH: The government figures it received more than 150,000 h-1-b applications. It will now review and then randomly pick 65,000 for approval. Under a special exemption, an additional 20,000 workers who earned a masters degree or Ph.D. in the U.S. will also get visas. The next application deadline: April 1, 2008. John Palafoutas represents the high tech industry and says the visa cap means some employers will now be struggling.

JOHN PALAFOUTAS, SR. VP DOMESTIC POLICY, AEA: It`s going to hurt the country, because the companies that need the talent, if they need it now, if they need it to compete against the rest of the world, are going to be going overseas to find that talent, as opposed to building the infrastructure in the U.S.

GERSH: To get an h-1-b visa, employers must certify they can`t find a worker here who can do the job. But critics call predictions of dire shortages overblown. Paul Almeida is president of the AFL-CIO department of professional employees. He says if there really weren`t enough high- tech workers, salaries would be soaring.

PAUL ALMEIDA, PRESIDENT, AFL-CIO DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES: All of the major computer companies are still making a profit and we don`t see anyone closing because they couldn`t find the right workers. What they can`t find is the right worker at the price they want to pay.

GERSH: This battle extends well beyond h-1-b`s. The high tech industry also wants Congress to allot more green cards to h-1-b workers who want to stay in the U.S. permanently. The AFL-CIO says there already aren`t enough jobs for the tech savvy students about to graduate from college. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.