Rescued Banks Sought Foreign Help During Meltdown

theodp writes "An AP review of visa applications has found that major US banks sought permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country under the H-1B visa program, even as the banking system was melting down and Americans were being laid off. The dozen banks now receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years. (It's not known how many of these were granted; the article notes 'The actual number is likely a fraction of the... workers the banks sought to hire because the government only grants 85,000 such visas each year among all US employers.') The American Bankers Association blamed the US talent pool for forcing the move, saying they couldn't find enough Americans capable of handling sales, lending, and bank administration. The AP has filed FOIA requests to force the US Customs and Immigration Service to disclose further details on the bailed-out banks' foreign hires."

Comments

Re:When the going gets tough...

[erroneus]

By law, H1-B's are supposed to be paid the same or more than U.S. workers. If they are doing what you say (and you can be sure they are) then they are breaking the law.

Re:Gives "tone deaf" new meaning

[rah1420]

How do I keep Obama + Congress from handing them money?

Write.

Write to your congresscritter. Every chance you get. Add the email address to your congressperson and your two senators to your address book.

Go to OpenCongress to see what bills are coming up, which ones have been introduced, which ones are headed for debate, which ones are headed for a vote.

Tell your reps what you think about the bill and why it's a bad idea. If they don't hear from us, they start operating in a vacuum. They start guessing. And there's a 50-50 chance that they're NOT doing what you want them to do.

And after the vote is over, send another message. If they voted the way you wanted, thank them. If they voted against your wishes chew them out.

Write letters to the editor. True, you can usually get published only once every 30 days with most papers but hell, that's 12 letters a year. If you make them cogent and well written you can make friends with the editor, who's looking for good stuff. (My last letter got printed just today as the leadoff letter, which means it was printed in a gray box with an attention-getting border.)

I have had it up to here. I will NOT go gently into that good night. At the very least, people will know where I stand on something. It may not do any good but the more people who do this the more our government will work the way it's supposed to.

Re:stop the xenophobia

[radish]

H1-B holders are allowed to transfer to another employer provided the new employer is willing to employ them in that status. In fact, the H1-B is one of the most employee-friendly of all the visa categories - I used to be on an L1-B and I really was tied to my employer. If I quite (or they fired me) it's off to the airport - regardless of how long I might have lived here or how much I paid in taxes. Luckily I'm now a greencard holder but being an immigrant in this country really isn't fun.