Senators Seek H-1B Cap That Can Reach 300,000

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Senators Seek H-1B Cap That Can Reach 300,000

Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 25, 2013 @06:08AM from the come-to-america-and-let-our-robots-replace-you dept.

dcblogs writes "A bipartisan group of Senators is planning to introduce a bill that allows the H-1B visa cap to rise automatically with demand to a maximum of 300,000 visas annually. This 20-page bill, called the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 or the 'I-Squared Act of 2013,' is being developed by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Chris Coons (D-Del.). It may be introduced next week. Presently, the U.S. has an H-1B visa cap of 65,000. There are another 20,000 H-1B visas set aside for advanced degree gradates of U.S. universities, for 85,000 in total. Under the new bill, the base H-1B cap would increase from 65,000 to 115,000. But the cap would be allowed to rise automatically with demand, according to a draft of the legislation."

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Definition of a cap by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 06:10 · Score: 5, Insightful

So what the hell use is a cap that rises with demand?
1. Re:Definition of a cap by geminidomino · 2013-01-25 06:13 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The same use as a "limited" copyright duration that extends on demand.
  I.e. it's a lot of use to the scumbags that purchase these laws.
2. Re:Definition of a cap by tibit · 2013-01-25 06:14 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  It's political lingo for removing the cap. You see, politicans know full well that people will buy whatever as long as the packaging is right. Thus the cap is, in reality, removed, but in words it remains.
  I wish they did that to green card caps, though.
  
  --
  A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
3. Re:Definition of a cap by magarity · 2013-01-25 06:38 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  So what the hell use is a cap that rises with demand?
  What the hell use are immigration laws when people circumventing them are pardoned and granted citizenship?
4. Re:Definition of a cap by pla · 2013-01-25 06:41 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I wish they did that to green card caps, though.
  
  Why bother? Not only won't they enforce immigration laws, they outright sue state and town PDs who attempt to do so to force them to stop.
  
  Visas? Immigration? Meh, c'mon in, apply for welfare, and retire. Only those of us dumb enough to work for a living as natural born citizens have anything to complain about here.
5. Re:Definition of a cap by yurtinus · 2013-01-25 07:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Fighting the immigrants is the wrong battle. I'd much rather have that Pakistani born programmer be working here as a US citizen - protected by US labor laws and paid a competitive US salary than be "on loan" under an H1-B visa which his employer can use to depress the wages of his other employees.
  
  --
  +1 Disagree
6. Re:Definition of a cap by hairyfeet · 2013-01-25 07:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Why? Our border is such a bad fucking joke you could just walk a bomb across the thing along with the dope and slaves brought over it annually, they won't do shit about the scumbag companies that will hire Paco for $3 an hour and make him work in unsafe conditions (and don't give me that "Paco only takes jobs Americans don't want" horseshit, in my area construction USED to be a way a guy who wasn't cut out for college could feed his family. Now you can drive by any site and yell "Immigra!" and watch them scatter like fucking deer and guess who gets stuck for his care when the scumbag contractor puts his ass on a rickety ladder in high winds and he fucks himself up? That would be YOU through higher hospital bills) and they have completely wiped out several professions. Being an IT worker USED to be a good job but between H1-Bs and offshoring I wouldn't recommend my worst enemy go into IT now.
  The whole thing is a fucking scam that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy as degrees cost us a high 5 digits to get yet they expect us to "compete" with some guy that paid like $5k for HIS degree (if he even has one, so many of those body mills just lie their asses off, you could ask for somebody with 40 years of .NET and they'd send someone right over) so nobody with a functioning brain will go into those fields because they see it ends up 400 guys competing with each other for one fake job ( see this video for examples. Once you know what to look for you can check your local paper and will find dozens if not hundreds of fake jobs) so the bloodsucking leech of a corp goes "See? We can't get somebody with a dozen degrees to work for less than the guy that cleans puke at the Chuck E Cheese so we NEED more green cards and H1-Bs! Sob!" and write a fucking check to our joke known as "public servants" and there you go, the systematic gutting of the American middle class.
  Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson who could see this stuff was coming: "Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
7. Re:Definition of a cap by h4rr4r · 2013-01-25 07:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  If you could get Inda and China to let me compete for jobs there I would agree. Otherwise we are just being cheated. Once again free trade is used to screw anyone who is not a CEO.
8. Re:Definition of a cap by bmo · 2013-01-25 07:41 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Your corporate bootlicking is disgusting.
  Arguments like yours are based on the assumption by Milton Friedman and his ilk that jobs are just as fungible as money, and that it's *your fault* that your price is too high by your simply living in civilization. You are being forced into a race to the bottom. Races to the bottom have no winners.
  --
  BMO
9. Re:Definition of a cap by doubledown00 · 2013-01-25 07:50 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  It seems to me that a more "open" workforce market can only be a good thing if it breaks down the barriers that allow companies in India, China, wherever to offer work for a pittance, when those workers can just go to another country and get a better living wage.
  
  ----
  
  1) Why should I care about the "barriers" and wages of other countries when there are people unemployed and starving here?
  
  2) Why should we help these other countries reform their own labor practices at our expense?
  
  The H1-B is suppose to assist companies in filling gaps when the local labor pool cannot provide. It was *intended* to be an "America First" solution. Instead it has been co-opted as a way to keep labor costs down rather than paying IT talent what the market demands.
10. Re:Definition of a cap by JDG1980 · 2013-01-25 07:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Forgive me, but I dont really understand why people in this country deserve jobs more than people in another country, particularly if theyre more skilled or asking for less money.
  You know why members of Congress are called Representatives?
  Because they're supposed to represent us. They are supposed to stand up for our interests. Not because Americans are somehow cosmically more worthy than non-Americans, but because it's our fucking country and it is supposed to be run for the benefit of "ourselves and our posterity."
  If Indians want good stuff then they have their own democratically elected government to go to. I expect the Indian government to put the interests of Indians over the interests of Americans, but likewise I expect the U.S. government to put the interests of Americans over the interests of foreigners.
11. Re:Definition of a cap by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 07:55 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Try to get a programmer job in India. You will politely be informed that Indian jobs are for Indians.
12. Re:Definition of a cap by Kelbear · 2013-01-25 07:59 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  My co-worker came here from the phillipines on a work visa. The money she made here was decent, but great considering that it's getting sent home to her family where a dollar has more mileage. Got diagnosed with terminal lung cancer at 27 (she didn't even smoke).
  She didn't even say anything to anybody. I almost complimented her on managing to stay so trim. Needless to say I was pretty surprised when she suddenly died over the weekend at age 29. d
  That's a crazy kind of work ethic, not even taking a day off from work for TERMINAL CANCER. I don't even know what my point is here, I'm just a bit daunted by the concept of working to death.
13. Re:Definition of a cap by torkus · 2013-01-25 08:09 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Thank god someone with a brain saved me the trouble of writing that out.
  We seem to be the only country more interested in making everyone besides ourselves (assuming you exclude corporate 'personas') happy...at our own expense.
  Unemployment remains high, jobs are not particularly easy to come by for many, pay is lower than it should be, companies are cutting jobs and marginalizing other work, and so on. Do we really need to add another several hundred thousand jobs for non-citizens where the majority of the money will simply leave the country? Other than serving corporate greed, it does nothing to help our country. Tax them at 50% and put that money into training for US citizens.
  Honestly with where unemployment is right now, the whole program SHOULD have been terminated. Those Representatives should consider who they represent these days.
  
  --
  You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
14. Re:Definition of a cap by man_of_mr_e · 2013-01-25 08:12 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  First, the countries economy depends on its citizens having jobs. If you, instead, give those jobs to non-citizens, then you hurting the economy.
  Most people here on H1B's send a large amount of their salary back home. That means that the money paid to them is leaving our economy, and instead propping up other economies.
  I have no problem with immigrants getting jobs, because immigrants are here permanently. H1B's are temporary visas, with no intention of becoming permanent citizens (although many do find ways to convert).
  We don't have enough jobs for all our IT workers as it is, we don't need to be importing more unless there isn't anyone here that can fill the role.
  
  --
  If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
15. Re:Definition of a cap by torkus · 2013-01-25 08:18 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Mod me troll or flamebait but it has to be said...
  Seriously? You want to see a "news article showing the government suing a town's PD" regarding immigration? For fucks sake. Google 'news article showing the government suing a town's PD + immigration' and hit the I'm feeling lucky button.
  Yeah. First link. Was that so hard? I mean, if you're going to take a position and argue something at least make a *SLIGHT* attempt to know what you're talking about.
  Related to the discussion, I think it's ridiculous that there are laws on the books which 'can' only be enforced by certain agencies who are quite intentionally being extremely lax in enforcing.
  
  --
  You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
16. Re:Definition of a cap by Trailer+Trash · 2013-01-25 08:19 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I doubt Friedman would have looked positively on this. I'm a libertarian, and I'm totally against this. It's interfering with a market. There will always be "more demand" because they'll just drive wages low enough that no American will want the jobs.
  This isn't the free market at work. The free market raises wages when there's a labor shortage. No, this is crony capitalism, a very different beast.
  
  --
  Do you have ESP?
17. Re:Definition of a cap by tibit · 2013-01-25 08:21 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I'm not a citizen and yet I not only work, but I pay taxes and, oh horror of horrors, I invest all my money here. And please, cut the BS about not enforcing immigration laws. If my status were to lapse for some reason, they'd be knocking on my door and kicking me out of the country within a couple of months. There is a big difference between an undocumented immigrant, and one who has a long paper trail behind him. Protip: the latter are easy pickings.
  But I don't completely blame you on not having much of a clue of how immigration laws are enforced, because if you asked me anything about immigrating into the countries I am a citizen of, you'd get a blank stare as I never had to deal with any of it. My only beef is that it you're not clever enough to realize that you have no clue what you're talking, nah, spewing about.
  Besides, you can't really have, effectively, three different sets of laws (federal, state and local), and expect that it'd be OK for the local police to enforce it all. Either there is a need for FBI and state police, or there isn't, you can't have it both ways. Now it is of course a thing to discuss whether we need all those three layers of policing to begin with.
  
  --
  A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
18. Re:Definition of a cap by frank_adrian314159 · 2013-01-25 08:32 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I'm just a bit daunted by the concept of working to death.
  Don't worry, if things like this law keep happening, you'll get a chance to try it for yourself.
  
  --
  That is all.
19. Re:Definition of a cap by plover · 2013-01-25 08:51 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  ???
  As an American, it would take me less than two weeks to get a visa approved to work in India. That's because the tax rate on foreign workers is 34%. Throw the VAT on top of that, plus living expenses in an ex-pat community, and not very much money would leave their country.
  Unlike the H-1B, which U.S. companies use primarily to bring in cheap labor, India is very interested in importing skills they can learn from, especially American English teachers or technical mentors. You would not believe how eager they are for such people. They recognize that their global position as a "low cost country" is only temporary, and will ultimately dwindle as more of their population shifts out of poverty and they become more expensive. They're taking full advantage of the opportunity now so when the Western money dries up they'll have a better trained workforce.
  
  --
  John
20. Re:Definition of a cap by morgauxo · 2013-01-25 08:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  You know why they call it a Representative Democracy? Because you are supposed to be electing the people that will represent you. Stop re-electing these asshats America!
21. Re:Definition of a cap by bmo · 2013-01-25 09:29 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  > Wages in the US have not been on an inevitable downward march,
  Adjusted for inflation, this statement is bullshit. Since 1999, household income has *fallen.* That's 14 solid years.
  But hey, you go look up these facts yourself. They're googleable.
  --
  BMO
22. Re:Definition of a cap by TheGratefulNet · 2013-01-25 09:38 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I grew up here, paid taxes for over 30 years, I have a life here, I am invested in my people here, I have an interest in what happens in the future.
  foreigners: NOT SO MUCH.
  there used to be this little thing called 'social contract'. maybe you heard of it? its not around anymore but it used to be.
  any other stupid questions, you selfish republican prick, you?
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
23. Re:Definition of a cap by Jah-Wren+Ryel · 2013-01-25 10:34 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I dont think the workers from poorer countries think they are being screwed. I mean, from the standpoint of what they could be making, maybe, but from the standpoint of what they were making, not really.
  That's why we need to stand up for them. I don't mean keep them out, I mean make the H1B program less about indentured servitude and more about citizenship.
  Right now, H1B is used as an unofficial visa on the green-card/citizenship path. It takes about 5 years of continuous residence to get a green card if you are in the country on an H1B. But an H1B is only good for 6 years. You can only get a green-card if you are sponsored by your current employer. If you change employers, the process starts over. So if you want a green card you are effectively a hostage of your current employer.
  I say modify the H1B visa program to be an official citizenship-seeking visa. Require H1B visa holders also apply for a green-card starting as soon as they are on US soil and make that application the visa holder's responsibility and take the employer completely out of the loop.
  
  --
  When information is power, privacy is freedom.
24. Re:Definition of a cap by Trailer+Trash · 2013-01-25 11:19 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I was not aware we had an infinite supply of anything, let alone of skilled / employable CS or IT workers.
  If I have a 10 gallon bucket, 11 gallons of water is the same as "infinite" for some operations. The bottom line is that if x IT jobs open up in the US then we can always find x foreign workers to fill them at a lower wage. For the market to think the supply is infinite, I only need one more worker than there are jobs.
  Look, I explained this in an earlier post on this subject. My wife came here on an H-1A as an RN. They brought her to work for substandard wages at shitty nursing homes. The nursing homes could easily have hired Americans to work for them, but they found it was cheaper to claim they couldn't find anybody (a legal requirement for petitioning an H-1x) and then hire some foreigner to do it at a paltry wage. They're supposed to treat them well, but trust me - there's a world of difference between a boss that can fire you and one that can put your ass on a plane back to Asia.
  I obviously benefitted greatly from this arrangement, and I'm damned glad that I have an asian babe for a wife. Seriously. But the bottom line is that these companies are depressing wages by bringing folks like her over here and then creating a vicious cycle whereby the depressed wages cause even fewer people to want to join that part of the labor market causing them to bring over more foreigners.
  I'm not anti-corporate. Hell, I have an ownership stake in multiple companies. What you see here is crony capitalism, and it's good for the cronies and bad for the rest of us. We need to put an end to work visas like this all together and let the market pull these wages up to the level that they should be.
  
  --
  Do you have ESP?
25. Re:Definition of a cap by magarity · 2013-01-25 11:45 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I'm not be argumentative or sarcastic. Why would I be outraged by the L visa?
  Because the L visa is totally immune to US pay law. I was in China in 2008-2010 and while looking for a local job, happened upon IBM consulting. The local payscale was less than $1k US/month. That sounded OK for a local gig because cost of living is so low but the catch was they wanted to send me to the US for a year and pay that same rate. I pointed out US minimum wage was higher than that but the local manager waved this concern away and said they did it all the time; I would be sent on an L visa which allows the employee to be paid home country pay while in the US. I then asked how a US citizen could go to the US on any kind of visa and after a silent pause she abruptly hung up on me (this was the third interview). Whether this is a case of the IBM worldwide doing this or they think they're paying US wages while the local China branch's management collect the difference, I have no idea, but something not at all funny is going on with L visas.
26. Re:Definition of a cap by shutdown+-p+now · 2013-01-25 12:13 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  H1-B is dual-intent visa, which means that a person staying on it in US is legally allowed to express intent to immigrate. And it's one of the few venues that let you do skilled immigration, since that requires sponsorship of some company, and they usually won't do it unless you've already proven their worth to them (i.e. work for them)
  If not enough people on H1-B eventually immigrate, then maybe you'll want to change that. I'm an H1-B employee with intent to immigrate, and right now the biggest hassle is that the green card application process is severely backlogged - today, they're still processing applications from early 2007! So, realistically, for someone looking to come to US, they're looking at 5 years before their application is even reviewed, then several months to a year before it's approved. Fix that, and I bet you'll see far more people staying. I mean, why wouldn't we want to? US isn't perfect, but it's vastly better than all developing countries out there.
negatory, cut them back, hard by swschrad · 2013-01-25 06:13 · Score: 5, Insightful

if you want to educate the next generation of IT workers in the US and have them stay here for their lives, adding to the economy, start cutting back on H1Bs now. it's just an excuse to in-shore cheaper help and shoo them away before they start complaining.

--
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
1. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by cayenne8 · 2013-01-25 06:17 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  With unemployment so high in the US as it is....they'd better sign off that EVERY US citizen potential employee is hired first....then start letting outsiders in.
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
2. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by im_thatoneguy · 2013-01-25 06:31 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Why on earth would we want to do that? Historically our technological innovation has been driven domestically in part because we have such an open policy to immigrants. The space program was dramatically accelerated by accepting German immigrants. The Manhattan Project owes a lot to immigrants. Let's get our collective nationalist heads out of our asses and acknowledge that there are people around the world who are smarter than most unemployed Americans. Unemployment for those with Masters in computer science/engineering is in the low single digits.
  Which would you rather happen: foreign talented developers to start their companies in Asia, Europe or South America or for them to be in the states and hopefully develop their idea in the states? Most tech startups are employees who work at Microsoft or Google and then leave to create their company. If they don't come to the US, their good ideas don't come with them and we lose the best ideas in the world because we're afraid a burger flipper won't somehow magically get a job at Google because of the big bad Indian who took his hypothetical job.
3. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by smooth+wombat · 2013-01-25 06:35 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The space program was dramatically accelerated by accepting German immigrants.
  
  Try again. We didn't accept them, we captured them. We got Von Braun and the other Nazis and had them work for us. Our rockets kept exploding but it was the Nazis, with their usual efficiency, who got us on the right track and took us to the moon.
  
  Obligatory XCDK comic
  
  --
  We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
4. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by ColdWetDog · 2013-01-25 06:36 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  We're not talking about importing cream of the crop folks. No Einsteins or Von Brauns. We're talking about entry level programmers and tech flunkies.
  Sure, there are good people in that pile - that really isn't the point. The issue is that the transnational corporations are trying to drive down costs (and drive up profits) irrespective of the local damage caused. They can go elsewhere, after all.
  All it takes is getting a few cheap whores^Hpoliticians to do their bidding. Just the price of business.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
5. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by Austerity+Empowers · 2013-01-25 06:39 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  This isn't about "multiculturalism", nobody cares what nationality, color or religion they are. This is about keeping wages low. This is what it is always about. Cost and profit are what corporations do, they have no concept of anything else.
  No more H1Bs, slavery was abolished a long time ago. If corporations truly cannot find qualified citizens (and I think they define that as capabilities/$), then I would allow them to sponsor a certain number of people for green cards. If avg. wages dropped the next year, I would not allow them to sponsor any at all. Then I would say anyone here on H1B may either apply for a green card, or serve the rest of his sentence and return home, but there would be no more H1Bs.
  If this is truly about labor shortage, this process would work fine. But we know there's plenty of people out there who can do the job who are under/un-employed.
6. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by Austerity+Empowers · 2013-01-25 06:41 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  H1Bs aren't the only way to do that. We have green cards for immigration. If those green cards aren't going to the right places, fix that problem.
  But the corporate world doesn't like green cards, green card means "can compete on wages".
7. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by irenaeous · 2013-01-25 07:00 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You are completely correct. But I hope you understand that the H-1B scam does not do this. H-1B workers are not immigrants. The H-1B program is badly abused to the determent of American workers. Slashdot has covered this before.
8. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by h4rr4r · 2013-01-25 07:14 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  If there weren't a shortage of doctors they wouldn't be making 10 times the median income.
  Lets import 300,000 doctors and get that problem under control. Much more urgent since they charge so much more.
9. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by Cyberax · 2013-01-25 07:16 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  That depends. I'm applying for a H1B (after years of working with the US companies remotely) and I'm going to be in the top tax bracket. I'm not going to undercut anybody on salary, obviously.
  
  US has always attracted people from all over the world, and that has always been a great advantage for the US economy. Our startup (that has been recently bought by a large company) consists of 6 people: 2 Russians, 1 Israeli, 1 Finnish, 1 Indian and one US-born person, I think we can speak about 10 languages in total. Making immigration more complex by cutting the H1B would just drive a lot of labor to other countries.
  
  It would be really great if H1B included the requirement for a minimal salary at least 1.5 times more than the "prevailing wage" crap that exists right now.
10. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by Austerity+Empowers · 2013-01-25 07:26 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I'm sorry, but I see no reason why programmers shouldn't make triple the median income. If anyone could do it, that right there is a huge incentive TO do it. I define a shortage as "there are more jobs than applicants". I've never worked anywhere that we didn't reject 50% of the people who interviewed for various arbitrary reasons (i.e. didn't have niche skill in X, would require ramp up, couldn't drop-in), and that was after HR rejected countless resumes.
  The only "shortage" of jobs owes from our snobbery and cliquishness, because we CAN be, there are so many applicants we can shop until we get bored with it. If we just had to hire anyone who walked in the door, THEN I'd believe we have a shortage.
11. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by yurtinus · 2013-01-25 07:30 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The truth is more onerous than that. The thing is, they *don't* want that. No major American company actually *wants* to wipe out the middle class. After all, who would you sell your products to if nobody has any money? Companies need a strong middle class and are well aware of that fact. Yet they still work to reduce wages as cost cutting measures for a temporary return. It's blatantly self-destructive behavior that everybody seems to be in on, aware of, wants to stop, but consistently take the wrong routes.
  
  If there were a few guys up at the top in swivel chairs with fluffy cats going "mwaahahahaha" as they plot and scheme, that would be one thing. They could be stopped. How do you stop a society from marching over the cliff - fully aware the cliff is there, fully aware they don't want to fall off it, yet somehow not willing or able to stop themselves from doing it?
  
  --
  +1 Disagree
12. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by JoeSchmoe999 · 2013-01-25 07:51 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I like that idea, hey there must be a shortage of "C" level executives since they make so much, lets H-1B a bunch of them in from 3rd world companies. We should be able to drop the median CEO salary from ~500 times the average employee to ~50 times the average employee.
  
  --
  You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.
13. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by khallow · 2013-01-25 08:02 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  because the US was a Christian nation and the Soviets were atheist.
  Not at all. They surrendered to the US because they were the less scary choice. The Communists were always a rival to the Nazis in the Wiemar Republic and were blamed in large part for the downfall of Germany during the First World War. So there was some hate going in to the invasion of Russia.
  
  Then toss in all the bad blood created between Germany and Russia thereafter, Joseph Stalin as a remarkably scary leader even by Nazi standards, and that Von Braun and various members of his group may have been partly responsible for the deaths of Russian soldiers (I read that prisoners of war were enslaved at Mittelwerk (and died there) and the largest portion of such in Nazi Germany would have been Soviet).
14. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by Vicarius · 2013-01-25 08:14 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I worked under H1B and have switched several employers over time - it is doable, but it is not as easy as you think. If you find another employer before you are fired, and if that employer agrees to file the paperwork for H1B, then yes, you can "easily" switch jobs. I was working as a contractor for a company that wanted to hire me directly and even made me an offer, but it was too bad for them, since neither they nor their lawyer knew what to do and I ended up going somewhere else.
  Also, you have 10 days to get out of the country after you are fired. However, these 10 days will still be counted as a gap in your legal status and in most cases you will have to leave the country to get a new H1B, i.e. you will be a the mercy of the immigration officer in your own country and even then officer at the border can refuse you the entry w/o an explanation.
  As a Green Card holder or a Citizen, you can go to your boss and say "give me a raise or I quit", but as an H1B worker you are pretty much stuck with whatever pay was given to you. There are also legal tricks to make sure that you don't get the salary that company promised the government they will pay you.
  After a while H1B holder would want to get a Green Card, but that is a long process that requires you to stick with your employer once documents are submitted. This creates another opportunity for employers to impose their will on you.
  Current laws help companies to find cheaper labor at expense of Americans. Instead of raising caps, they should change laws, so that it is more costly to hire H1B workers, i.e. tax companies for each and every H1B and if they really need these workers they will have no problem paying the tax.
15. Re:negatory, cut them back, hard by starless · 2013-01-25 09:17 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Coming to the US with a green card is very difficult. I know of nobody who did that where I work (federal government science lab).
  I have a PhD in physics, I came to the US on an H1B visa (as did many of my colleagues).
  Then, after several years, I got a green card, then a few years after that I became a US citizen.
  That path (H1B -> green card -> citizen) has been followed by very many of my scientist and engineer colleagues.
  I'd like to think that we make a strong contribution to the US scientifically, economically, and culturally.
A better approach by bobstreo · 2013-01-25 06:17 · Score: 4, Insightful

Reduce the percentage of H1-B's by the unemployment rate every year.
The goal of this bill by mark_reh · 2013-01-25 06:18 · Score: 4, Insightful

is further destruction of the middle class. By replacing American tech workers with H1B slaves, they drive down the wages of the Americans who still have jobs.
Once the rich have taken everything away from the middle, they'll have to turn on each other. That will be fun to watch.
"They took our jobs!" by globaljustin · 2013-01-25 06:20 · Score: 4, Interesting

Trying to weigh all the parts of the bill, I think I would oppose it.
I think foreign workers in all jobs are good, but increasing the number of visas granted is bad in an economy like ours. We need our jobs to rebuild our individual financial infrastructure. Younger workers need to be able to pay off those credit cards.
Google, Yahoo, IBM, etc *should* be forced to hire more US workers. First it would force companies to start giving people with a criminal record a chance. Felons at age 26 with marketable skills in IT, web design, or coding/software engineering are still Felons...they never make it past HR...
Just look at any thread on /. about getting hired...Human Resources is a difficult barrier even with a spotless record.
A second reason to oppose more H1-B visas is that it would force Americans to go back to college or get marketable skills another way. State university systems are economical and could be adapted to be essentially profit-neutral and give 100% financial aid to all who are accepted.
So yes, Americans do need to get off their asses, get some skillz and get to work...adding more *non-US* workers than we already allow is dumb right now

--
Thank you Dave Raggett
1. Re:"They took our jobs!" by undeadbill · 2013-01-25 06:46 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I think I'd like to see this bill at least tied to the following:
  1. No more questions about prior felony convictions. It is too easy to get popped with a felony, a class of crime that used to be limited to serious criminal offenses.
  2. Tie this to an additional H1-B payroll tax, with the revenue going to online certification training (much like the ACM offers as part of their membership), as well as vouchers for a certain amount of tests.
  3. Make it more desirable to hire and promote junior staff. H1-B is attractive because they have fewer workplace protections, and have to take a bigger gamble to come to the US to work. Fix some of those restrictions (such as severe limitations in job-hopping), and institute measures that promote hiring interns and junior IT people.
  Right now, it is harder than heck to find qualified IT staff, and HR departments are all asking for 3-5 years of experience in whatever they are hiring for. The problem isn't in the lack of willing senior staff who want to train and mentor people. It isn't in the lack of available training for the unemployed. It is in the lack of will on the part of C level execs who don't want it, and can't see the labor shortage coming up on them, or what that can mean in the long term (in my view, out past 5 years. In the view of a CEO, the long view is not more than 5 years).
Legislators are so stupid... by superdave80 · 2013-01-25 06:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

But the cap would be allowed to rise automatically with demand...
Um, that is the exact opposite of a 'cap'.
Why not just increase legal immigration? by RyanFenton · 2013-01-25 06:28 · Score: 5, Insightful

Importing people who will be automatically put into a process of exporting if they lose their job always seemed more than a bit cruel to me.
The effect of H1b has been to flood the market with fake job offers (intended to find no one available), increase the desperation of the average job seeker (where it doesn't lower wages directly, it has other effects), and to shift the job market gradually overseas as intimate knowledge of US business is shifted to people who aren't allowed to remain in the US market.
It's a mixed result - but mostly negative for the US at large.
Why not just allow more immigrants for technical fields? That way, they can start companies here, they don't have to live in such fear while working, and can pay socially beneficial taxes when they do (statistically) reach the higher incomes they are bound to reach.
Passing laws just to increase profit margins of companies at the expense of workers seems highly corrupt/inefficient. We're a nation of immigrants - we shouldn't shy away from making the nation stronger with citizens - and we've had huge problems with, um, drawing distinctions about labor variants of citizens in the past.
Ryan Fenton
Cap Should be Salary Based by MattW · 2013-01-25 07:20 · Score: 4, Interesting

Realistically, I view an ability to bring in highly skilled workers as a huge boon for us. Tax revenues, technological innovation, business agility - etc. People who are really driving technology and innovation create way more value than they capture and they become the rising tide that lift all boats.
But how can you identify them? We all know companies that want to import workers for less skilled jobs carefully tailor the job descriptions to avoid any domestic competition, don't publicize the jobs widely, etc.
Salary is the answer. We should prioritize H1-B visa imports by salary. The more you are paying the worker you import, the higher on the list they get to be. Any increase in the cap requires a certain number of workers at the top of the salary curve; if your salary would put you in the top 1% of workers in any science or technology field, then come on in; I don't care how high the "cap" goes. As you move toward the middle of the bell curve, the total number of workers we'll import declines. We shouldn't import even one worker below the median salary. I don't think we should move an inch over the current cap unless everyone over the cap is at least in the top 20%.
H-2B or not 2B by smugfunt · 2013-01-25 07:40 · Score: 4, Interesting

I noted with interest a recent advert in one of the newspapers here in Belize. It was offering Belizeans jobs in New Jersey driving ice-cream trucks for $8.50 an hour. On a six-month H-2B visa.
I realize $8.50 is not a whole lot but can they really find no Americans to do it? Incidentally, a laborer in Belize makes about a quarter of that and a hot meal costs about $2.00.
Bad for future generations by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 07:58 · Score: 5, Informative

It's the same as with outsourcing - it enriches companies and short-sells Americans. Expanded H1B program would make unappealing to invest in education in America. There would be no more need to invest in future generations if company could get workers you need w/o spending any money. In addition H1B workforce's living expenses are lower than of American workers which in turn depresses salaries of American workers.
For example, right now my friends company is paying 50% of her expenses to finish her MBA, it costs them $20k. If company could import someone they would be net ~$20k profit (maybe more if they can pay less for the same job) and my friend would be either unemployed or less educated.