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"This is a loophole for
big companies to hire cheap indentured labor."
Rep. Ron Klink (D, PA)
Related Links
Debunking the Myth of a
Desperate Software Labor Shortage
Petition to abolish the H1-B
The H1-B Visa Hall of Shame
Programmer's Guild
|
The DAA H1-B Visa Page
Those of you who have been reading my pages over the years know that
I have opposed increases in the H1-B Visa program. This program allows
companies to import temporary workers (six year maximum) who are bound to
their companies. In other words, it's a modern form of indentured
servitude. I became interested in this issue after seeing John Bailye's
picture in the Newark Star Ledger next to
an article
about lobbying for an increase in the number of visas issued each year. I
wrote a letter to the editor of the
Star Ledger which they published.. John
Bailye then e-mailed me with a response which you can see here. Of
course, I couldn't let it go, so I replied.
Here you will find articles and information regarding this program
which takes jobs away from American workers and keeps salaries artificially
low.
9/21/00
Do High Tech firms need imported workers? from USA Today
Yes by Scott McNealy
No by John Miano
USA Today presents two view on their op-ed page on the whether to raise
the number of visa to 200,000 per year. Scott McNealy, Chairman &
CEO of Sun Microsystems presents the pro case, and John Miano, chairman of the Programmer's Guild
tries to make the case against. Frankly, I think they both do a pretty
poor job of making their points. I'm currently working on a letter to
the editor of USA Today, hoping to do a much better job.
9/19/00
A Worn Out Welcome Mat from the Washington Post
An article profiling an H1-B recipient whose six years are up. Since he
hasn't gotten a green card, he has been forced to sell his home, and
relocate to Canada for a year. About 40,000 others will be required to
leave the country as their visas have expired. Further proof that the
H1-B program is a bad deal all around, for immigrants and citizens
both.
9/19/00
High Tech Cheap Labor from the Washington Post
Norman Matloff, professor of Computer Science at UC Davis, provides yet
more examples of the lies being told by supporters of increasing the
H1-B visa cap. Matloff is also the author of Debunking the Myth of a
Desperate Software Labor Shortage which I have linked previously.
9/7/00
Questioning the Labor Shortage from The New York Times
Another article proving that "the crisis is a mirage." A good counterargument
to the tired "High Tech Worker Shortage" lies that are told by those that
are merely trying to import low cost labor.
7/26/00
Tech Visas bogged down from The San Jose Mercury News
Chances of passage of yet another increase in the number of H1-B visas
are declining with Congress about to recess for the conventions.
Anything can happen after Congress returns with the elections looming.
The usual FUD is spread about how projects will have to be cancelled,
shortage of manpower, yada, yada, yada. Of course there's no mention of
how companies manipulate the requirements of a position to "prove" that
there are no qualified Americans.
7/13/00
H1-B Visa
Fight Escalating from Wired News
It's nice to know that I'm not alone in opposing this insatiable demand for
indentured servants by corporate America. The article talks about a
couple of online efforts to organize opposition to the current proposals
to double the number of visas issued each year. There is a
petition drive which sponsored
by the Programmer's
Guild and American Engineering
Association. Neither of these groups appears to be particularly well
funded or organized, judging by their web sites. But hey, mine's not going
to win any prizes either.
While you're surfing check out the
H1-B Hall of Shame which is
excellent and contains a search engine so you can look up how many H1-B visas
your company (or DRTE) applied for. I'm not sure how up to date the
information is, the application data only seems to go thru 1998 in the searches
I've run so far.
4/13/00
H1-B Visas
a Grade A Problem from Wired News
From the other side of the fence, an article describing some of the problems
encountered by H1-B Visa holders when they try to switch jobs. It seems the
INS can take up to 5 months to process a request to transfer a H1-B visa
from one company to another. Meanwhile, the person holding the H1-B is unable
to work during this period.
4/7/00
Too Many High-Tech Visas Doled Out Last Year from the New York
Times
It seems that the geniuses at the INS managed to issue more than 20,000 more
H1-B visas than the law allows this year. The number of visa is currently
capped at 115,000 per year. "The taxpayers would be well-served by remedial
math training for top managers at the INS," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas,
who chairs the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee. |
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times.