With the proliferation of the high-technology industry in the area, and a lack of skilled labor, employers are sometimes forced to seek help from other shores, now more than ever. Tom Brown represents foreign medical doctors in acquiring working visas for the Providence law firm Rodio and Brown. He said business is increasing drastically.
“Over the past three years business has doubled,” he said.
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Brown handles between 250 and 500 cases a year, approximately 25 percent of which are for high technology companies. He said high technology is the catalyst for the increase in immigration-related cases, but that Massachusetts is seeing a lot more cases than Rhode Island.
“Rhode Island is certainly not a hotbed for high tech,” he said, “but the trend is cycling up, not down.”
Roberto Gonzalez, a partner with the East Providence-based law firm Audette, Bazar & Gonzalez, said that because Rhode Island does not have as many high technology companies, the ones that are here often need to find foreign help because there aren’t enough high tech workers in the area.
“We don’t have that large a high-tech industry in this area, but there are a number of companies that rely on importing skilled workers,” he said. “Most of them are bringing in computer programmers from India and China.”
According to Gonzalez, the most important facet of importing a worker is proving there are no United States citizens as qualified as the foreign-born worker.
“It’s usually not difficult in the high tech area,” he said, “because there really is a lack of skilled workers.”
The visa most typically used by an employee in the high technology industry is the H-1B, which is for professionals such as doctors, engineers, professors, accountants, lawyers, physical therapists and computer professionals. These are ‘specialty occupations’ which require the equivalent of at least a bachelor’s degree in the field.
The number of H-1Bs given out is limited by annual levels of immigrants, said Gonzalez.
“But there’s presently some congressional activity to increase the number,” he said.
A report from the American Immigration Lawyers Association stated the current H-1B cap is 115,000 visas this fiscal year, which will decrease to 107,500 next year and will go down to 65,000 the following year.
The AILA contends that the H-1B cap is a cap on America’s economic growth, and that the U.S. Commerce Department said up to 190,000 high-tech jobs are going unfilled.
However, not all parties are arguing for Congress to increase the number of visas distributed.
Rick Kovar, executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council said there is another solution to importing workers.
“The H-1 visas could be an adequate stop-gap measure to alleviate the lack of skilled IT workers,” he said, “but in the future it’s in the best interest of the country to focus on the young people and get them interested in high tech.”
“It’s just more of a stop-gap than a solution,” he said, “in my mind it’s more important to create programs in your own state.”
Obtaining a visa for an employee is not easy either.
According to Gonzalez, the process could last anywhere from two to five months, if all of the conditions are ideal. This includes thorough background checks on the person and proof that he or she has non-immigrant intent, and plans to go home after the period of authorized stay has ended.
Brown said companies often don’t understand the nature of the process.
“The biggest thing I tell people is that you really need to plan as far in advance as possible,” he said, “I’m always amazed by how little thought is given to that. There’s nothing a lawyer can do when a company needs a visa in three days.”
