Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | December 9, 2019 | wbjournal.com e visa program used by Central Mass. businesses to hire specialized workers is facing more impediments and denials Keeping the best foreign talent W hen Central Massachusetts companies look to fill soware, programming or research jobs, they're increasingly looking to foreign labor under an immigrant work program called H-1B. e number of such foreign workers in the area ballooned by 37% in the past five years on record, and nearly sixfold in the past decade, according to federal data. at influx of workers has helped companies like the Natick soware firm MathWorks, the Southborough information technology services company Virtusa and Worcester's Avco Consulting, which works with IT and pharmaceutical firms. Such visa workers, however, aren't getting approval from the federal gov- ernment like they used to, potentially imperiling the growth of companies saying they aren't able to find enough qualified American-born workers for these jobs. And even when H-1B appli- cations are approved, the government is taking longer to review cases and asking for more documentation than in the past, according to those who work with businesses on the forms. "is is really hurting businesses, and especially in Massachusetts," said Eva Millona, the executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, a Boston advocacy group known as MIRA. Millona and others who closely follow H-1B visas say the program has been purposefully hampered by the President Donald Trump Administration, which wants to ensure Americans have the first crack at jobs over immigrants. Critics of the program like the Washington D.C. conservative think tank Economic Policy Institute argue major H-1B employers use the program for cheaper labor for outsourcing work. But those in the industry say compa- nies turn to such workers because they can't find enough qualified Ameri- can-born workers, like those with train- ing in STEM subjects. "What's the driver here?" said Scott FitzGerald, a partner at the Boston offic- es of the immigration law firm Frago- men, arguing the Trump Administration is simply looking to limit immigrants in the workforce. "It's pretty clear the drive here is [pandering to Trump's political] base." Without enough native-born workers, businesses go through what's described as an arduous process of applying to the government for approval, with applica- tions sometimes as thick as four inches, packed with identifying forms and spon- sorship letters, said Kirk Carter, the chair of the immigration practice group at the Worcester law firm Fletcher Tilton. When Carter's career started 25 years ago, a three-person team at Fletcher Tilton would handle such immigration employment cases. Now, it's five lawyers and eight or nine support staff. at's a measure of both how much demand has increased from employ- ers and, more recently, how much the government is demanding for documen- tation. Back then, Carter said, maybe 1% of applications were met with demands for further information, known as RFEs. Today, it's more like 70%, he said. "We used to call it tax season," Carter said, comparing his team's rush before the annual April 1 deadline for H-1B applications to the annual tax filing deadline two weeks later. "Now," he added, "we call it RFE season." A major economic impact With the state's high-tech industry, H-1B workers fill a disproportionate number of jobs in Massachusetts, land- ing the state seventh nationally. On a per-capita basis, the Massachu- setts lands third behind New Jersey and California in H-1B visas, and its total more than doubles the five other New England states combined, illustrating the state's standing in the tech industry. A decade ago, 99.5% of H-1B applica- tions in Massachusetts were approved, making the process nearly a sure thing. at rate, still much higher than nation- al rates, fell to 97.2% in 2013 and 99.2% in 2018. A decade ago, Central Massachusetts companies relied on these visas far less I M M I G R A N T S FOCUS H-1B visa applications have been denied at far greater rates under the Trump Administration: H-1B visa denial rate Source: National Foundation for American Policy analysis of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data. Fiscal 2019 data is through the first two quarters of the year. 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 '19 33% 8% Denial Rate The 10 Central Mass. employers with the most H-1B workers Top Central Mass employers Virtusa Corp., Southborough 914 MathWorks, Natick 461 Avco Consulting, Worcester 376 Collaborate Solutions, Shrewsbury 370 Ventois Inc., Shrewsbury 193 eClinicalWorks, Westborough 154 Staples, Framingham 148 Yantriks, Westborough 101 Intel, Hudson 100 Boston Scientific, Marlborough 93 Source: U.S. Department of Labor (fiscal 2018) Company H-1B workers BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor

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