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."

Comments

Re:...because H1Bs are forms, not people

[Opportunist]

Well, I guess we'll now see what H1Bs are really used for. IIRC, the idea behind those Visa was to hire abroad when you can't find qualified workers at home. It would be logic to fire H1B holders and retain the local workers if this was really the basis for hiring those people. Hell, it would be anything but illogical to force companies to fire H1B holders if there are US people looking for jobs and they qualify for the jobs the H1B holders have.

I guess we'll now see whether it really was so impossible to find qualified people at home or whether the H1Bs were a convenient way to get cheap labour.