Support Pro-Immigration Bills!
Posted Feb 18, 2000

Many of you have sent us emails within the last week or two enquiring as to how you can get more involved in the legislative process and show your support for pro-immigration bills. A recent example of such a bill is Senate Bill 2045, which was recently introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from the State of Utah, with other Republicans and enjoys bi-partisan support.

For those of you who cannot be present for AILA Lobby Day towards the end of March 2000, or if you do not have the time to personally meet with your elected representatives to express your strong support for pro-immigration bills, we recommend that you contact your employers and have them send their representatives a letter requesting their support. A sample format of the letter is attached below.

Most elected representatives believe that very few of their constituents, whether they be U.S. companies, employers, HR representatives, or individuals, understand or care about immigration law matters. Please take a few minutes to send a letter or at least an email, if you believe that certain legislation will tremendously enhance the company's ability to function effectively and contribute to the economy of the State and to the United States as a whole.

We are attaching below a sample letter provided to us by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) to be sent by employers, endorsing their support for this bill. The highlights of S. 2045 were mentioned in the Immigration Law Bulletin of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy dated February 11, 2000. The entire text of the Bill was also available and we have that information in the same article for those of you who have an interest to review the entire Bill (see www.murthy.com for a synopsis of the Bill or the URL for the entire Bill).

Sample Letter for Employers in the format suggested by AILA :

The Honorable (full name)
__ (Rm.#)__(INSERT NAME OF OFFICE BUILDING)
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator:

We urge you to support S. 2045, introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch, Spencer Abraham, Robert Graham, Phil Gramm, Dianne Feinstein, and others, which would help support our strong economy by increasing the limits on the H1-B temporary visa program. This program allows American employers, such as EMPLOYER NAME to temporarily sponsor a limited number of foreign professionals in positions for which they have a need.

Last year Congress increased the number of H1-Bs in the program, but that limit was reached early this year and we expect to reach the cap even earlier in 2000. As a result, we cannot use this government-regulated program to help keep EMPLOYER NAME economically strong and competitive.

(EXPLAIN HOW H-1Bs ARE IMPORTANT TO THE BUSINESS.)

We should emphasize that the H1-B program is highly regulated, prohibits employers from abusing the H-1B visa holders or undercutting U.S. workers, and generates jobs for Americans by allowing U.S. companies to continue to expand, supporting our booming economy.

In closing, we once again urge you to support S. 2045, a balanced and reasonable approach to this impending economic crisis. Please support U.S. business by helping us to continue to sponsor needed foreign professionals.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

CC: Senator's District Office