Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
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
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.
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!!