Heralded as a progressive national measure helping high-tech firms-including visual effects and computer animation studios-to deal with a shortage of qualified American workers, the special visa allocation program signed into law last year (SHOOT, 10/23/98, p. 1) has hit a snag in California.
Complaints have surfaced that the California Service Center of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is taking far longer than its counterpart service centers in Nebraska, Texas and Vermont to process H-1B visa approvals for foreign talent. H1-B visas allow firms to hire immigrants for up to six years, provided they are filling jobs due to a lack of comparably skilled U.S. artisans.
According to the INS, California is anywhere from two to six weeks behind the other service centers in processing time. An INS statement read that the government agency is developing procedures "to equalize and maintain processing times … [in order] to ensure a fair process for all H-1B applicants."
But meanwhile, California companies are concerned over losing out on a limited opportunity. The H-1B reform lifted the maximum allocation this year to 115,000 visas. At last count, by the end of February, close to 81,000 H-1B visas had been approved. And the clock is ticking. Some high-tech businesses in Silicon Valley contended that application processing is even slower than the INS is willing to admit, with California lagging as much as two-and-a-half to three months behind the other INS service centers. The fear is that by the time the INS levels the playing field, there will be considerably fewer, if any, available visas for calendar year ’99.
"We’re definitely seeing a dramatic slowdown in processing at the INS [in California]," said John Hughes, president/ CEO of visual effects/CG house Rhythm & Hues Studios, Los Angeles. On the condition of anonymity, execs from a couple of other Southern California-based visual effects shops corroborated Hughes’ assessment. And in one case, a company noted that it has been negatively impacted by the delayed timeline; at press time, that studio was still waiting for approval of a visa for a key artisan who’s needed immediately for a particular project.
As earlier reported, the annual allotment of H-1B visas was upped from 65,000 to 115,000 for each of the next two years (’99 and 2000). The cap then declines slightly to 107,500 in the year 2001, before returning to the original 65,000 limit in 2002. The law was designed as an interim remedy whereby more talent from overseas could help offset a shortage of qualified stateside labor. Both supporters and opponents of the measure generally agree that the long-term solution is to improve arts education and high-tech training so that the U.S. will have a deeper, home-grown talent pool to meet the needs of the digital workplace in the new millennium.
