H-1B Visas to Get More Scrutiny

[OhioChick]

Those of you who participated in our lengthy discussion over hiring H-1B holders vs. U.S. IT pros might find this bit of news interesting.

Kevin Fogarty at eWeek reports that H-1B visas may be harder to come by in the near future. That's because of a recent report claiming that up to one in five H-1B applicants may be fraudulent. In turn, the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (the agency overseeing the program) now plans to tighten its scrutiny over H-1B applications.

Let's review what we already know. H-1B holders typically get paid much less than qualified U.S. IT workers, and plenty of those American techies think their foreign counterparts are subpar. But in a time of economic uncertainty, cheaper labor sounds more appealing than ever.

We'll see what happens. Do you think the government will actually crack down on H-1Bs, or will it continue to be business as usual?

More: http://blogs.cioinsight.com/biztech30/content/it_careers/h-1b_visas_to_get_more_scrutiny.html

Interesting comments follow..

[amdezurik]

1. I beleive they are vastly undercounting

the amount of fraud in the program.

[OhioChick]

2. Agreed. n/t

[Azlady]

6. I agree as well n/t

[Phred42]

3. Thanks for the POST!

:toast:

[desktop]

4. I have worked in an area where H1-Bs completely ruined my career

I know a particular software that was just completely overwhelmed with H1-Bs from India. I have now just given up after years of seeing my rates go down and down until now I can't get a job at all. Rates cut by 75% and the Indians become citizens as fast as they can once here. They now control recruiting, management, and staff, and if you don't believe they don't look to hire their own citizens here in America, you're kidding yourself.

[OhioChick]

7. I'm sorry to hear of your situation, desktop.

This shit has to stop now.

[sledgehammer]

5. Excellent step!

Took about a decade, but finally someone in CIS is embracing the "change" mantra even before 1/20/09.

I think a lot of thanks need to go out to Sen. Durbin and Sen. Grassley for listening to their constituents and introducing bipartisan legislation in the Senate. This has brought the issue to the attention of lots of people in govt.

My only concern is that they seem to be addressing the fraudulent applications from an applicant perspective (fake degrees, etc) - that's where they get the 1 in 5 figure. But they should really address it from the employer perspective as well, specifically the abuse of the prevailing wage requirement (where you will see a fraud rate greater than 1 in 5).

Also, are they going to target L-1s as well? Massive amounts of abuse going on there.

Regardless, a great step in the right direction. But more is needed. And soon.