Posted on 03/11/2008 4:14:43 PM PDT by indthkr
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday sent a letter to the U.S. Homeland Security Dept. quizzing secretary Michael Chertoff about what progress the Bush administration has made toward H-B visa reforms. In his letter, Grassley -- the co-sponsor of a Senate bill last year to counter H-1B visa abuse and fraud -- asked Chertoff for an update on immigration reforms promised last August by the Bush administration.
Specifically, last year Chertoff and Commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez announced that the Dept. of Homeland Security and Dept. of Labor "would study and report on potential administrative reforms to visa programs for highly skilled workers," said Grassley.
However, more than six months have passed since then, and Grassley wants an update on what's been accomplished
"Despite continued fraud and abuse in the H-1B program, I have yet to see one thing from the administration to address the problem," Grassley said. "Everyday we're learning more and more, but it appears that most H-1B visas are going to foreign based companies. U.S. businesses that need highly skilled workers are getting the short end of the stick."
Last year while Congress was hammering out comprehensive immigration reform legislation, Grassley and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced bi-partisan bill to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programs and close loopholes that they allege employers have been exploiting.
That bill, like the larger comprehensive immigration legislation, failed to move forward in Congress.
However, H-1B visa reform is again being whipped up by both sides of the issue.
In recent weeks, the rhetoric has been getting louder from both the anti-H-1B vise and pro- H-1B visa camps. That's because on April 1, the U.S. government begins accepting H-1B visa petitions from employers wanting to hire temporary foreign-born tech workers for fiscal 2009, which starts Oct. 1.
Last April, the U.S government received about 133,000 H-1B visa petitions in two days, about double the 65,000 H-1B visas that can be issued. Up to another 20,000 H-1B visas are also issued annually to foreign students who graduate with advanced degrees from U.S. schools.
The technology industry has long lobbied for increases in the H-1B visa caps. Tomorrow, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is slated to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology on the future of innovation and U.S. competitiveness.
Gates is expected to speak about U.S. competitiveness in the global economy, education and workforce development, as well as urge Congress to raise the H-1B visa cap and reform green card processes to allow for highly skilled workers to remain in the U.S. Calls to Homeland Security for comment on the Grassley letter were not returned by press time.
Expect NOTHING from the Bush adminstration when it comes to properly fixing ANYTHING relative to immigration or foreigners coming across our borders. Washington remains out of control.
Bill Gates is such an ass. The only thing reason he wants the H-1B cap raised is for cheap labor...has nothing to do with "US competitiveness in the global economy" and certainly nothing to do with "education and workforce development". Who's workforce is he developing...China and India?
Ummmm....yeah
Exactly when was it the Government was ever in control of anything that could get in the way of private business making money other than have them jump through a few hoops so the Government could get their cut of the action?
You’re exactly right. I was layed off from a computer contract job right before Christmas. Most of the development staff was H1 Visa (Indians) except for me and 2 other natives.
Been trying to find a job ever since. Every job I have applied for that is posted by an Indian recruiter results in a response that I am not qualified or they don’t return any of my calls. If the recruiter can prove they can’t find a qualified citizen they then can fill the job with an H1 visa.
There is certainly a bias against American IT people versus the H1 visa person. I can tell you that my experience has been that these H1 visa IT people don’t know anymore then an American IT person, and sometimes they know even less.
We are definitely losing our IT jobs quickly thanks to the political elite and the big corporations like Microsoft.
>>We are definitely losing our IT jobs quickly thanks to the political elite and the big corporations like Microsoft.<<
I know what you mean. I don’t even think companies know they are getting a “cheaper worker” because the US workers never make it to the point in the process at which they talk about salary.
Oh well, a middle class is just a pain in the *ss to the elites. All we need are elites and peons.
I see no need to further reduce the attractiveness of a) for a company, being in America and paying US taxes; and b) for a US citizen, considering the IT profession as a way to put food on the table and stay off public assistance.
Domestic technology labor has been sold out big time by the feds. H1-B overstays are not prosecuted, either; I have heard that Indians now make the second largest ethnic bloc of illegal immigrants in the US because of this.
“This is what Bill Gates is fighting — my salary.”
That about sums it up.
“I can tell you that my experience has been that these H1 visa IT people don’t know anymore then an American IT person, and sometimes they know even less.”
True, but they work cheaper, and that’s all that matters to people like Bill Gates.
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