Demand for H-1B visas tumbles

[ChromeFoundry]

Source: ComputerWorld

U.S. applications for the visas are a third of what they were a year ago; sharp drop likely due to recession

April 8, 2009 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- The initial demand for H-1B visas is off sharply from last year, with the federal government receiving only about a third of the visa petitions it received this time last year. However, petitioners are close to reaching the H-1B cap for the 20,000 visas the government created for advanced degree graduates of U.S. universities.

The U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting H-1B visa applications on April 1. Last year at this time, the government had received 163,000 H-1B visa petitions for 85,000 visas. That included 65,000 visas for foreign workers with at least a bachelor's degree and 20,000 for graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees (see our list of 2008 H-1B recipients).

A USCIS spokesman said that based on preliminary numbers, the agency has "about half the petitions" it needs to meet the 2010 fiscal year cap of 65,000, but it is "just short of the 20,000 advanced degree cap."

The USCIS may well reach both visa caps for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, especially after graduation in May. Foreign students aren't eligible to apply for an H-1B visa until they graduate.


Read more: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131318&intsrc=news_ts_head

[OhioChick]

1. Good.

Time to put some of the many unemployed U.S. IT workers back to work.

[Xipe Totec]

2. There is a dark cloud over that silver lining...

We've educated the best and the brightest from all over the world in our universities.

In a good economy, those best and brightest would choose to stay here, work under H1-B visas, and eventually apply for, and become, permanent residents and eventually US citizens.

Now, that door is closing.

Those best and brightest are not going to become dumb just because they are forced to return to their native countries.

They will start their own companies in their native countries and become our fiercest competitors in years to come.

By sheer force of numbers, China and India alone have more geniuses born every year, than the US has people born with above average intelligence.

Flame away, if you want; I don't mind.

But I think in the long run we are going to regret turning these people away.

[jberryhill]

3. There is a distinction (in my mind at least)

...between foreign grad students who decide to stay and foreign tech workers who want in.

I'm all for keeping the grad students after they earn their degrees, for similar reasons as you mention, and also since they've already put in a lot of time on TA or RA stipends to the benefit of US research and teaching institutions.

I started seeing a lot of them go back a couple of years ago, which seemed surprising.

We should continue to attract and retain exceptional students, but that's a different situation that wholesale H1-B entry-level worker importation.

[thunder rising]

4. Love it ... foreign profs hire foreign students and give preferential treatment to said students..

Ain't no lie ... bye, bye, bye.

[Xipe Totec]

5. You know that for a fact?

or do you just resent that there may be so many talented people in the world?

[jberryhill]

8. I've seen a few of these

But it could also be a function of their academic network abroad being able to identify particularly good candidates.

[pnwmom]

24. Top schools could fill their classes with well qualified candidates ten times over.

They don't have to accept lots of foreign students to maintain quality, they choose to.

[pnwmom]

14. One reason that many universities are motivated to accept foreign students

over U.S. citizens is that these foreign students often come with funding from their own governments. The universities have to find funding for the U.S. students, putting them at a disadvantage.

[Xipe Totec]

6. The problem is, they are all in the H1-B category.

Maybe there should be a separate category for the exceptionally talented, but today, there isn't.

Maybe that's the problem? :shrug:

[high density]

10. People who are exceptionally talented (very extraordinary) are covered under O-1 visas NM

[BrightKnight]

7. Most IT is offshore now anyway.

I have only seen that accelerate with the recession. The only stuff that is left is nailed down for some reason. I think that I saw a team of MBAs the other day with crowbars.

[high density]

9. Yes, that is what our government and the corporations want us to believe

And if we're truly believing in a "flat world," we shouldn't be afraid of these people supposedly competing against us from afar. So far I'm not impressed by the service industry of India. It's cheap of course, but now the unseen costs of offshoring seem to be boomeranging back on these companies. US companies can't maintain quality when the workers and managers are a world apart. Managers go insane when they have to work 8-5 and then have development meetings for the offshore teams at 11pm. If it can't be read from a script or coded from a template, it seems Indian firms have a hard time doing it.

The bulk of the problem is, of course, that the vast majority of these people on H-1Bs aren't that special and are displacing American workers for no reason other than money. The O-1 visa is available for the foreign nationals who are geniuses that we need in this country for whatever reason.

[Jim Sagle]

11. Bill Gates, is that you?

:puke:

[pnwmom]

13. But there are fewer openings here for US citizens in the degree programs

because they are forced to compete for the spots against students from all over the world, many of whom come here with funding from their governments.

I'd rather more of our own students receive this training.

[CrispyQ]

19. And some funding from our own government!

Don't ya think?

It speaks volumes that so many US citizens can't even consider a higher educations because of lack of money. :eyes: :crazy:

[Deja Q]

27. Or knowing where to obtain it... or getting into the wrong field,

if it were to be offshored at just the right moment.

And for "right" read "wrong", so you're stuck with $20k~120k in student debt and no way to pay it back.

It's all bullshit, but what the heck.

[CrispyQ]

29. I'm certain the day I passed my Microsoft certification exam

was the day the dot.com bubble burst.

[2Design]

15. I have not met the best and brightest from other countries but I have

from this country and they are not getting a fair shake and the bs line from corporations has a lot of traction because I see it in your words - they have been saying that some mantra since the 1980's as they let the older more experience workers go while we trained those from other countries so the jobs could be shipped out. Or other countries wrote the agreements so they would have a level employment if these companies were allowed in their country - sorry I do not buy the BS from corporations or the media or congress

[Larkspur]

16. My job was given to an H-1B visa holder from India

and he's no genius. He's just an ordinary computer programmer.

[Skittles]

18. if they are the "best and brightest"

I have yet to meet them and I've been in IT for decades

[notesdev]

22. If you're in IT

you know that you take a serious quality hit when you hire a foreigner. You're lucky if you can even understand them when they speak, even if they're (allegedly) speaking English. And their code reflects this terrible inability to communicate at a professional level.

H1-Bs are about cheap labor, full stop.

[Skittles]

25. oh don't get me started

I have to deal with them on the phone, and I cannot even get them to answer the phone in a professional manner. When I call them, even though they work for the same company as me, they answer, "HELLOOO? HELLOOO?" :mad:

[Deja Q]

26. In terms of a genetic ratio; Chinese and Indians produce more people in general.

So obvious there would be more born over there with higher IQs.

Mind you, with all the increased pollution, especially in China, and if pollution truly is a factor, expect that ratio to worsen...

But let's face incontrovertible fact: The H1B program is still a farce, thanks to how it was misused. It wasn't about utilizing smart people around the world, it's about devaluing work and workers.

[Kalyan]

12. a small step in the positive direction ...

[Skittles]

17. good

I hope it tumbles into non-existence

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

20. +1

[OhioChick]

23. +2

[ardvark]

21. If demand is tumbling, then why are they trying to raise it?

There's 3 trypes of coverage of H-1 in mainstream media

1) Lies

2) Lies

3) and more Lies

[Deja Q]

28. +2 for #3