Forbes
October 3, 2012
In the heated immigration debate, a bright spot has emerged—the bipartisan consensus that high-skilled immigrants benefit the economy. Yet even as Congressional Democrats and Republicans introduced competing bills this month to increase high-skilled immigration, the Obama administration is preparing to implement regulations that will restrict the visa process. Worse, administration documents revealed last week that since 2008, officials failed to issue thousands of legally-required high-skilled visas.
Illinois immigration attorney David Rubman, suspicious that the annual 65,000 H-1B high-skilled visa quota was not being filled, filed a Freedom of Information Act request, which U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) complied with last week. The data shows that since fiscal year 2008, the agency has issued 15% fewer H-1B high-skilled worker visas than the law requires. This has deprived American businesses of thousands fewer high-skilled workers needed for the economic recovery.
