So the new immigration bill would increase visas for high tech jobs. How will this help us again?

[jeff47]

86. I'm well aware that there are penalties that are supposed to prevent fraud

They have utterly failed to do so.

I really don't care how seriously you take perjury or fraud. It's being done. Because it has been done in 100% of the H1B situations I have experienced.

Every.

Single.

One.

And there have been dozens that I've seen.

They're not going to tell someone like you about the fraud, because you're required to report it. So they lie.

And citizens who are also employees and know what's going on aren't going to sue or file a complaint. It would be the end of their career.

If an H-1B systems administrator is paid $30K, then - unless the employer is committing fraud - that wage will be at least equal to the prevailing wage.

They get around this by under-titling the H1B employee. They hire him as a "System Administrator II" complete with the description of a "System Administrator II" sent to the DOL. Then after he is hired, they assign more advanced tasks to the employee. If they had been truthful in the job description, they'd have sent "System Administrator IV" as the title and description.

Again, there is no advertising in connection with the H-1B if the employer is not H-1B dependent or a willful violator.

There is advertising when the company is offering their H1B recruiting services to employers. Which is what I was talking about.

There is no advertisement requirement for H-1Bs, unlike the PERM.

I have yet to say anything about an advertisement requirement for H1Bs.

Again, I'm talking about long before they hire an H1B employee. The company is at the stage when they "fail" to find a citizen for the position.

As for job duties, I think that I fall in the category of 'I do much more than what's in the job description.' It happens frequently and not just for visa holders.

And since the salary is set by the reported job duties, what exactly does this do to the salary of the H1B employee?

We're not talking about the person working for a while and gradually getting more responsibility. They hire someone as a junior programmer, and then on day 1 put him in charge of the project.

As for the performance issue, in many cases the person who made the hiring decision and was aware of the immigration status of the applicant is not usually the one in charge of reviewing performance at my employer. In most cases, there are more than one person who review performance for a single employee.

This has never happened in my 16 years. For large and small companies. The direct supervisor was responsible for reviews, and is fully aware of the immigration status of the employee.

In my professional opinion, there is no greater culprit than the L-1B visa. It has no cap, no restrictions, no prevailing wage requirements, no education requirements, etc. All you have to ensure is that the employee must have worked at an overseas branch or subsidiary or HQ or affiliate for at least a year within the past 3 years and that s/he must possess 'specialized knowledge' which is rather vague.

It is limited though by the need for a truly "international" company. Whereas I've had an H1B co-worker in a company with 9 employees.

But in both cases, what we need to do is reform the entire immigration system.