Immigration policy and the use of foreign labor in the United States

1. Dynamics of labor immigration.

Labor migrants form an important component of overall immigration to the Americas and provide a significant portion of the labor force in the U.S. national economy. There are two main patterns that provide for the influx of migrant workers into the United States:

  • By obtaining labor immigrant status, that is, someone who enters the country at the invitation of a U.S. employing company for permanent employment (140,000 labor immigration permits are issued annually by the U.S. government under Section 201 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act);
  • For non-immigrant status as a temporary worker, whose duration of stay in the United States is limited and is preliminarily stipulated by the American authorities (there are no quantitative restrictions for foreign nationals entering for temporary work).

2. System of priorities with respect to foreign workforce.

The U.S. government policy towards labor migrants was developed gradually. However its most important principles were determined as early as 1952, when the U.S. Congress adopted the Walter-McCarran Act, which established the rules of labor immigration to the United States. These principles included:

  • Ensuring the admission of foreign workers on a scale that provides greater balance in the domestic labor market and prevents harm to the employment and earnings of U.S. citizens and other permanent residents;
  • discouraging, through visa quotas, entry into America by highly skilled professionals, aliens of exceptional ability, and unusual professionals;
  • discouraging uncontrolled inflows of foreign labor. Labor migration to the U.S. is carried out under strict government control. It is allowed within the limits necessary to maintain the required balance in the national labor market.

U.S. immigration law clearly defines the groups of foreign nationals whose labor is of greatest interest to American society. According to the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952, as amended in 1997. (Section 203), these include:

(a) Priority professionals (aliens of outstanding ability in science, the arts, education, sports, distinguished professors, scientists and professionals, managers and executives working for international companies (28.6% of the total labor immigration quota);

(b) Foreigners with academic degrees or exceptional talent (28.6 per cent of the total labour immigration quota)

(c) skilled workers, professionals, and other categories of migrant workers for types of work for which the United States does not have the appropriate workers (28.6 percent of the total labor immigration visa population).

U.S. immigration law provides that “nonimmigrant” workers entering the United States for temporary employment qualify in the following major groups:

  • workers of outstanding ability and exceptional merit (primarily in the sciences, arts, and religion);
  • persons entering for temporary work under contracts with U.S. businessmen; they are divided into two subgroups – temporary agricultural workers and workers in other occupations;
  • trainees coming at the invitation of U.S. companies;
  • Persons working in representative offices and branches of American companies, employees of foreign firms that have opened a representative office or a branch in the USA. Under current immigration law, the following categories of visas are available for temporary workers.
  • There is another category of foreign nationals who are temporarily admitted to the United States and are eligible to work. These aliens are international students studying in the United States or coming to the United States as part of an academic exchange program. Students, however, are not expected to be primarily employed in the U.S. and may only be able to supplement their income through a small amount of work.

The structure of the unskilled labor force admitted to the national labor market is peculiar. According to the established practice, out of every five temporary workers admitted under the H-2 visa four are seasonal agricultural workers used primarily to harvest perishable fruits and vegetables. Consequently, industrial and construction workers are virtually absent from this group of temporary workers.

The immigration program developed in the United States includes a number of priorities for attracting and utilizing certain categories of temporary workers. Immigration policy consists of encouraging highly skilled