What I learned about H1B Visas ...

[aggiesal]

I live in San Diego. There are 2 predominate locations where most of the engineering jobs exist, Rancho Bernardo, where HP, Sony, and BAE dominate the area, and Sorrento Valley where, Qualcomm, Motorola (GI), are the major players.

Sorrento Valley is also starting to acquire the nickname "Little Calcutta" because of all the Indian Nationals that now work in the area. Due in no small part from Qualcomm, where the predominate H!B visas are used.

Tonight I learned how Qualcomm, and other large companies are using the loopholes, to get cheaper engineers.
One of the requirements to get an H1B visa is to advertise the position in the US. So, to be able to use an H1B engineer, Qualcomm advertises the job position is some little newspaper where there obviously are not any engineers. So, Qualcomm advertises in say Big Bear Times, or the Po-Dunk Nebraska. You know, those hot beds of Engineering talent. And when no US engineer response to the ad, Qualcomm can now use an H1B engineer. Simple as that. Apparently, there are teams of law firms who are teaching all these H1B abusing corporations how to use these loopholes. This is not surprising, but this is flatly un-American.

We need congress to change the law to close these loopholes. There are plenty of unemployed local engineers that I know could perform some of these jobs.

How do we go about fixing these loopholes?

[lligrd]

1. These Companies Are Killing America And Shooting

themselves in the foot as well. Congress has been on vacation for the last 15 years.

[Liberty Belle]

2. I'm a reporter in San Diego. Can you document this?

[aggiesal]

5. I wish I could, ...

I learned this from a friend who works for Qualcomm.
He told me that he learned this 4 years ago, after
overhearing a hiring manager asking if they had
satisfied the advertising requirement.

My friend told me specifically that in the hiring managers
case above, the response was that they had advertised
in the newspaper serving Big Bear.
Doesn't matter where, because they are never asked.

Also, that Qualcomm its H1B visa allotment by the end of
the 1st quarter.

I'd like to help figure this out, but I wouldn't know where
to begin. How can you get advertising details from companies
like Qualcomm?

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. Here you go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU

[supernova]

10. Thanks!

That's the video I was looking for. :thumbsup:

Interesting to note down in the comments:

"DrGeneNelson (9 months ago)

1995 was the same year that Microsoft retained alwyer-lobbyist (and felon) Jack Abramoff. Abramoff and his team helped Microsoft to procure changes to the H-1B visa program in 1996, 1998, and 2000. Those changes harmed American citizens while enhancing Microsoft's profitability. This author uses the name "Abramove Visa" for the H-1B program. "

Look for other comments by this poster. Interesting.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Another tactic

Advertising a position with an impossible skill set for a low salary.

This morning after church, I talked to the husband of a friend, who has been unemployed for months. He said that he sees ads asking for three skill sets (i.e. what would normally be three jobs)in one person but then paying only for one job.

They keep the same jobs open for months to "prove" that there are no qualified applicants.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. I've seen that. It usually is...

a small business looking to get a tricky frind or relative in. Speaking something like a vague Abyssinian dialect is often a requirement.

For some curious reason, absolutely no one but the relative ever qualifies.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. It's certainly done in academia

One school that I worked in was given a new tenure-track position in Russian. They already had a limited-term instructor whom they liked very much and wanted to give her the job, but they had to advertise, so they wracked their brains to figure out what qualities she had that set her apart.

Well, one of the things that made her such a good teacher was her use of creative dramatics in the classroom.

So there they had their qualification. The advertisement for the tenure-track Russian position stated that the candidate had to have experience in using creative dramatics.

I also saw an advertisement for a Japanese professor in which one of the required qualifications was a high level of accomplishment in calligraphy. In real life, Japanese professors teach the basics of how to write kana and kanji, but artistic calligraphy is a whole other discipline, literally considered an art form in East Asia. I bet that school had someone they wanted to slip into that job, someone who was an expert artistic calligrapher.

[TahitiNut]

4. Don't forget the gaming of the L-1 visa.

The L-1 visa is one of the most flexible and sought-after temporary visas which provides for employment. The purpose of the L-1 visa is to facilitate in the transfer of key employees to the United States from companies that are affiliated with or related to United States corporations. The prior employer/foreign company must be related to the United States company, either as a subsidiary, affiliate or division.

With multinationals, it's a relatively simple matter to play games with subsidiary companies. Indeeed, we're seeing multi-national "contract" employers, where the transfer is mere window-dressing.


It should also be noted that the "quotas" for certain visas have exceptins for people holding OTHER visas, such as the L-1 or student visa. Granting such folks an H-1B, for example, doesn't count against the legislated limits on such visas.

[supernova]

8. There used to be a YouTube vid

edit: Nevermind. Someone else found it.

[VP505]

11. Check out this article on H-1B Visas from The SF Chronicle

They do a pretty good job of explaining what exactly is going on with them.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/12/07/EDGOULJ5BC1.DTL

[aggiesal]

12. And now this story about H1-B Visas

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2873376.cms

[DeadEyeDyck]

13. Ya know, I got mixed feelings about this

From 1999 to late 2000 I worked after school writing banking remmittance software. I was one of about 10 citizens and we had about 60 H1Bs from India. They all came in through a company named Tata. Even the company owner was Canadian so we were pretty diverse. I was still in HS and these guys taught me more programming then I coudl ever hope for.

I once asked the CEO about the H1Bs and he said he would much rather hire local if he could find the same caliber of employee. He said using H1Bs did not save him money and actually cost more but he needed the best. I left in '01 for college and after 9/11 most of the H1Bs dissappeared. Last I heard was that he outsourced to India for development.

I guess it was a matter of the illegal aliens doing work that most Americans wouldn't do and H1Bs doing work that most Americans couldn't do.

[AzDar]

14. Kick ...

:kick: