Throughout much of the 20th century, the industrial barons of Pittsburgh relied on immigrants and the sons of immigrants from all over Europe to work its steel mills, coalmines and railroads. Today, as the city builds its reputation as a 21st-century high-tech center, its companies still rely on the skills of immigrants.

That irony isn't lost on Lew Wheeler, CEO of Rapidigm Inc., a Pittsburgh-based IT consulting firm.

"I grew up in a row house in a steel town surrounded by union guys," Wheeler says. But instead of building steel superstructures, Wheeler's firm helps clients with software infrastructures, from supply-chain management to e-business platforms. And instead of hiring millworkers from Eastern Europe, Rapidigm is searching for software engineers — and finding them in Asia.

"There's a tremendous shortage of software engineers in this country," says Wheeler. He and other sources say U.S. universities simply don't graduate enough software developers to meet industry demand. So of the approximately 1,000 engineering consultants Rapidigm will hire this year, Wheeler expects that 700 of them will be foreign-born and entering the U.S. under the H-1B specialty-occupation visa program.

Wheeler says that Rapidigm just can't find enough American software engineers and that the alternatives to using H-1Bs to fill his firm's jobs trouble him. "If we close our borders to foreign-born workers, the software development will just go to other countries," Wheeler says. "We'd rather import people to write the software than export those jobs."

Individuals don't apply for H-1B visas; employers do. As part of the H-1B petition process, employers must demonstrate to the INS that the job they're trying to fill is so specialized that it requires at least a bachelor's degree and that the H-1B petitioner's degree is directly relevant to the job being offered. These requirements tend to funnel H-1B holders to highly specialized positions.

Filling such shortages was the rationale cited last year among high-tech firms that lobbied for raising the annual H-1B visa cap. Last October, Congress increased the cap from 115,000 to 195,000 for the federal fiscal years 2001 through 2003, with the cap dropping to 65,000 in 2004.

Source: Comuterworld (3/10/2001)

I was born in Singapore and grew up in Australia, and I took the oath of naturalization for citizenship. This makes me as American as apple pie.

What is it like to be naturalized? First, I had to study important constitutional principles and then pass the English proficiency examination. At the end, I emerged as an American, chewing gum and saying "swell" with a funny accent. More important, I became a citizen of a proud land that has no princes and potentates.

It was a happy occasion on that May morning in 1988 at the federal courthouse in Pittsburgh (U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill Jr. presiding). The three naturally born Henrys–wife and two small children–clutched their little American flags while alien Dad tried to act natural.

The odd thing about being a stranger in a strange land is that you often find yourself being more optimistic and enthusiastic about the place than the people who were born here. We immigrants start with a clean slate, and accordingly we think America is the greatest. We are so many Pollyannas of fresh patriotic enthusiasm. Moreover, we bring new talents to weave into the rich, diverse tapestry of the American cultural experience.

In the sprawling Carriage Park Apartments complex in Scott Township, Kishor Pokharna finds a rich tapestry of India, his homeland. In the past five years, hundreds of Indians have settled among Carriage Park's 953 units after arriving here to work for South Hills technology firms and other companies, many of them operated by Indians themselves. “While India itself is separated into states where people have different languages, customs and foods, they all blend together around the tennis courts and clubhouse at Carriage Park,” Pokharna says.

Most Indians living in the Carriage Park complex feel welcome,” said Pokharna, a self-employed diamond wholesaler who is a naturalized U.S. citizen with a wife and two children.

As more and more immigrants came to the region for jobs, they were attracted to the Scott apartments because they were secure, convenient to workplaces and Downtown, and close to public transportation. The smell of Indian spices now wafts through the hallways at dinnertime, and the complex has its own cricket team to play against other groups of Indians.

"It was like–boom–there's lots of Indians here," Pokharna recalled realizing a few years ago. "You get to see the whole of India here now, and that's the beauty of it, plus all the Americans and Indians living in one place together here in harmony."

Pittsburgh is home to many African immigrants. Roberta Patricia Rashid of Highland Park is a native of Liberia, a country on the west coast of Africa that was established by United States philanthropic societies as a homeland for former slaves.

"My great-great-great grandfather was the son of a free slave who immigrated to Liberia," says Rashid. "All of my family lived there. Then my grandmother fell in love with an American soldier stationed at a military base. They married, and he returned to the States. A daughter [Rashid's mother] was born and was left in Liberia to be raised by relatives after the bride left for America. The young couple settled in Boston before eventually moving to Pittsburgh.

"When I was ready to finish high school in Liberia, my grandmother, whom I'd never met, invited me to come to Pittsburgh to live for a year. That day in 1975, when I came to this country, was the first day I saw her. But since she looked just like all the rest of my relatives, I felt right at home and we got along great. I finished my senior year at Peabody High School."

Rashid stayed in Pittsburgh to go on to college and various jobs, and now works in the human resources department at IBM Pittsburgh Laboratory. Along the way, she met her husband, Ouse Rashid, a native of Gambia in West Africa. He works for US Airways.

Rashid was recently elected president of the Liberian Association of Greater Pittsburgh. "We have about 40 active members who meet once a month," she says. "Our goal is to give relief to Liberia. And locally, we help families by cooking for weddings and funerals, that sort of thing. It's hard being far away from home. We try to be family to each other."

Sources: Adapted from a series of articles in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

• An immigrant speaks - with Aussie accent—3/10/2001
• Pittsburgh region struggles to refill melting pot—5/14/2001
• Liberian native conjures flavors of home—2/22/2001