Brief: Open Up H-1B Apps So U.S. Workers Can Apply, Advocate SaysBrief: Open Up H-1B Apps So U.S. Workers Can Apply, Advocate Says

U.S. IT worker advocacy group the Programmers Guild has asked the Labor Department to provide public access to employers' H-1B application data for fiscal 2007 sooner rather than later.

In a letter sent to a Labor official last week, guild president Kim Berry says he wants U.S. tech workers to have the chance to more fairly compete for jobs that might otherwise go to foreigners. Public access to data from the Labor Conditions Applications that employers electronically file to the Labor Department when requesting permission to hire H-1B workers would ensure this chance. These applications include employers' names, job positions, and pay. H-1B workers hired for fiscal 2007 can begin work on Oct. 1.

"If we see that HP is hiring 40 software engineers at a reasonable salary, then U.S. workers in that area can follow up regarding those openings," Berry says.

A Labor spokesman says LCA data for fiscal 2007 isn't ready and won't be for months. In fact, the data for fiscal 2006, which ends Sept. 30, won't even be ready for months. There's typically a lag time of at least three months before that data is publicly available, he says. That's partly because the Labor Department needs to scrub the data to ensure privacy.