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Senator Prods Microsoft On H-1B Visas After Layoff Plans
CWmike writes "US Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) told Microsoft this week that US citizens should get priority over H-1B visa holders as the software vendor moves forward on its plan to cut 5,000 jobs. 'These work visa programs were never intended to allow a company to retain foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American workers, when that company cuts jobs during an economic downturn,' Grassley wrote in a letter sent Thursday to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The letter asked Microsoft to detail the types of jobs that will be eliminated and how those cuts will affect the company's H-1B workers."
Reader theodp adds, "On Friday, Microsoft coincidentally announced it would postpone construction of a planned $500 million data center in Grassley's home state of Iowa, although work on data centers in Chicago and Dublin will continue."
actually, laid off h1b workers are allowed a 2 month "grace" period to either find a new job or leave the country
Care to give some links about this ? All I read about the H1B "grace" period is that there is none. (random recent link http://www.isss.umn.edu/H1BEmployment/GracePer.html). There's apparently an unofficial 10 day grace period, but that's about it.
They don't just have to find a new job.
They have to find an employer who is willing and able to sponsor them for either an H1B or a green card.
Some of these companies didn't want to hire Americans in the first place according the Programmer's Guild.
Here's a video showing Immigration Attorney's explaining what companies need to do to get around the laws and hire more H1-Bs.
Basically, create impossible job descriptions and then go oversees since no American would qualify.
I've worked with and managed a few H1B programmers. Some where very talented. Some were hired just because they were cheap. They were no better than any random American college grad. They were just cheaper.
Both the American and foreign born developers worked hard and there were good and bad in both. It all boils down to money.
Most of these companies depend on American consumers to survive, but if everyone decides American workers are too expensive to hire, they're not going to have American consumers to buy their products and services.
Here's the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU&feature=channel_page
I can understand that the well-being of american workers is more important than that of visa-holders to an elected politician. However, the impact of losing the job is much higher for H1Bs, as they usually have to leave the country (within 1 week I think). Considering the fact that these are humans, too, maybe it would be acceptable to lessen these restrictions somewhat, i. e. allow these people to stay in the country for a year if they have the financial means.
The entire H-1B process is reliant on the fact that there are people who have more rights (in this case, American citizens) and people with fewer rights (in this case, non-citizens of the USA). The American citizens have for whatever reasons the right to get jobs ahead of the others. Microsoft is allowed to hire non-citizens if they can prove that American citizens can't fill all the needed positions. Microsoft _wants_ to hire non-citizens because they have fewer rights, so they are willing to work for less money. If these people coming into the USA through H-1B didn't have fewer rights, they wouldn't be willing to work for less money, and Microsoft wouldn't want to hire them.
Whether the situation is fair or unfair is surely worth a discussion, but with H-1B you are only allowed into the USA because Microsoft couldn't find Americans to fill the job. Clearly if Microsoft fires American citizens, then that argument would be moot.
actually, laid off h1b workers are allowed a 2 month "grace" period to either find a new job or leave the country
That is completely and utterly untrue. You have a 10 day period to leave the country - if you do not have another visa in process with the USCIS BEFORE YOU GET LAID OFF you are considered to be "out of status" after those 10 days and a USCIS examiner is likely to refuse you another visa if you apply for a new job without leaving the country. Being out of status is bad because it will count against you if you ever decide to get another visa or apply for a green card - even ONE day can result in a refusal.
Obama has stated that he wants to RAISE the H-1B cap.
[Insert pithy quote here]
Bill Gates to Congress: Let us hire more foreigners
I have no idea if the visas stop working if one lose ones job and if one have to leave and become the responsibility of the country you came from?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B#An_H-1B_worker_faces_additional_obstacles_at_his.2Fher_workplace
Any H-1B worker essentially has the following weakness:
his ability to remain in U.S. is directly linked to his current job.
H-1B holders can change jobs only with difficulty. In some cases, the holders of H-1B visas find their employers have not completely accurately represented the terms of employment; they find themselves in a foreign land with only a limited understanding of the legal system.
H-1B workers can be disciplined at any time, by being laid off: the worker then has to leave U.S. within 10 days (and even these 10 days are allowed only at USCIS's discretion, no days are actually guaranteed by law).
The employer has, however, the legal obligation to pay for the return transportation of the laid-off worker.
The worker can only avoid leaving the country by finding another employer that is willing to sponsor for H-1B, often impossible in the short amount of time available.
If unhappy with the workplace, a U.S. citizen or green card holder can simply quit his or her job, whereas a H-1B's right to remain in the U.S. is tied to the job.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Are you really that brain dead??? Since the late '90s H-1B visa holders have taken over American jobs at half or less what an American was making!! And don't try to tell me different, I'M ONE OF THEM!!! I WAS REPLACED BY AN H-1Ber that's making half of what I was, and then they called me to fix the problems he didn't know how to for "Old Times Sake". You need to go from a 50k a year job to 20k a year, then you'll know!!!! Oh and getting an H-1B is not that hard when you have a major corporation helping you!!
On a side note, I thought the US was build on people coming from bad situations to live the American dream, you guys sure have changed your mindset lately.
If that was the case, there wouldn't be any complaints, because then they wouldn't be getting paid less. It's the fact that they're only temp workers that get paid up to 23 percent less than Americans in the same positions that cheeses people off. Level playing field--fine. Unfair playing field where management lies about not being able to find qualified personnel and then turns around and pays substantially lower salaries--not good.
And, to continue, the "lower pay" part is illegal. I have actually looked into it (from a business standpoint) before, and, as a business owner, I have to basically sign an affidavit that I will pay the same rate to the foreign worker as a similarly qualified US worker, and I have to swear that I can't find anyone in the US to fill the job.
My wife came over on an H1A originally as a nurse, and it was the same story. The nursing home was getting Filipino nurses to come over so they could pay them shit wages that Americans wouldn't even consider. The Filipinos also put up with *anything* because they could be sent back to the Philippines with a signature from the director.
I have a friend who's in the same shitty position now as a computer programmer - the company illegally didn't pay him for 8 months while he was "benched", but he won't sue them because he wants to be in the US so bad. They owe him tens of thousands of dollars. He ended up finding the current contract that he's working by himself, but still is working through the agency that dicked him over. Looking them up on the internet, he's not the only one they've done this to.
Anyway, it's a mess, but if the US simply enforced the law, particularly the "equal pay" part, the problem would go away.
Do you have ESP?
Microsoft H1B visa employees are on the same payscale and benefits program as US employees. Just keep in mind when you're arguing about/against/for H1B visas, that Microsoft is one of the (seemingly few) companies that does not abuse the privilege-- they genuinely need qualified people from overseas.
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