Immigration Laws: March, 2002 - Number #3

The US unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent in January 2002, down from 5.8 percent in December; California's rate rose to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent. The unemployment rate for whites in California was 5.3 percent in January 2002, for Hispanics 7.3 percent, and for Blacks 8.6 percent. In January 2002, California had 16.4 million employed workers, including 4.7 million in services; 3.5 million in trade; 2.4 million in government; and 1.8 million in manufacturing.

Unemployment benefits for laid-off workers normally last for 26 weeks, which means that workers who lost jobs after September 11, 2001 will soon lose their 26 weeks of UI benefits. Democrats in Congress want to extend UI benefits for another 13 weeks; Republicans want a UI benefit extension to be part of an economic stimulus package that includes tax cuts.

H-1B. The US can issue up to 195,000 H-1B visas to US employers a year, plus additional H-1B visas to nonprofit organizations. To apply, a US employer submits an application to the US Department of Labor specifying the tasks to be performed, the wage to be paid (this must be at least the prevailing wage), and the time and place where the work will be performed. DOL must certify the employer's application unless it contains obvious errors. Employers attach DOL's certification to their petition to INS for H-1B workers.

US employers applied for 342,035 H-1B work visas in 2001, up 14 percent from 2000; the INS approved 163,200, up 40 percent-- at least 29,000 visa applications are pending. The number of employer applications for H-1B visas is two to three times larger than the number of visas issued because many employers request H-1B workers when they bid for jobs. If they win the contract, they complete the process and the H-1Bs are admitted; if they do not win the job, they do not complete the process.

The uncertainties involved can lead to disputes between H-1Bs and their employers. DOL received 269 complaints involving abuse of H-1B workers in 2001, up from 140 in 2000.

Many H-1Bs buy one-way tickets to the US, expecting to be sponsored by their employers for green cards. Mary Dee Beall, Hewlett-Packard's government affairs consultant, says that the average cost to convert an H-1B worker to an immigrant is $15,000 to $20,000.

Investors. The 11-year old E-5 visa allows foreigners investing at least $500,000 and creating or preserving 10 US jobs to receive immigrant visas. Several US consulting firms were established in the 1990s to help foreigners to receive green cards by putting up only $100,000 of their own money and borrowing the rest. The INS in 1998 declared that such investments do not qualify a foreigner for an immigrant visa, and stopped issuing investor visas unless applicants put the full $500,000 at risk.

Many foreigners complained that the INS had changed the rules after the program began. A bill pending in Congress would give 900 foreigners who filed for E-5 investor visas before 1998, but had not received immigrant visas before the new INS regulations were issued, a chance to put the full $500,000 at risk and receive a green card.

Prevailing Wages. Most public construction projects funded with tax monies must pay workers prevailing wages, generally the wage negotiated in union contracts. Nevada's Labor Commissioner decided that unauthorized workers are entitled to prevailing wages when they work on publicly funded projects. Several unauthorized workers were not paid prevailing wages when they helped to build a fire station, and the commissioner ruled they were owed back wages.

The employer, who was fined, complained that the commissioner was "condoning the employment of illegal aliens within the state of Nevada, [despite] state and federal laws that say illegal, undocumented workers are not entitled to the same benefits" as legal residents.

Safety. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 849 foreign-born workers were killed on the job in 2000, and that 494 or 58 percent were of Hispanic or Latino origin. DOL in February 2002 announced a new initiative to increase training and education efforts to reduce risk factors that stem from language and cultural limitations.

Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act of 1973 requires California's state and local agencies to translate materials and have a "sufficient number" of bilingual workers if more than five percent of their population includes non-English speakers; "sufficient number" is not defined and there are no penalties, and the law is often not implemented.

Statewide, nearly 40 percent of California residents speak a language other than English at home.

Some immigrant groups have become associated with a particular industry, such as Indians operating motels, Cambodians operating donut shops and Vietnamese being manicurists--California's state test for manicurists is given in Vietnamese and other languages. Nails Magazine, a trade publication, notes that opening a nail salon requires little overhead, minimal startup costs ($25,000), and low training requirements, and generates earnings of $25,000 to $30,000 a year. Clients pay $20 to $25 for a set of acrylic nails.