Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

H-1B Cap Reached Today; Didn't Get In? Too Bad

Posted by timothy on from the cue-up-the-nativist-indignation dept.

First time accepted submitter Dawn Kawamoto writes "Employers stampeding into the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to get their H-1B petitions filed before the cap is reached are getting the door slammed in their face today. The cap was hit in near record time of 5 days, compared to the 10 weeks it took last year to have more than enough petitions to fulfill the combined cap of 85,000 statutory and advanced degree H-1B petitions. While U.S. tech workers scream that they're losing out on jobs as H-1B workers are hired, employers are countering that the talent pool is lacking and they need to increase the cap. Of course, Congress is wrangling in on this one as to whether it's time to raise the bar."

7 of 512 comments (clear)

  1. talent! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    talent pool is lacking = we don't want to pay

    1. Re:talent! by lightknight · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, it has been a fairly interesting week. Let's see, got the jobs data right here, and it's a doozy: link

      Given those unemployment figures, it's kind of hard to argue that there is a lack of people in those fields seeking gainful employment. Oh, wait, I'm wrong; apparently, a large number of them have recently given up looking for work, as they simply couldn't find any, and thus are dropped from the count in the future (hurrah!).

      Personally, I can't wait until we see the past few months' employment figures readjusted, at some future date.

      But yeah, if you had to listen to the techs or business people on this one, the techs are probably telling it straight: they're being screwed. But that's alright, it's not like it's going to affect the security / whatever of our nation, as surely people will continue to enter into these great fields despite the now frequent hardships, right? Only no, it appears that a lot of programs seem to be having problems here. It warms the cockles of my heart to know that the US's CyberCommand will, in time, possibly be 100% foreign-born.

      Hey Congress, just keep doing what you've been doing. Fantastic job thus far, can't wait to see the results next quarter. Just know that a large, angry, and extremely vocal contingent of unemployed techs will certainly not spend their idle time trying to find ways to undermine you as you've undermined them. Nope, that'll never happen. Plus those are votes you can count on not getting on election day...not that it will matter with the kickbacks you will be earning for passing this crap...on the other hand, an untimely exposure of a scandal does tend to limit one's chances, and does cost a lot less. Price of a bought Senator? $5,000,000. Price of an Android phone? $300. Catching the good Senator making out with someone not his wife, and uploading it to YouTube? Priceless.

      --
      I am John Hurt.
  2. They're not who you think by 14erCleaner · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From NPR, a few days ago. Why is Congress supporting this (other than the obvious answer, campaign contributions)?

    If you scroll through the government's visa data, you notice something surprising. The biggest employer of foreign tech workers is not Microsoft â" not by a long shot. Nor is it Google, Facebook or any other name-brand tech company. The biggest users of H-1Bs are consulting companies, or as Ron Hira calls them, "offshore-outsourcing firms."

    For the past decade, he's been studying how consulting firms use temporary work visas to help American companies cut costs. He says they use the visas to supply cheaper workers here, but also to smooth the transfer of American jobs to information-technology centers overseas. "What these firms have done is exploit the loopholes in the H-1B program to bring in on-site workers to learn the jobs [of] the Americans to then ship it back offshore," he says. "And also to bring in on-site workers who are cheaper on the H-1B and undercut American workers right here."

    The biggest user of H-1B last year was Cognizant, a firm based in New Jersey. The company got 9,000 new visas. Following close behind were Infosys, Wipro and Tata â'â' all Indian firms.

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
  3. Re:Both opinions are true by slackware+3.6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "In nearly every other case a foreign coder is a better match for the employer."

    In nearly every other case a foreign coder is a better match for the cheap ass that wants to give himself a bonus for having higher profit margins because he paid less wages.
    There fixed that for you.

  4. Interesting- no jobs, but no h1b's by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Jobs report today said no jobs being created.
    Yet we are hiring many h1b's.
    Meanwhile, many of our 30 year olds are suicidal over a combination of unforgivable debt and no jobs.

    Quite a disconnect.

    I think it's time to put a tariff on offshored/outsourced jobs- including h1b's.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  5. Am I the only one not scared of Indian workers? by t0qer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just scrolling through the +5 comments, I see a ton of xenophobia...

    Can't find an entry level IT job? Where are you? Arkansas? Here in silicon valley, we're experiencing another surge in hiring. I'm pretty low on the skillset, so whenever I get myself back into IT, I consider the economy to be doing well. Case in point... Company I work for. We've been losing a ton of local talent to google who's been on a hiring binge. When a small shop like ours (120 or so employees) can afford to pay great salaries, but we lose out to name brands like google, we have to turn to H1B.

    And for the H1B worker, life isn't all cherries and apple pie. Case in point, this big ass march from immigration voice.
    http://imgur.com/YKxR6NG

    See the white guy with pelican case in tow? That's me.

    Let's say you're here from India on H1B and you have a family emergency. You have to go home. So many H1B's are scared to go home, because when they try to return more often than not, they're denied re-entry into the country. I haven't met a single H1B that wouldn't LOVE to be a US citizen, but instead we give them a non-citizen status as an H1B that gives them basically no rights as a US citizen.

    I think we should just trash H1B altogether, and allow anyone of decent education (BA or BS) come live here, become a citizen, and pay taxes.

    As slashdotters, we shouldn't hate on the H1B people. They are not the problem. It's our policy, the very creation of H1B to sidestep proper citizenship that is.

  6. If shortage == true then pay = pay + 1 by blue9steel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the shortage is so terrible why aren't we seeing tons of stories talking about exploding pay rates and people hopping from company to company because of ridiculous job offers? Oh that's right, it's because there is no shortage of talent, just an unwillingness for them to pay the market rate.