Tech Industry Executives Grumble Over Small Number Of H-1B Visas

[AvesPKS]

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times (2/16, Iritani) reports that with the H-1B visa program having been "scaled back last year because of the sluggish U.S. technology job market and a political backlash in Washington over the importing of foreign labor," companies are now "scrambling to get foreign hires approved before this year's allocation of H-1B visas is exhausted." Tech industry executives say that "pulling up the welcome mat to foreign talent when corporate America is gearing up for a turnaround poses a threat to America's global competitiveness. ... They predicted that a shortage of H-1B visas would force them to pass over promising foreign-born scientists, leave crucial jobs unfilled or delay projects that require special talents that can't be found in this country." The H-1B cap for this year is 65,000, down from 195,000 in 2003. But "finding a sympathetic ear on Capitol Hill isn't easy these days. Signs of improvement in the overall economy are overshadowed by worries about the lack of job growth. The threat posed by the outsourcing of increasingly higher-skilled jobs to India and China has become a presidential campaign issue, with Democrats accusing the Bush administration of doing too little to protect American workers."

 

[Ferocious]

Tech Execs will need to wait until Bush is re-elected first.

And so will Medical/Hospital Execs too. Plenty of medical people (X-ray techs, etc.) just itching to come to the USA.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: AvesPKS
Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times (2/16, Iritani) reports that with the H-1B visa program having been "scaled back last year because of the sluggish U.S. technology job market and a political backlash in Washington over the importing of foreign labor," companies are now "scrambling to get foreign hires approved before this year's allocation of H-1B visas is exhausted." Tech industry executives say that "pulling up the welcome mat to foreign talent when corporate America is gearing up for a turnaround poses a threat to America's global competitiveness. ... They predicted that a shortage of H-1B visas would force them to pass over promising foreign-born scientists, leave crucial jobs unfilled or delay projects that require special talents that can't be found in this country." The H-1B cap for this year is 65,000, down from 195,000 in 2003. But "finding a sympathetic ear on Capitol Hill isn't easy these days. Signs of improvement in the overall economy are overshadowed by worries about the lack of job growth. The threat posed by the outsourcing of increasingly higher-skilled jobs to India and China has become a presidential campaign issue, with Democrats accusing the Bush administration of doing too little to protect American workers."

As in Missouri "Show Me" all the Companies scrambling.

 

[alphatarget1]

yeah because american students are doing business majors and some law school crap that we dont have enough engineers and scientists here :/ like we need more lawyers and business people.

 

[BugsBunny1078]

Those visas are only for jobs which they are unable to find any american to do it. If there is one qualified american willing to do the job then no visa should be issued. I find it unlikely that they need to import workers today to do tech jobs.

 

[AvesPKS]

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
Those visas are only for jobs which they are unable to find any american to do it. If there is one qualified american willing to do the job then no visa should be issued. I find it unlikely that they need to import workers today to do tech jobs.

Uh, I beg to differ. I have foreign friends who have had job profiles specifically written just for them in order to get around this, so the company could say there was no one else qualified for the job.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
Those visas are only for jobs which they are unable to find any american to do it. If there is one qualified american willing to do the job then no visa should be issued. I find it unlikely that they need to import workers today to do tech jobs.

specs for the jobs are written to exclude American workers.
Many times, interns/coops will have the job requirements tailored to their background.

How often will you have some-one with 5 years experience in .NET.

So when no US worker steps forward, they will have to look for H1B qualifications. At that point the 5 year requirement goes out the Window.

It is cheaper for them to pay below market wages for some-one who can be trained (if needed) and add the cost of H1B processing.
It also locks in the worker, because they can not go to another company unless that company wants to sponsor them.

 

[rudder]

Why wouldn't technolpgy companies be pissed? This is a cash cow for companes like Ciber. They can get some Indian programmer over here to work for chump change while the company dangles a greencard in thier face for a few years. There are some Indian workers here at my office. I feel sorry for them. They have to put up with some serious crap and low wages because if they ask for a raise the company can drop them and they lose sponsorship. When I was a contractor I was making about 90% of the money that the contracting company would bill the state government for. Some of these Indian workers are only getting 40-50%.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: rudder
Why wouldn't technolpgy companies be pissed? This is a cash cow for companes like Ciber. They can get some Indian programmer over here to work for chump change while the company dangles a greencard in thier face for a few years. There are some Indian workers here at my office. I feel sorry for them. They have to put up with some serious crap and low wages because if they ask for a raise the company can drop them and they lose sponsorship. When I was a contractor I was making about 90% of the money that the contracting company would bill the state government for. Some of these Indian workers are only getting 40-50%.

H1B does not directly lead to a green card AFAIK (unless in special circumstances)

 

[AvesPKS]

Originally posted by: rudder
Why wouldn't technolpgy companies be pissed? This is a cash cow for companes like Ciber. They can get some Indian programmer over here to work for chump change while the company dangles a greencard in thier face for a few years. There are some Indian workers here at my office. I feel sorry for them. They have to put up with some serious crap and low wages because if they ask for a raise the company can drop them and they lose sponsorship. When I was a contractor I was making about 90% of the money that the contracting company would bill the state government for. Some of these Indian workers are only getting 40-50%.

I now know how I will make my fortune government contracting...

 

[Ldir]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
Those visas are only for jobs which they are unable to find any american to do it. If there is one qualified american willing to do the job then no visa should be issued. I find it unlikely that they need to import workers today to do tech jobs.

specs for the jobs are written to exclude American workers.
Many times, interns/coops will have the job requirements tailored to their background.

How often will you have some-one with 5 years experience in .NET.

So when no US worker steps forward, they will have to look for H1B qualifications. At that point the 5 year requirement goes out the Window.

It is cheaper for them to pay below market wages for some-one who can be trained (if needed) and add the cost of H1B processing.
It also locks in the worker, because they can not go to another company unless that company wants to sponsor them.

That is exactly right.

 

[DashRiprock]

Originally posted by: Ldir

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
Those visas are only for jobs which they are unable to find any american to do it. If there is one qualified american willing to do the job then no visa should be issued. I find it unlikely that they need to import workers today to do tech jobs.

specs for the jobs are written to exclude American workers.
Many times, interns/coops will have the job requirements tailored to their background.

How often will you have some-one with 5 years experience in .NET.

So when no US worker steps forward, they will have to look for H1B qualifications. At that point the 5 year requirement goes out the Window.

It is cheaper for them to pay below market wages for some-one who can be trained (if needed) and add the cost of H1B processing.
It also locks in the worker, because they can not go to another company unless that company wants to sponsor them.

That is exactly right.

Bingo! .NET consulting firms are bringing them over in droves. The last 2 contracting companies I worked for had tons of (east) Indians, Pakistanis and South Koreans. That's the contracting companies objective so they can get more contracts at lower rates and keep more of the rate for themselves. I don't mind them coming over to improve there lives and their families, but there's not really the need to warrant the number of them coming over and driving the rates down.

 

[BugsBunny1078]

Originally posted by: AvesPKS

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
Those visas are only for jobs which they are unable to find any american to do it. If there is one qualified american willing to do the job then no visa should be issued. I find it unlikely that they need to import workers today to do tech jobs.

Uh, I beg to differ. I have foreign friends who have had job profiles specifically written just for them in order to get around this, so the company could say there was no one else qualified for the job.

So if youre differing then why are you agreeing? Youre pointing out that the system is scammed to bring in unneeded foreign workers. The point of the visa is to allow foreigners to come in only when no American can be found to fill the job. They shouldn't be tailoring the job description to a particuolar individual to get around the law. sonsabitches.

 

[AvesPKS]

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078

Originally posted by: AvesPKS

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078
Those visas are only for jobs which they are unable to find any american to do it. If there is one qualified american willing to do the job then no visa should be issued. I find it unlikely that they need to import workers today to do tech jobs.

Uh, I beg to differ. I have foreign friends who have had job profiles specifically written just for them in order to get around this, so the company could say there was no one else qualified for the job.

So if youre differing then why are you agreeing? Youre pointing out that the system is scammed to bring in unneeded foreign workers. The point of the visa is to allow foreigners to come in only when no American can be found to fill the job. They shouldn't be tailoring the job description to a particuolar individual to get around the law. sonsabitches.

I do agree that it should only be used when no American worker can be found to fill the position. I thought you were saying that that it only what it is used for, which I know not to be true. We're saying the same thing.

 

[AvesPKS]

AP

The AP (2/23, Gamboa) reports, "The federal government won't accept any more applications for a popular visa program that provides skilled foreign labor to U.S. companies, the office of Citizenship and Immigration Services said recently. Less than five months into the fiscal year, there already are enough applications to fill all 65,000 slots for H1-B visas, said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. No new applications will be accepted until April and no additional visas will be issued until Oct. 1, when the next fiscal year begins."

Information Week

Lack Of H-1Bs Spurs Debate Over US Economy's Reliance On Foreign-Born Tech Workers. Information Week (2/23, McGee, Chabrow) reports, "A handful of foreign-born tech workers employed by Sutter Health, a Northern California hospital network, are worried not only about keeping their jobs but about remaining in the United States. Their H-1B work visas will expire soon, and the government won't issue new ones until October. Sutter has about 25 H-1B visa holders, people whom CIO John Hummel describes as specialists with hard-to-find skills related to medical IT systems. ... The United States last week stopped accepting H-1B applications, saying that, five months into the fiscal year, it has enough to fill the 65,000 annual limit on the visas, which let foreign workers hold jobs here. Hummel says he's had some jobs open for two years looking for qualified people, and, if he can't hire someone to do a job, he has to pay consultants three or four times the salary rate. So Sutter has retained immigration lawyers to fight 'great battles to keep these valuable people.' There are sure to be a lot of skirmishes this election year about H-1B visas. The program always has been personal and emotional, and now it has become a lightning rod as the IT industry watches jobs go by the thousands to lower-cost foreign workers here and abroad. Designed for workers with specialized skills that are in short supply in the United States, H-1Bs also have been seen as a means of importing cheap labor. But the visas are only part of the debate. In the midst of what some call a jobless recovery, with the tech economy still on uncertain footing, the United States faces the larger question of whether it's protecting its workforce adequately-or cutting off its lifeblood of innovation."

Washington Post

The Washington Post (2/22) editorialized, "Five months into fiscal 2004, the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it is no longer accepting applications for H-1B 'business' visas, which are issued to educated foreign professionals. ... The holders of H-1B visas are the forgotten face of the foreign work force. By definition, they make nonsense of the prejudice that all foreign workers are low-wage service workers who speak little English. Employers who hire H-1B workers -- in the computer industry as well as pharmaceuticals, engineering and medicine -- are required by law to pay them as much or higher than their associates. A large percentage of those so hired are in fact graduates of American universities. This is not surprising, inasmuch as about half of American post-graduate degrees in mathematics, engineering and computer science are awarded to foreign students. If this country were unable to retain such homegrown talent, that failure would eventually translate into economic loss. Already researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have predicted precisely that. ... The numbers are small, the requirements are rigorous. The fact that even immigration advocates are wary about calling for a higher cap, and that few seem to think it possible for Congress to raise the cap in an election year, proves that the immigration debate has grown even more confused and illogical."

 

[CanOWorms]

Restricting the numbers so much hurts the US

 

[Zephyr106]

Alot of this sounds like indentured servitude all over again.

Zephyr

 

[ajf3]

Their H-1B work visas will expire soon, and the government won't issue new ones until October. Sutter has about 25 H-1B visa holders, people whom CIO John Hummel describes as specialists with hard-to-find skills related to medical IT systems. ... The United States last week stopped accepting H-1B applications, saying that, five months into the fiscal year, it has enough to fill the 65,000 annual limit on the visas,

Maybe the company should make these 'specialists' train their domestic replacement before kicking their a&& back over the border? Seems to work the other way, doesn't it?

 

[Ferocious]

If Bush gets another term....Visas will be issued 24/7.

Including many for the medical field including X-ray technicians from India...among many others.