Bill Gates's Wish Is Homeland Security's Command

theodp writes "PC World reports that DHS has extended the time foreign graduates of US colleges can stay in the country and work to almost two-and-a-half years, an 'emergency' change that drew kudos from Microsoft and other H-1B visa stakeholders. Looks like when Bill Gates says 'Jump,' the government asks 'How high?' Bill Gates's Congressional Testimony, March 12, 2008: 'Extending OPT from 12 to 29 months would help to alleviate the crisis employers are facing due to the current H-1B visa shortage. This only requires action by the Executive Branch, and Congress and this Committee should strongly urge the Department of Homeland Security to take such action immediately.' DHS Press Release, April 4, 2008: 'The US Department of Homeland Security released today an interim final rule extending the period of Optional Practical Training (OPT) from 12 to 29 months for qualified F-1 non-immigrant students.'"

Comments

Re:Well played Mr. Gates, well played.

[timmarhy]

sorry mistake, it's even MORE obvious. look on the front page for details on 3 month movments. http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm

Re:-1, Sensationalist Headline

[metlin]

Don't even bother. The majority of Slashdotters would claim that going to a college is a waste, and would wear their badge of illiteracy with honor, stating that they've learnt everything that there is to learn without setting foot in college. And then they'll tell you how their experience and wonderful geekiness sets them apart from the rest.

And you're right about the need for intelligent people with good academic credentials. I know several companies that are looking for people in EE/ECE related fields with graduate degrees - it is almost impossible to find good candidates, and almost 80% of the folks tend to be Indian or Chinese. I remember a graduate class in Quantum Computing - out of a class of 18, there were all of 2 Americans* in there.

I wonder how many of these people working at Microsoft are Americans? Perhaps, people like this guy should definitely be sent back, rather than let them stay back and use their talents, right?

*Never mind the fact that a lot of people who go to school here eventually identify themselves with an American cultural identity, and call themselves Americans anyway -- what's the point of discrimination then, I wonder?

Re:Oh FUCK

[hairyfeet]

And let us not forget that infamous Youtube video where we got to see what the big corp lawyers think of US workers and our laws. Why bother with the expense of outsourcing when you can do the outsourcing right here on US soil and not need to bother with relocation. But the above poster is dead on. I am currently in debt to the tune of $40K due to my degree and certs, and I'll be going back to school in the fall for a business degree, even though I have over a decade of experience in computers and love nothing more than to do IT work. Why? Because the market is being flooded with Indian workers who pay 1/10th or less for their degree than I paid for mine and therefor can work for a MUCH lower wage and still make a profit. And with a recession that is going to be MUCH worse than the shrub is letting on there are an average of 300 applications submitted for every job I've interviewed for. And I'm in a little rural state. I'd hate to think how it is in the major cities.

I personally don't see how the corporations expect anyone in the US to buy their goods/services once they have run all the good paying jobs out of the country. Are we all supposed to become Burger King employees? Do they expect us all to become lawyers and pass around lawsuit money to keep us afloat? Hell, the last year of college even most of the teaching positions were being given to Indians, which when you add a thick accent to an already hard to understand subject makes for a REAL fun classroom experience. And I have noticed the hospitals here are increasingly hiring foreign doctors, my guess is for cost saving as in IT. So what does that leave an American to do?

Manufacturing is gone, IT is being flooded, There are more lawyers in school than are currently in practice, and the doctors are being replaced by foreigners. So what DOES that leave us here in the US? CEO? But that is my 02c from here in small town America, where our industrial park is nothing but a bunch of empty decaying buildings, YMMV and for the sake of you and yours I sincerely hope it does.

Xenophobia?

[gbutler69]

Xenophobia implies fear. Nothing to fear from what I've seen. We can easily out-compete them.

You sir, are full of crap!

[gbutler69]

Oh, and by full of crap, I literally mean you ingest it daily. At every meal in fact. I have it on good authority that when you open your mouth, shit drizzles out of your mouth. I also hear that you like to have sex with chickens and young boys. So, will you ever stop having sex with young boys? Will you?

Re:Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

[nguy]

The "labor shortage" in the IT world is a myth.

The labor shortage is quite real.

Perhaps you've not seen the infamous Cohen & Grigsby video?

Yes. If you think it has anything to do with labor shortage, you are an idiot. That video is about how a company, after it has spent years getting an application to that point, doesn't want to see it torpedoed by an unqualified US code monkey. The requirement to find a US worker is meaningless at that point in the application process and it should just be removed entirely.