Senator Pushes For Tougher H-1B Enforcement

mk1004 writes "Computerworld says that the industry lobbying group TechNet is calling on Congress to eliminate the per-country cap on H-1B workers. Last year a bill was passed in the house, 389-to-15, to remove the cap. Grassley put a hold on the bill in the Senate, indicating that he would be willing to lift the cap if companies faced an annual audit. The US currently allows 140K H-1B workers, but allows only 7% of those to come from any one country."

Comments

I'm for it.

[PerlPunk]

It would be a big incentive to attraact the best of the best from around the world to the United States. It would go hand-in-hand with smart immigration policies that tried to retain that talent.

Re:I'm for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's wonderful until the job market is flooded with 140k h1b workers working for absurdly low wages, soaking up the few jobs there are in your particular field, sending the bulk of what they do earn home instead of spending it here.

I'm sure corporate america loves the idea though. Can't get the price of capable labor down low enough? Bring in people that will live 6 to an apartment and work cheaper than anyone with those old, outdated ideas of a family, home and a lawn to mow!

Re:I'm for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure where you've worked, but I've yet to find any H1Bs in tech living anything like you're describing. Okay, so during his (and my) first year at my old job, my H1B co-worker and I rented a four bedroom apartment together. So that's kind of close, although he later married and bought a house. It only has a small lawn, so he mostly has to stick to around the deck or BBQ and sadly look over Puget Sound, thinking of how unfortunate he is.
 
The other H1Bs included the guy with the brand new 3-series living in a fancy glass and steel downtown condo, and the guy with the Range Rover who had restrained but expensive tastes. The other H1B in my group was rather stoic so perhaps he lived with 5 other H1Bs in an apartment, although it'd be weird since his salary was well into six figures and a decent studio in the most expensive parts of the city were ~$1000/month with parking.
 
Yes, H1Bs can be paid on the low end of the scale since they're at a major disadvantage if they're unhappy with their job. But it's not a huge difference, it's just that corporations would be happy to sell out their own country for a penny. In fact, because I went front-end and my ex-roommate went server-side, he was making more than me within 3-4 years on the job.
 
That said, there is very little need for H1Bs in terms of supply and demand as was pointed out in this recently posted transcript, and it'd be nice if lawmakers and other people involved in immigration policy recognized this fact.

Re:I'm for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

smart immigration policies

The h-1b isn't a smart immigration policy. It's a tool to drive down US worker wages by making immigrants your bitch.

This isn't a "they tewk er jerbs" thing, either. Some of the crap the h-1bs go through... the immigrants deserve better, too.

Re:I'm for it.

[sjames]

They can, there are plenty of people with the qualifications they need. It's just that they would just have to pay more or offer better working conditions. The prospect of jobs that pay well and offer good working conditions would also cause more people to get their degree in a STEM field. The current push down on wages and into H1-B and outsourcing is why less students are choosing that career.

So, MS has to spend 30% more to hire an H1B than they would if there was a glut in the employee market? So how much less do they cost compared to the actual market rate under the actual conditions of supply?

Re:I'm for it.

[sjames]

So give them a green card so their employer can't hold their status hostage.

Re:I'm for it.

[artor3]

And who are these H1B workers on absurdly low wages? It costs Microsoft 30% more to hire foreigners on H1Bs because there aren't enough Americans graduating with master's and PhDs in STEM fields. MSFT would gladly hire Americans to do these jobs, if they could.

According to who, Microsoft? Gee, I can't think of any reason they might want to lie about this.

H1B workers are easily abused because changing jobs is far more difficult. The upfront costs of hiring them may be higher, but they end up working longer hours for less pay. That is why Microsoft, along with all the other tech giants, go before Congress every year and lie and beg.

Re:I'm for it.

[guacamole]

I am sorry man, but you have no idea about the reality of H1B workers. Most I have known are fairly smart people and they were already relatively well to-do by the standards of their country. They would certainly NOT come here to live 6 an apartment. Also, a lot of the successful ones eventually convert their H1B visa status to a more permanent visa to stay here. Now, it's possible that some of them send money back home. So what? Would you instead prefer to see entire corporate offices with ALL jobs moved to India, Taiwan, China, or Russia? This is not that hard at all, you know.

To put this a little blunt, this is a global competitive economy, and if you can't adapt then you should improve, change your career, or just perish. Sorry. No other way around this.

Article is wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no per country cap on H1Bs. As usual, Computer world is trying to rile up anti immigrant/anti H1B sentiment.

There is a per country cap on Green Cards. This means that to get a green card, there are separate queues based on the country you were born in. Because of this cap, an engineer from India or China, if he applies in the advanced/special skills category that needs a Masters degree in engineering or science has to wait in the same job for more than 6 years to get a green card, while the guy from Iceland gets one in six months.

Re:Article is wrong

[hooeezit]

As parent says, the article is utterly wrong. There are no per-country caps on H1B. The caps are on Green Cards (permanent residence) issued under certain categories, EB2 (Employment Based 2nd) being the most affected. The problem is that all countries, irrespective of their population, get a fixed ceiling of 7% of the total allocation of 140000 GCs issued per year. So, H1B workers from China and India have to wait at least 5 years, sometimes 10 years depending on the whims of USCIS, to get their Green Card. During that time, they have to continue being employed by the same company that originally filed the GC application, and in a materially similar position as at the time of filing. A major change in job description requires refiling. If you don't realize what that means, it makes those workers subservient to their employers. This has quite the opposite effect that you think it does - it doesn't help US workers any since these foreigners are already employed, but it gives the employers a position of power from which they can dictate terms on pay raises and promotions since they have the workers by the leash.

This is definitely hurting US tech companies because many excellent techies getting good salaries are leaving the US and setting up their own companies either in their home countries or in some other immigration-friendly country, Canada and Singapore being the top destinations. They would rather spend 2 years setting up their own company and getting permanent residence and a path to citizenship there than toil for 6+ years in fear with no certain timeline on when they'll become a permanent resident, much less a citizen of the US.

I myself am an example of a person who left the US after being there for 11 years. I was on H1B and making $120k/yr, so definitely not an underpaid worker. But I'm loathe to serve 6 years in a big corporation doing the same job day in and day out. So, I moved back to India, and I'm using my contacts in the industry to provide embedded software and hardware development services to small companies in the US. At the same time, I'm providing Industrial Automation consulting services to Indian companies and am currently working on a new data logging product for the South African market. So, the US lost the tax revenue it would have received. It lost a bunch of local jobs due to US companies outsourcing work to me in India. And it lost the new jobs I'd have created there if I'd continued building new products in the US.

So, you decide what works in US's national interests? Keeping people like me away from that country, or giving us an incentive to set up companies of our own? And if you claim that I'm a minority, that's an irrelevant argument. A very useful minority is still being alienated. I loved being in the US, and would happily go back if the immigration situation becomes easier and more deterministic. But I seriously don't see current US politics being conducive to ANYTHING that's of real value to the country.

Re:Would this apply to UK citizens ?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're going to leave screwed up UK, why would you pick the US of all places!?

I heard you have greener grass over there.