Senator backs H1B firms, criticizes USCIS Memo

Texas senator Cornyn backs H-1B staffing firms, criticized USCIS's Neufeld memo overstepped its bounds in controversial restriction on H-1B use by staffing firms.

The Neufeld memo requires staffing firms to maintain day-to-day control of H-1B workers at third-party sites to remain eligible to hire visa-holding employees, which is usually not possible. The IT staffing companies have long made H-1B workers available to third-party employers for short- and long-term projects.

The USCIS "should not create a new policy that essentially denies the entire IT consulting and staffing industry access to H-1B workers," said Cornyn. "Without H-1B workers, many companies who are part of the multibillion-dollar IT industry will either move offshore or simply go out of business -- both of which will have a significant impact on the U.S. workforce."

The Neufeld memo was cited by the USCIS as one of the responses it made to a study that revealed a fraud rate of more than 13% in H-1B petitions, plus technical violations in more than 7% of the petitions. "Violations ranged from document fraud to deliberate misstatements regarding job locations, wages paid, and duties performed," Neufeld said in testimony in March on the H-1B visa before House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.

H1B Visa is a non-immigrant visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H).

It allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign professionals in specialty occupations for three years, extendable to six years, if U.S. citizens or residents are not available.

The current annual cap of H1B Visa is 65,000, but not all foreign professionals holding H1B Visa are subject to this annual cap. For more information about H1B Visa, visit http://www.myvisajobs.com/H1B_Visa.aspx.