Visa Lawyer Blog
Employers and Labor Groups across the country are joining forces and doing whatever it takes, so that the Government will consider any immigration reform. The shortage in visas will be a huge blow for Hotels, Construction companies and the High Tech sector. Lawmakers, lobbyists say, have been reluctant to move forward on the issue, however, in part due to the major fallout over last summer’s contentious debate on the immigration reform bill.
I can tell you that our H2B clients and all worried that visas will run out as early as January and I feel that they may be correct. If this is true, no H2B visas until October 2008 is a gloomy reality for our major Hospitality clients and for the consumers expecting excellent service.
High-tech companies, meanwhile, are renewing their annual fight for an increase in H-1B visas programs, which allow highly skilled foreign applicants to work in the United States for six years, as well as employment-based visas that offer permanent employment status.
Ralph Hellmann, senior vice president for government relations at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), said the current H-1B cap of 65,000 workers does not cover the high-tech industry’s needs.