What Americans don’t know about H-1B visas could hurt us all

[Paul E Ester]

The H-1B visa program was created in 1990 to allow companies to bring skilled technical workers into the USA. It’s a non-immigrant visa and so has nothing at all to do with staying in the USA, becoming a citizen, or starting a business. Big tech employers are constantly lobbying for increases in H-1B quotas citing their inability to find qualified U.S. job applicants. Bill Gates and other leaders from the IT industry have testified about this before Congress. Both major political parties embrace the H-1B program with varying levels of enthusiasm. But Bill Gates is wrong. What he said to Congress may have been right for Microsoft but was wrong for America and can only lead to lower wages, lower employment, and a lower standard of living. This is a bigger deal than people understand: it’s the rebirth of industrial labor relations circa 1920. Our ignorance about the H-1B visa program is being used to unfairly limit wages and steal — yes, steal — jobs from U.S. citizens.

There are a number of common misunderstandings about the H-1B program, the first of which is its size. H-1B quotas are set by Congress and vary from 65,000 to 190,000 per year. While that would seem to limit the impact of the program on a nation of 300+ million, H-1B is way bigger than you think because each visa lasts for three years and can be extended for another three years after that.

At any moment, then, there are about 700,000 H-1B visa holders working in the USA.

Most of these H-1B visa holders work in Information Technology (IT) and most of those come from India. There are about 500,000 IT workers in the USA holding H-1B visas. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 2.5 million IT workers in America. So approximately 20 percent of the domestic IT workforce isn’t domestic at all, but imported on H-1B visas. Keep this in mind as we move forward.

H-1B is a non-immigrant visa. H-1B holders can work here for 3-6 years but then have to return to their native countries. It’s possible for H-1B’s to convert to a different kind of visa but not commonly done. The most common way, in fact, for converting an H-1B visa into a green card is through marriage to a U.S. citizen.

http://www.cringely.com/2012/10/23/what-americans-dont-know-about-h-1b-visas-could-hurt-us-all/

[Paul E Ester]

1. Fake Job Ads

Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers. See what Bush and Congress really mean by a "shortage of skilled U.S. workers." Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies are running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week.

[OhioChick]

2. Interestingly enough, DHS has no idea of how many H-1B's are even here

U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter Monday to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano that outlined their concerns with the H-1B program. They were responding to a Government Accountability Office report this month that recommends reforms to the visa program.

Among the changes the GAO is seeking is better accounting of H-1B use. The government doesn't know how many H-1B workers there are in the U.S. or how many stay after their visas expire, the watchdog agency said.

The the senators wrote, "We are deeply troubled that DHS has no idea how many H-1B visa holders are working in the United States at a time when millions of Americans are unemployed."

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9207458/Senate_s_H_1B_foes_begin_new_attack

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

3. Whoever wrote this article has very little knowledge of the H-1B and of U.S. immigration in general

H-1B visas are in a class known as non-immigrant visas, which means that they are temporary and have a finite duration and - supposedly - a specific intent (that of returning abroad once the allotted time ends). However, H-1B visas - like most other non-immigrant visas - allow for 'dual intent' - this means that, while you are supposed to return abroad when the visa expires, you can also at the same time go through the process to apply for permanent residence in the U.S. (a/k/a the green card).

Contrary to the article, most H-1B professionals do indeed go through the employment-based process to eventually apply for permanent residence. H-1B professionals most certainly can also change to a different visa classification as long as they have the qualifications for that visa. For instance, an H-1B professional who has patents, publishes articles, books, etc. can most certainly apply for an O-1 visa based on extraordinary ability.

The article wrongly asserts that the most common way to get a green card on an H-1B visa is to marry a U.S. citizen. This is incorrect and unfounded. Most H-1Bs instead go through the laborious and lengthy process of obtaining permanent residence based on their employment. Many H-1B professionals have spouses and dependents already.

According to USCIS, 50% of all H-1Bs are granted to nationals of India. 49% of all H-1Bs are granted to IT companies. The second largest bloc of H-1B employers is made up by U.S. colleges and universities (and affiliated research institutes or medical schools).

Again, honest employers that abide by the H-1B rules have to pay at least 100% of the prevailing wage, have to offer the same benefits and work conditions and have to abide by several compliance requirements including benching and layoffs.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. Says the person making their living taking jobs from Americans.

[pampango]

7. Nice messenger blast. Any comment of the specifics of the post? n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. Only that it's the same bullshit that's been disproved dozens of times in the past here

and thousands of times on the rest of the internet, yet is still pasted every time this issue comes up. In fact, it has been disproved everywhere except in Congress and the media.

Quick review: There are more than enough qualified Americans to fill the jobs, the H-1(b) visa holders are not paid as much as the people they replace (there are more than a few firms that do nothing but teach companies how to get around the ridiculously weak requirements), the major recipient companies of these visas specialize in hiring nobody but H-1(b) visa holders and abuse the shit out of them knowing that they dare not complain lest they find themselves headed back to the hell-hole they escaped from, etc., etc.

[treestar]

8. That's kind of unfair, isn't it?

Someone works as a paralegal in an immigration law office - why is their job of less value than those of IT workers? No H-1Bs, no jobs in law offices. Seems kind of ironic. Depends on whose ox is getting gored.

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. I didn't say this person's job was of less value, that's just your misinterpretation.

OTOH, this person has been shown numerous times in the past to consistently ignore all evidence presented to them that shows their assertions to be utterly false.

[jeff47]

6. Keep telling yourself that.

After all, every single one of us who've worked in environments with H-1B visa holders might be lying.

[woo me with science]

5. K&R

[Paul E Ester]

11. Bump...nt