News Update - November 3, 2007European Union “Blue-Card” May Give U.S. Economy the BluesThe European Union (EU) plans to begin issuing “blue cards” in 2009 to talented workers needed in the EU economy. Dubbed a “blue card” after a color in the EU flag, the card would allow travel and work among the EU states and attract workers from China, Russia and India to other countries where high tech and other services are needed to replace aging workers. According to news reports, American companies are worried that the program will attract the best and brightest not just from Europe, but also from the United States. In addition, U.S. nonimmigrant H-1B visas are completely exhausted very quickly each year and may wind up costing almost $6000 in USCIS fees alone by next year. (The H-1B program is limited to a total of 65,000 per year – another 20,000 is allotted to those with U.S. advanced degrees. The 65,000 cap was filled on the first day of filing in 2007. Present USCIS charges are $2,350 for companies with at least 26 workers, but many congressional members believe it too cheap and legislation like the just-defeated Grassley-Sanders amendment to the Departments of Defense, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill would add an additional fee of $3,500 thus making the USCIS fee $5,850. The agency further charges another $1000 for those who wish to premium process their filings.) These fees are completely exclusive of attorney’s fees and the complex H-1B regulations almost demand an attorney’s services to deal with the filings and ward off possible company liability. A recent article in the New York Sun (10.29.07 – “Alarm Rises Over European Bid to Woo U.S. Workers – www.nysun.com) quoted Robert Hoffman, a Vice President of Oracle and head of Compete America, as stating that Oracle hires 20 percent of its staff abroad and that percentage will only increase. The article cites 2005 figures from the National Science Foundation showing that foreigners make up a substantial number if not a majority of graduates from U.S. universities holding Ph.D’s in science, computer science and engineering. The European Union is opening its doors and actively seeking the best and brightest from around the world. Their gain is surely the U.S. economy’s loss.
† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. ‡ This article © 2007 Alan Lee, Esq.
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Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee,
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