2013 H-1B Visa Supply Nearly Exhausted

CowboyRobot writes with news on the FY2013 allocation of H-1B visas. From the article: "As of June 1, the government had issued 55,600 standard H-1B visas out of the annual allotment of 65,000, according to United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS). The feds also issued 18,700 H-1B visas reserved for graduates of advanced degree programs in the U.S., out of 20,000. " CowboyRobot continues, "Last year work visas did not run out until late November, but this year the pool of visas is almost entirely claimed and it's still only June. One interpretation of this is that the tech industry is hiring much more actively than it was a year ago. Some companies, such as Microsoft, have been lobbying to increase the number of available visas (currently limited to 65,000) while others argue that offering visas to foreign workers reduces job prospects for Americans." A bit more from the article: "Industry lobby group Partnership for A New American Economy last month released a study that claims the U.S. will face a shortage of 224,000 tech workers by 2018 unless immigration rules are loosened."

Comments

Things aren't as they seem

[laffer1]

When my former employer started hiring H1B, the government did a check of salaries compared to market values in the area. The other programmers had to get a raise. There are laws about salary, especially for the guy managing an H1B employee which turned out to be me. He also turned out to be one of the best programmers I've worked with.

I used to have strong feelings against the H1B program, but after seeing jobs unfilled at several employers now, sometimes it makes sense.

Re:Thank God.

[digitig]

I'm told (I'm not an expert, so I'm open to correction) that in Switzerland pretty much anybody can get a work permit provided they will be paid above the average rate for the job. That means that if there are skills that cannot be sourced locally then employers have no problems recruiting globally, but they can't use that as a way of bringing in cheap foreign workers. I hope that is true -- it seems like an intelligent system.

There's a Few More Factors at Work

[eldavojohn]

Don't misinterpret this, I am against H-1B as well but you're missing two pieces of the puzzle that are, unfortunately, heartless as well. One is that when you remove a geek or nerd from their regular environment they often have nothing but their work and hobbies on the side. Make them a foreigner in America and some of them will practically live in their office cube instead of going home to stare blankly at foreign (to them) television. If you're lucky, they'll have a hard time making new friends and have less conflicts outside of work.

Most of the comp sci classes I took were filled to the gills, and the program I got into in college was so impacted that I had to go in on another major and switch after the fact.

Right but the top ten percent of your classes is still only ten percent of that. The companies that are arguing for more H-1B visas are licking their lips at countries that have a top ten percent they can still tap. The government likes it because it equates to a brain drain with the added benefit that the really smart ones actually get to stay. "The cream of the crop" doesn't just apply to American masses and I'm sure these H-1B employees help them toward their diversity and EEO goals.

The willingness to work for less is just icing on the cake. The reason Microsoft is railing for more H-1B visas is simple: they win as far as they can tell. What critics might be correct about though, is that this is being used to learn how Americans do business and then move these workers back to the foreign country and lobby for outsourcing after mimicking their American counterparts. This is evident in stats like this:

In 2006, these [outsourcing] firms collectively were issued 19,512 of the 65,000 H-1B visas granted, with 4 outsourcing firms among the top 5 receivers of H-1B visas. These are Infosys, Satyam Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro Technologies. Critics have argued that granting H-1B visas to these outsourcing firms is not the real intent of the H-1B Visa program.

So, even worse for American workers and unemployment is that it could eventually lead to even more off-shoring of work.

"The goal is not to find a qualified american"

[Maxo-Texas]

As it says "Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers. See what Bush and Congress really mean by a "shortage of skilled U.S. workers." Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies are running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week.

Here's a video of one of their conferences. It's pretty harsh.
How to put out fake ads, how to find ways to disqualify qualified americans.

Quote" The goal is not to find a qualified and interested worker"

http://youtu.be/TCbFEgFajGU

Re:Thank God.

[clodney]

Just admit it. You hire whoever does a good enough job for the least amount of money. Can you at least be honest about this? It's generally how business works.

In my experience with several medium to large companies, the mantra is always "get the best person you can". I've never had *any* pressure to settle for the candidate who wants $80K instead of $90K. But the person that wants (and may well deserve) $125K isn't going to fit my budget. HR doesn't get involved as long as the offer I am making is within the salary range for the position, and finance doesn't get involved unless I am clearly blowing my budget - but no one is going after me because I budgeted the position at $88K and spent $90K. A bigger issue for me is that I don't want to bring in somebody making $120K if the average salary is $90K, because unless it is clear to everybody that the person is really worth the extra bump, I am creating an equity issue that leads to a bunch of unhappy people down the road.

I have no opinion about the quality of H-1B visas versus local candidates. To get hired they have to be good enough to make up for any language difficulties, so the bar may be a little higher overall. But I will say that someone who has the ambition and drive to leave their home country and culture and come to the US has already shown more ambition and willingness to take a risk than most local candidates. Not a knock on the locals, just a recognition that the immigrants are a self selected pool that have already demonstrated willingness to go to some lengths for their career.

Re:Thank God.

[bjwest]

and guess what... 95% of you suck. ...

This is because people think they know computers because they can make their way around a "pointy-clicky" interface and know how to google things. High School graduation and/or collage enrolment day comes around and they say to themselves, "Hey, I bet I could make a mint in computer science. I think I'll major in that." They then, proceed to "google" and cheat their way though the classes, not really understanding what they're being taught.

Computer science, like all the sciences, is not something you can learn on a whim just because you want to. In order to be proficient at it, you need the skills to do so, and those are not something you can learn, they are built up with years of practice and experience. By the time collage rolls around, you either have them or you don't. It's too late to acquire them now. You can, however, put off collage and spend the next five to ten years acquiring them, then get your CS degree and be good at your job. Or, you know, choose a major you have the skills for.