U.S. economy is in a recession, or that that recession has affected financial markets worldwide. This in turn has seriously affected the number of people seeking foreign degree evaluations. More and more people are trying to ensure their job security or explore new employment options after cutbacks and mergers have left many without positions.
People with foreign education credentials, including foreign degrees from college or high school, are usually required to prove the U.S. equivalency of their degrees to potential employers in the United States. This is also true for people seeking work or employment-based (EB visas), as well as for those persons who want to go back to college to earn an advanced degree.
Additionally, the rate at which H1-B visa numbers are filled this year may be affected by the current economic state. Many companies are extremely dependent on the use of temporary foreign workers to meet their labor needs. Because H1-B visas are issued on a first-come, first-serve basis to qualified applicants with sponsors, it is possible that those companies most depended on this source of labor may decide to start filing as soon as possible.
There has been discussion of increasing the cap on the number of H1-B visas issued. Moreover, persons such as Janet Napolitano, whom President Obama has nominated for a cabinet post, are in favor of increasing the number of H1-B visas offered each year. Due to the recession, however, proposals such as these may face a lot of resistance as Americans increasingly protest the presence of foreign workers when U.S. jobs are in short supply and high demand.
These protestors, though, need to remember that employment-based visas such as the EB visas and H1-B visas are offered to foreign workers who fill American jobs that cannot be filled by U.S. workers. These people either have specialized education or experience that U.S. employers require and cannot find in this country. American workers are not in fact being denied jobs because of these non-immigration visas; they lack the qualifications to fill these jobs.
It’s impossible to predict what will happen as President Obama takes office and begins to enact his planned policies. The effect of these policies on EB and H1-B visas remains to be seen. Hopefully, he will introduce policies that increase the availability of U.S. jobs, while maximizing the availability of temporary employment to American companies. The citizens of this country are waiting anxiously to see what will happen.]]>