An H-1B visa reform bill that has bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate is nonetheless in danger of falling by the wayside during this session of Congress. That prospect is cause for concern among stateside high-tech firms-including visual effects and computer animation studios-that are dependent on recruiting foreign talent to help offset what they contend is a shortage of qualified American workers.
Underscoring the significance of the situation is that the current annual allotment of 115,000 H-1B visas ran out this past March (SHOOT, 3/31/00), after just six months. That visa allocation was supposed to last a full year, from Oct. 1, 1999 through September 2000. This marked the second consecutive year since the visa quota was raised (SHOOT, 10/23/98) that the cap has been met ahead of schedule. In ’99, the limit of 115,000 was reached in mid-June, nine months into that fiscal year.
The high-tech visa bill, H.R. 3983, currently under consideration by Congress would raise the annual H-1B allotment to 200,000 for each of the next three years. Known as the Helping Improve Technology Education and Competitiveness (HITEC) Act, HR. 3983 also calls for the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to offer grants to eligible business entities, including government and education representatives. These grants would be put towards assisting public schools in improving mathematics, science and technology education. The money would fund teacher training, technology support and resources, and the hiring of specialized teaching personnel.
Rationale for the bill is that temporarily raising the cap provides a short-term fix so that high-tech companies in the U.S. can maintain a full complement of skilled staffers until more homegrown talent is developed. Numerous effects/CGI houses have sought foreign talent to fill positions for which, they claim, skilled American workers couldn’t be found.
Both advocates and opponents of H.R. 3983 seemingly agree that, over the long haul, the real solution is to commit more resources to the U.S. educational system so that it can turn out a workforce with the necessary technical and artistic skills called for in the new millennium job market.
Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) is one of the bill’s original sponsors. In helping to formulate the language for H.R. 3983, he tried to balance short- and long-term considerations. Dreier appears to have succeeded in that on its own merits, the bill has gained support from many Democrat and Republican legislators.
But even backing on both sides of the aisle doesn’t ensure passage. There’s an initiative in the House of Representatives to link the bill with other immigration-related proposals. For example, the White House and a group of legislators are reportedly lobbying that the measure include provisions that would grant amnesty to certain long-term illegal immigrants and allow them to seek permanent resident status. This has injected an element of controversy into the equation, jeopardizing the fate of, or at the very least, stalling the HITEC Act, which at one time seemed assured of gaining House and Senate approval, and of then being signed into law by President Clinton.
If the legislation falters, the maximum annual number of H-1Bs will decrease from the current 115,000 to 107,500 in fiscal year Oct. ’00-Sept. ’01. As chronicled in SHOOT over the years, assorted visual effects/ CGI houses have lamented the limited number of visas available as well as the waiting time involved in obtaining H-1Bs. That concern was most recently voiced during last month’s 27th International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH), in New Orleans. For example, Harrison, N.Y.-based effects/CGI shop Blue Sky Studios, which is active in longform and commercials, expressed frustration over the visa process. Blue Sky is currently expanding its staff to accommodate several projects, including the theatrical feature Ice Age, being directed by Chris Wedge. As earlier reported (SHOOT, 8/4/00), Blue Sky’s VP/CFO Brian Keane related that the studio intends to lobby for visa reform, probably through parent company 20th Century Fox.
