Even as he files applications to recruit a dozen foreigners to work in Irvington for his product-globalization company Acclaro Inc., Michael Kritz is preparing to open offices in France, Germany and Argentina in the expectation that federal rules will prohibit him from bringing the talent here.
Acclaro hired and relocated five workers to Westchester County last year, and would have brought in a dozen more if U.S. companies had not maxed out the quota for H-1B visas in a record seven weeks.
The H-1B program allows companies to temporarily employ foreign workers who have at least the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor”™s degree and who specialize in a niche discipline such as engineering or health care. Visas are valid for up to six years, though the duration of most contracts with H-1B workers is less than half that term.
Congress limits to 65,000 the number of H-1B visas it grants annually, with universities and government laboratories omitted from the quota numbers. With American companies taking just two months last year to max out the visa quota, some in Congress want to increase the quota to 119,000.
The H-1B visa is the highest profile of several work-visa programs, which include L-1 visas that allow foreign managers of a corporation to enter a country, and TN-1 visas, which allow Canadian and Mexican citizens to work in the U.S.
Over the next three years, Westchester County will split a $5 million federal grant with Fairfield County, Conn., under the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development program. The counties intend to focus on immigration as one of several pillars for expanding the worker pipeline, along with improving the preparation of school graduates and luring skilled seniors back into the work force.
Critics say the program strips jobs from American workers. They also claim the law applies downward pressure on wages, though companies are required to disclose prevailing wages for jobs they fill and ensure foreign workers are compensated accordingly.
Many companies view the H-1B program as a vital pipeline to meet their labor needs, however.
“It”™s critical to us,” said Kritz, president of Acclaro. “Our business is all about helping U.S. companies export abroad. A big part of that service is adapting our products to different cultures, and (the) art of that is (employing) natives who know those cultures.”
With the deadline for 2008 H-1B visa applications just a week away, U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that more than 500 Westchester organizations hired 1,550 foreign workers last year under the program.
Local organizations spent nearly $100 million on H-1B payroll, with salaries ranging from a vice president of clinical services at Tarrytown”™s Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., who makes $300,000, to a $25,000 a-year assistant director at Camp Kennybrook Inc. in Ardsley.
As might be expected, the county”™s largest employer hired the most H-1B workers. IBM Corp. hired 115 people to work in its Armonk headquarters, as well as facilities in Hawthorne, Somers and Yorktown Heights.
On hold are another nine H-1B visa applications IBM filed in 2006 to hire foreign workers for local installations.
After IBM, Swiss Reinsurance America Corp. and New York Medical College were the next most active hirers of H-1B visa workers, brining in 27 each.
Purchase-based PepsiCo Inc. recruited 26 workers under the H-1B program. Other Westchester companies to hire at least 15 H-1B workers in 2006 included:
? Argus Information and Advisory Services L.L.C., White Plains;
? EMC Corp., an IBM rival with a White Plains office;
? Histogenetics, Ossining;
? Kawasaki Rail Cars Inc., Yonkers;
? MasterCard International Inc., Purchase;
? Philips Electronics North America Corp., Briarcliff Manor;
? Rehab Staffing Inc., White Plains;
? SS&C Technologies Inc., which has personnel in Armonk;
? Sublime Wireless Inc., White Plains;
? Verizon Communications Inc. for its White Plains office; and
? Westchester County Healthcare Corp., Valhalla.
Just seven local H-1B visa applications were rejected in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Labor; nearly 40 more are on hold.
