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Based on statements he made during the presidential campaign,... His plans include making the research and development tax credit permanent; reforming immigration rules to let U.S. companies hire and retain workers more easily; increasing broadband access to individuals and to schools, libraries and hospitals...

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice. During his campaign, Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter in American history" and has said generally that the U.S. legal system is equipped to handle the detainees. But he has offered few details on what he planned to do once the facility is closed....

Widespread problems, fraud found in H-1B programU.S. study finds incidents of forged documents, fake degrees, 'shell' companiesAn internal report by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) examining the H-1B visa program has found evidence of forged documents and fake degrees, and even "shell" companies giving addresses of fake locations.The USCIS report, released Wednesday by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), indicates that serious violations of the H-1B program by employers are so common that one in five visas are affected by either fraud or "technical violations." This means that potentially thousands of employers may be violating the rules, some willfully.Employers...

A study finds that 13% of the visa petitions for U.S. employers to bring in skilled foreign workers are fraudulent A report released Oct. 8 by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reveals that 13% of petitions filed for H-1B visas on behalf of employers are fraudulent. Another 8% contain some sort of technical violations. The study, released to members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, marks the first time the agency, part of the Homeland Security Dept., has documented systematic problems with the controversial program. Technology companies, in particular, have come to rely on the H-1B visa program...

Should education and experience always command a high salary? It seems reasonable to think so — yet older employees with advanced degrees may lack the specialized skills needed to satisfy rapidly changing market demand. In perhaps no field is this more true than the tech industry. I recently conducted an e-mail interview with Norm Matloff, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who believes there is widespread age discrimination in the tech industry. (His busy schedule made it impossible to get Matloff on the phone.) In particular, Matloff contends that the tech industry has manufactured a false talent shortage...

The high-priced corporate lobbyists walking Capitol Hill corridors have a new mantra: innovation. They demand that Congress bring in more guest workers, especially from Asia, in order to maintain American innovation supremacy. The lobbyists' backup buzzword is "the best and the brightest." They argue that U.S. workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics are in short supply and we must now import foreign engineers and scientists, i.e., allow the multinationals to bring in an increased or even unlimited number of H-1B visas. Their argument lacks evidence: Economics 101 teaches that shortages in labor or goods produce higher wages or higher...

Comprehensive immigration reform may have eluded the 110th Congress, but House Democrats are still hoping to help two groups of workers — fashion models and computer geeks — who are usually linked only in implausible online fantasies. Under current immigration policy, models coming to the United States for a photo shoot or an event — regardless of how short the stay — compete with high-tech workers for precious H-1B visas. But under a bill that cleared the Judiciary Committee last week, the models would be moved into a separate immigration category, freeing up more H-1B slots for the much-needed nerds....

iGate isn't only 'villain' hiring foreign high-tech workers By Mark Houser TRIBUNE-REVIEW A local high-tech company has put a Pittsburgh face on a national debate about hiring foreign workers. Computer consulting firm iGate Corp. of Findlay paid the Justice Department $45,000 in April to settle charges it discriminated against U.S. workers by posting online job ads seeking foreigners with special visas. The fine for favoring holders of H-1B visas, which go primarily to computer and engineering specialists, is the highest yet, said Justice Department spokeswoman Jamie Hais. Critics say cases such as iGate's are not the only problem with the...

Now that big corporate lobbyists know they can't get amnesty for the millions of cheap laborers they have imported illegally, they are pushing to increase the number of so-called high-skilled workers by raising the cap of H-1B visas. The pressure is on the House of Representatives to pass an increase soon, most likely in the form of the SKIL Act (H.R. 1930), sponsored by Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), usually a conservative ally. There are three reasons why Big Business wants to increase foreign workers: * H-1Bers are paid much less than Americans * The influx of H-1Bers depresses the "prevailing...

...ated in 1990, H1-B visas allow companies to sponsor highly educated foreigners -- architects, doctors, engineers, scientists among them -- to work in the United States for at least three years. The H1-B program, which accounts for nearly all skilled immigrants admitted to work here each year, is capped annually at 65,000 for people with a bachelor's degree or higher, plus an additional 20,000 for those with a master's degree or higher. Skilled immigrants have long contributed to rising U.S. standards of living. They bring human capital, brimming with ideas for new technologies and new companies. They bring financial capital...

U.S. unemployment may be a concern, but tech companies are telling Congress they need more skilled workers from overseas. With the Apr. 1 application deadline for H-1B specialty worker visas looming, tech giants like Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), and Google (GOOG) are stepping up efforts to raise the cap on the number of visa workers they can have access to each year. Microsoft's Bill Gates argued in Congress (BusinessWeek.com, 3/12/08) for the second straight year that there's a severe shortfall in U.S. science and engineering talent, and predicted that for the fifth straight year the cap for worker visas would...

Thank you for contacting me to share your views on increasing the number of H-1B visas. I appreciate hearing from you. Like most countries of the world, the United States limits the type and number of foreign workers who can enter our country. As you know, H-1B visas are used by foreign nationals who will be employed temporarily in a specialty occupation due to their skilled knowledge. H-1B visas have several safeguards for not displacing American workers, such as requiring employers to attest to the lack of an available U.S. worker with proper skills and requiring employers to pay a...

Microsoft today praised a bill introduced in the U.S. Congress that would double the number of immigrant worker visas available each year under the H-1B program. The Innovation Employment Act, introduced by Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, late Thursday, would increase the cap in H-1B visas from 65,000 a year to 130,000 a year. In addition, there would be no cap on H-1B applications for foreign graduate students attending U.S. colleges and studying science, technology and related fields. Currently, there's a 20,000-a-year cap on visas for graduate students in all fields. The legislation would increase the H-1B cap to...

US high-tech companies are being forced to outsource more jobs overseas because of outdated restrictions on immigration, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told Congress Wednesday. Gates, echoing a longstanding complaint from the technology sector, told a congressional panel that the US immigration system "makes attracting and retaining high-skilled immigrants exceptionally challenging for US firms." "Congress's failure to pass high-skilled immigration reform has exacerbated an already grave situation," Gates said in remarks prepared for delivery to a hearing of the House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee. "As a result, many US firms, including Microsoft, have been forced to locate staff in...

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...

The Offshoring of America's Top Jobs Many of America's top jobs are moving offshore. Which jobs are most likely to be hit by "offshoring" and what can you do to protect and safeguard your career?Jobs that are most likely to be moved offshore have these Characteristics: Work is highly repetitive (accounting) Work is predictable and well defined (customer service) Can be broken down into small manageable projects (software development) Can be turned into a routine (Tele-marketing) Proximity to the end customer is not important (phone based tech support of consumer products) End customer has already moved offshore (semiconductor sales) Jobs...

Immigration Moves Eyed; House Democrats Ponder an Election-Year Bill Steven T. Dennis, ROLL CALL STAFF House Democrats are crafting scaled-down immigration reform legislation despite the political minefields that surround the issue, with Hispanic Members seeking five-year visas for illegal immigrants who pay fines and pass criminal background checks. Immigration reform had been left for dead after last year's Senate train wreck, but pressures for at least stopgap immigration legislation have bubbled up within the Democratic Caucus. It's unclear if the behind-the-scenes discussions will actually result in a bill coming to the floor, but Democrats say drafts of legislation already have...

Countering the rancour in the West against outsourcing of jobs, the chairman of IT major Wipro [Get Quote] has said India was not stealing their jobs and its businesses were moving into developed countries, which did not have enough skilled graduates to compete in the global economy. "What is of concern is how serious a shortage of technical talent is building up in the western world. Global companies are going to where not enough young boys and girls are getting into math, science and engineering. That trend is not being reversed," Azim Premji said. Premji said that as Wipro expands...

December 21, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Five years ago, some unemployed IT workers in Connecticut formed an advocacy group to fight against the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. The group's strategy was old-fashioned for the Internet Age, relying on face-to-face lobbying to reach out to federal lawmakers. And the group, called The Organization for the Rights of American Workers (TORAW), was successful in getting visa-reform legislation introduced in Congress. But now TORAW is disbanding, according to John Bauman, president of the Meriden, Conn.-based group. Bauman said this week that he has made 16 trips to Washington this year and met with...

One myth dogging the immigration debate is that employers are fibbing (or grossly exaggerating) when they claim that hiring foreign professionals is unavoidable because U.S.-born Ph.D.s are hard to come by. But a new report on doctorates from U.S. universities shows they're telling the truth, and then some. Foreign-born students holding temporary visas received 33% of all research doctorates awarded by U.S. universities in 2006, according to an annual survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. That number has climbed from 25% in 2001. But more to the point of business competitiveness, foreign students comprised...

Signs with the words "U.S. citizens and permanents only" greeted students at employers' booths at a recent career fair at Duke University, where I teach. In previous years only government jobs requiring security clearances were labeled off-limits to international students. Foreign-born engineering graduates told me they were disappointed that employers like General Electric, IBM, and Carmax as well as smaller companies would not even interview them. Recruiters told me they were frustrated that they could not fill critical positions. They have few options because the visas they need to hire foreign nationals simply aren't available. This visa shortage is a...

Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage Testimony to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration Dr. Norman Matloff Department of Computer Science University of California at Davis Davis, CA 95616 (530) 752-1953 matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu ©1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Presented April 21, 1998; updated February 4, 2002 Contents 1  Executive Summary and Frequently Asked Questions     1.1  Summary: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)         1.1.1  List of FAQs About the H-1B Program         1.1.2  List of FAQs About the Claims of a High-Tech Labor Shortage         1.1.3  List of FAQs About Difficulties Faced by Older Tech Workers         1.1.4  Answers to the FAQs2  The...

WASHINGTON: A leading Republican Presidential hopeful has thrown his weight behind the H1B visa programme stressing that bringing high skilled workers on a permanent basis to the US will be beneficial to the economy. Former Massachusetts Gover Mitt Romney has said that while he is in favour of increasing the quota for H1B visa, a majority of whose aspirants are Indians, the exact figures would depend on a number of things including the strength of the US economy and the implications for the local workforce. “I like H1B visas. I like the idea of the best and brightest in the...

Is there really a labor shortage, or are tech companies lobbying Congress for more visas and green cards simply to avoid paying Americans better wages? With a B.S. in computer science, an M.A. in information systems management, and 20 years of experience, Rennie Sawade would appear to be a strong candidate for a job as a software development engineer. But all the 44-year-old can find these days are short-term, temporary jobs—like the 15-month contract he's currently on at a Seattle-based medical device company. At Microsoft, the most prominent employer in town, he's had contract jobs and even interviews for permanent...

Hurrah for labour shortages Sep 6th 2007 From Economist.com To keep farm workers, pay them better “LABOUR shortage” is one of the most nonsensical phrases ever coined. Real shortages happen outside the market economy: armies run short of ammunition; sailing ships may lack wind. But with six billion people on the planet, labour is not in short supply. What “labour shortage” means is that employers can’t find workers with the right skills at a price they like. Similar shortages are reported of Rembrandts, lobsters and nice houses in London. Nonetheless, the news that British farmers are complaining of a “labour...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has joined 12 of his colleagues in calling on congressional leaders to increase the availability of visas for highly skilled workers. In a letter sent Tuesday to Democratic and Republican leaders, the governors say their states face a critical shortage of highly skilled professionals in math and science. Until this shortage is addressed, the governors wrote, “we must recognize that foreign talent has a role to play in our ability to keep companies located in our state and country.” “While wholesale immigration reform may not be possible in the 110th Congress, we urge congressional action...

Don't tell Michael Tock about an IT skills shortage. He is living proof that one doesn't exist, he said. Tock, a graduate of Robert Morris College, in Chicago, said he applied for at least 75 technical positions over a two-and-a-half-year period after graduating with a bachelor's degree in computer studies with a concentration in networking. He is also a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate). "Employers never told me why they did not hire me," Tock said. "I have only had maybe five interviews over that two-and-a-half-year period." Tock, of Melrose Park, Ill., finally landed a $12-per-hour job at a Cisco...

Businesses looking for H1-B employees can now do a job-search in secrecy and hire foreign workers without considering American candidates. If they were required to operate openly, American job-seekers would have a better chance and public pressure might lead to a change in company policy. This is a letter I sent to my congressman and Rep. Tancredo, and I ask you to do the same (after editing the first paragraph to fit your personal circumstances), and to send a shorter version to the editor of your local newspaper. Dear Mr. Tancredo: My husband was recently laid off. Many of the...

David Rosenberg isn't buying it. He is one of a number of economists who say the concerns about too few workers are vastly overblown. Rosenberg recently studied the issue and put out a report entitled Is There a Labor Shortage? ... The issue may not be the number of workers, but rather the level of pay. ... argue that in a market economy, there's really no such thing as a true shortage. If you want more of something, you can ... have it. When employers say that there's a worker shortage ... they can't get enough workers at the price...

In the video you will see a panel discussion that could be a sit-down with "the families" on "The Sopranos," only instead of talking about the nitty-gritty of organized crime these lawyers are discussing the ins and outs of helping employers side-step immigration law. What's particularly striking is how matter-of-fact they are about dishing this advice. The objective, says Lawrence Lebowitz, vice president of marketing at Cohen & Grigsby, couldn't be more straightforward: "Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified U.S. worker . . . our objective is to get this person a green card," Lebowitz tells his...

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is wooing wealthy entrepreneurs with ties to India, seeking to tap the growing political clout of Indian-Americans in California's Silicon Valley. Clinton spoke by live video feed from New Orleans to nearly 4,000 businessmen attending the annual alumni conference of the Indian Institute of Technology. Clinton, the only Republican or Democratic presidential candidate to accept an invitation from the IIT, reiterated her call for more H-1B work visas for highly educated immigrants. It is an issue of deep concern to the Indian and Indian-American executives and engineers in the audience. But she did not...

July 06, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- Microsoft Corp. plans to open a software development center in Vancouver, British Columbia, later this year, partly as a way to recruit and retain talented workers who can't get into or stay in the U.S. because of immigration laws. The software vendor announced the plans Thursday, saying that the new Microsoft Canada Development Centre will open this fall and be staffed by developers "from around the world." Microsoft, along with other high-tech companies, has been a vocal supporter of legislation that would increase the number of foreign workers allowed to enter the U.S....

A global IT company with a work force in Bloomington agreed to pay $#2.4 million to visa workers whom a federal agency claimed were underpaid compared to U.S. worers. India based Patni Computer Systems will pay an average of about $4,000 each to 607 employees for work performned in 32 states in 2004 and 2005, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor. Patni, which has more than 12,000 clients globally, employes more than 400 workers in Bloomington, and analysts for serveral investment firmst list State Farm Insurance Cos. as one of the company's largest U.S. clients....

A prominent Pittsburgh law firm has become embroiled in a controversy over a video posted on the Internet that depicts one of the firm's lawyers explaining how to work around U.S. laws to obtain visas for foreign employees. The segment highlights portions of a seminar conducted by the Downtown firm of Cohen & Grigsby. The footage, which included an attorney telling participants "our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker," quickly became immersed in the national immigration debate, drew the ire of powerful U.S. lawmakers and angered a top Pennsylvania labor official. "After watching the...

"Our goal is clearly NOT to find a qualified U.S. worker....our objective is to get this person a green card...so certainly we are NOT going to try to find a place where applicants world be most numerous." Lawrence M. Lebowitz - Vice President of Marketing - Cohen & Grigsby

Want to hire cheaper foreign workers instead of Americans? A lawyer tells you how to game the immigration system—and it's all on YouTube The video looks as though it could have been shot at almost any sleepy corporate seminar in the country, with one camera panning between a man in a suit and tie standing at a podium and others seated nearby. But the dialogue is riveting: It's a group of lawyers openly discussing strategies for helping their clients pretend that they're trying to recruit American workers—as required by law—while they, in fact, hire cheaper foreign workers.

YouTube bites again. A law firm's attempt to get positive exposure for an immigration law conference by posting it on You Tube backfired when an organization that's been tough on H-1B visas and offshore outsourcing copied it and made a controversial video of its own. In the original video, posted by the firm Cohen & Grigsby from a May 15 conference, an attorney is shown advising attendees on how to meet the minimum requirements of advertising a job to U.S. candidates so that a foreign worker can more easily be hired. The firm's conference dealt with the U.S. government's labor...

OK, fellow Freepers, try not to throw your computer through the wall! Many apologies if this has been posted already, but I searched "Illegal Immigration", "Dobbs" and "Cohen & Grigsby" before posting this YouTube video; and just in case, I couldn't let this pass... This, IMHO, is the epitome of digusting, traitorous attorneys at work. This is a clip of a legal seminar on how to exclude qualified U.S. citizens from legitimate job postings in their own country. Who are these people!!!?!??!?! I have to say, that I am absolutely ashamed of the fact that I share the same hometown...

I was watching this unbelievably digusting story this morning on Fox News and I haven't been able to find any mention of it here on FR or on the Fox News web site. A law firm was filmed giving a seminar on how to bypass American applicants so they could bring in less expensive foreign labor under the H1B visa program!! They were giving tips on how to make it appear that a review of the American applicant's resume did not fit the job description so they could reject every single applicant and work on getting a green card for...

June 21, 2007 (Computerworld) -- WASHINGTON -- That explosive H-1B YouTube video offering advice on how to hire foreign workers instead of Americans has gotten the attention of U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-Iowa), and Rep. Lamar Smith, (R-Texas), who called it evidence of abuse of the visa program. Both men want a federal investigation and are seeking answers from the law firm that posted the original video on YouTube. In a letter to U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Grassley and Smith characterized the video as "exposing the blatant disregard for American workers and deliberate attempt to bring in...

IT professionals criticize a law firm's video play-by-play description on how to circumvent the PERM process in favor of H-1B visas. YouTube bites again. A law firm's attempt to get positive exposure for an immigration law conference by posting it on You Tube backfired when an organization that's been tough on H-1B visas and offshore outsourcing copied it and made a controversial video of its own. In the original video, posted by the firm Cohen & Grigsby from a May 15 conference, an attorney is shown advising attendees on how to meet the minimum requirements of advertising a job to...

http://www.youtube.com/v/TCbFEgFajGU

Despite the Senate's failure to act on sweeping immigration legislation, the technology industry still sees comprehensive reform as the best way to get more H-1B visas for foreign engineers and computer programmers, and to reduce the backlog for green cards. Demand for H-1B visas, which allow highly skilled foreigners to work in the United States for six years, dramatically exceeds supply. The federal government received 150,000 petitions for fiscal 2008's allotment of 65,000 H-1B visas on the first day it accepted applications. This visa shortage hurts companies like Google Inc., where H-1B visa holders account for 8 percent of its...

Jobs Americans Won't Do, Part DCCLXIX [Mark Krikorian] The indefatigable Norm Matloff, a computer science professor at UC Davis, pointed me to this video of an immigration lawyer explaining to clients how to pretend to look for American workers in such a way as to make sure they don't actually find any (it's at about 7:55). The law firm may take the video down once it gets some publicity, so here's the nut graf: And our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker. And you know in a sense that sounds funny, but it's what...

Interview of Robert Sanchez by Kurt HydeAmericans have regularly been forced by their employers to train the foreigners who would be taking over their jobs. Fox News reported on a particularly tragic example of job displacement that took place in 2003: “Kevin Flanagan, a computer programmer with Bank of America, was fired from his job after being forced to train his replacement, an Indian worker who was taking over Flanagan’s job as part of Bank of America’s effort to replace its American workforce with foreign labor. Flanagan walked outside into his office parking lot and shot himself to death.” The...

EE Times: Semi News With The H-1B Visa Cap Filled In Record Time, Reform Is In The Air http://i.cmpnet.com/infoweek/1133/133NAfiles_r_110.jpg Marianne Kolbasuk McGee Page 1 of 3 InformationWeek (04/07/2007 12:00 AM EDT) For both critics and supporters of the H-1B visa, two days last week revealed everything you need to know about the foreign worker program, one of the most controversial topics in business technology. In the first two days that the U.S. government accepted applications for H-1B work visas, 133,000 envelopes poured in with applications seeking 65,000 openings. The crush was enough that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services cut off...

Sona Shah is an American citizen, but has trouble getting technology jobs because of visiting workers from her former country, India. (Photo by Noah Addis) India-Born American Battles Visa Program BY PHILIP READ [Montclair, NJ] -- Sona Shah didn't need flow charts or fancy diagrams to make her point during a U.S. Senate subcommittee briefing earlier this year. She just needed her cell phone. First, she dialed the number listed in a "Help Wanted" ad for a computer programmer. Then she let everyone listen to the ensuing conversation. "I said, `Hi. I'm an American citizen. I'm looking for a...

US Work Visa Battles   Aired: Monday, April 09, 2007 10-11AM ET By host Tom Ashbrook: America's hard conversation on immigration tends to focus on illegal desert border crossings and low-paid, low-skilled workers. But there's another end of the immigration debate. Highly-educated, high-skilled largely high-tech workers from abroad that the American industry says it desperately needs to compete. Tens of thousands already come every year. Business says it needs more of the planet's best and brightest. Opponents say the program is abused, and the US should educate its own high-tech talent. This hour On Point: the high end of the...

At the heart of the sprawling corporate campus, in a hilltop building overlooking the immaculately shorn lawns, the sports fields and the hypermodern theater complex, young engineers crowd into a classroom. They are India's best and brightest, with stellar grades that launched them into a high-tech industry growing at more than 25 percent annually. And their topic of the day? Basic telephone skills. "Hello?" one young man says nervously, holding his hand to his ear like a phone. "Hello? I'd like to leave a message for Number 17. Can I do that?" Nearly two decades into India's phenomenal growth as...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - T.J. Rodgers, chief executive of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., had a simple solution to the hassles of getting visas for foreign engineers he needed to run his $1 billion business. "When I hire an Indian PhD today, I hire him in Bangalore, not San Jose. Now I can hire all I want and not have to worry about the vagaries of government decrees," Rodgers said. "They've made it less tenable to do business here, so we do business elsewhere," Rodgers told Reuters in an interview. News this week that the U.S. immigration service hit its annual quota...