Another Wave of H-1Bs on the Way

[OhioChick]

With visas set to max out quickly again, tech companies want more. Amid rising joblessness, does America need more skilled foreign workers?
by Moira Herbst


U.S. unemployment may be a concern, but tech companies are telling Congress they need more skilled workers from overseas. With the Apr. 1 application deadline for H-1B specialty worker visas looming, tech giants like Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), and Google (GOOG) are stepping up efforts to raise the cap on the number of visa workers they can have access to each year. Microsoft's Bill Gates argued in Congress (BusinessWeek.com, 3/12/08) for the second straight year that there's a severe shortfall in U.S. science and engineering talent, and predicted that for the fifth straight year the cap for worker visas would be reached in only one day. Days later, bills to aggressively raise the visa cap reached the House floor.

With concerns about a recession growing, the call for more visas has provoked an outcry from U.S. tech worker advocate groups and other longstanding critics of the H-1B program. They say issuing more visas would dampen U.S. workers' wages by bringing in cheaper workers, and facilitate outsourcing as trained workers return to their home countries (BusinessWeek.com, 2/8/08). Moreover, critics say boosting visa numbers without issuing more green cards for permanent residency will only lengthen the years-long queue for visa workers already here (BusinessWeek.com, 7/18/07).

"The new bills would be an open holiday for firms to exploit the loopholes in the H-1B program," said Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology. " increase without reform would further undercut American workers' wages, speed the transfer of work overseas, and swell the green-card backlog."

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080330_182808.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

[LakeSamish706]

1. Is there no one out there that is willing to stop this F***ing lunacy? n/t

[OhioChick]

2. Everyone is "Bought." n/t

[OHdem10]

3. Take note of Democrats who vote for these.

[OhioChick]

4. We have one running for Prez..... n/t