Sen. Durbin plans to press for H-1B restrictions

[OhioChick]

Source: Computerworld

llinois Democrat says he's uncertain whether H-1B visas will be part of the latest comprehensive immigration plan

January 28, 2013 05:27 PM ET

Computerworld - WASHINGTON - The comprehensive immigration proposal being fashioned in the U.S. Senate may give new opportunity for H-1B critics to try to impose new restrictions on the visa. Then again, it may not. The situation is murky.

The Senators who developed the chamber's latest comprehensive immigration effort outlined their framework at a press conference Monday, but offered few details about how their plan would actually work or what will be included in their bill.

A leading critic of the H-1B visa, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill), one of the eight senators drafting the comprehensive plan, said he didn't know whether the H-1B visa will be included in the bill.

Durbin, along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), have sought a number of restrictions on temporary worker visas.

Read more: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236287/Sen._Durbin_plans_to_press_for_H_1B_restrictions

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Snip~ "Durbin said that he and Grassley want provisions that would "give Americans the first chance for the job."

[ChromeFoundry]

1. K&R

Durbin

[twins.fan]

22. Two years ago, Schumer had a Kangaroo Court Hearing on the H-1B visa

It would be nice if Senator Durbin would AT LEAST insure that the hearing was legit, but that probably is asking too much for the MILKTOAST Durbin.

The only way that we can insure that the work visa receives a legitimate hearing is to watch over it ourselves.

Schumer is a corporate SHILL!

Plus, look at Sant Singh Chatwal. He is spreading a TON OF MONEY to Shumer, the Clintons, and the rest of the Democratic Party.

http://www.immigrationdirect.com/immigration-articles/senators-working-on-bipartisan-bill-to-allow-more-u-s-visas-for-indians/index.html

[twins.fan]

23. Schumer, Chatwal, and the Clintons are pushing the H-1B visas

Bill Cinton and Sant Singh Chatwal visited India together and the Indian authorities arrested Chatwal for his shenanigans at the Bank of New York where Chatwal had maneuvered himself onto the board of directors where he loaned himself and his "associates" $38 million that he never repaid. The FDIC made the depositors whole.

Chatwal, Chuck Schmer, the Clintons and Barack Obama have been working on H-1B visas together.

[twins.fan]

24. Chatwal made the nuclear transfer to India happen via his "friendship" Schumer and Clinton

His drinking buddies include America's top politicians.

He openly declares that he's the man behind the Indo-US nuclear deal.

For someone who left India four decades ago and has been living in America for years, he still speaks English with a heavy Punjabi accent and makes an extra effort to stay connected with the city of his origin, Faridkot in Punjab.

He has no family left in Faridkot, but his secretary in New York has clear instructions that anybody calling from the town should be put through to him immediately.

Tall, well-past 60, New York-based hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal is a combination of contrasts — a globe-trotting businessman with strong political connections and an earthy Punjabi who enjoys eating sarson ka saag.

On this cold January afternoon, he's also chosen to dress in high contrast. He's wearing blood red leather shoes with a formal navy blue pinstripe suit.

[midnight]

2. PERM Fake Job Ads defraud Americans looking for work.

Americans are defrauded with murky for a profit...

&feature=player_embedded

[The Hitman]

9. And so how do you propose a business be able to sponsor someone for a Green Card

If we can't test the labor market for a shortage?

[antigop]

3. Thanks, OhioChick. Let's keep the pressure on them. nt

[antigop]

4. K&R nt

[Auntie Bush]

5. I know a guy from Wales that was an absolutely fantastic outstanding wiz of a Mechanic.

He saw an ad in the paper that fit him to a tee. Told he couldn't have it till no Americans applied. So they rewrote the ad and demanded many more requirements...no Americans even applied...he got the job!

[Skittles]

6. if they cannot pimp them out they pimp them in

[JDPriestly]

7. Something has to change. We don't need those visas at all.

[The Hitman]

8. Immigration lawyer here

This is a terrible idea. We're going to be losing American-trained foreign students left and right.

[OhioChick]

10. More American students with jobs is a win for both the US and our tax base, long-term.

[The Hitman]

19. Indeed

and that includes keeping foreign trained students here.

[OhioChick]

20. H-1B visas are not a path to citizenship n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

11. SO your argument is...

Americans are not smart enough to perform in these jobs? (Per: MSFT, GOOG, APPL, etc)
Yet, Americans training foreigners in American schools, to compete for these American jobs, leaving the country, is what concerns you?
Maybe if we just focused on getting advanced education more affordable to citizens with aptitude, even without being able to run around with a basketball or football.. then there would be an abundance of talent available to solve the worlds problems.

Oh, but that will never work - there is no money in that from a legal perspective.
Maybe the solution is to have less lawyers - their only purpose is to complicate the facts and twist half truths anyways.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

13. From my experience in I.T., Americans are smart enough ...

... just not cheap enough.

There are exceptional H1B's: PhD's, common sense, good communications. But not many.

[LisaLynne]

14. Why do they have to be cheap? nt

[beerandjesus]

15. Beat me to it

As a San Francisco expat, I'll attest to the fact that these "skill shortages" due to only to cheapness and laziness (in terms of willingness to train) on the part of employers. There are lots of unemployed American tech workers, junior, senior, and mid-level, who are brimming over with potential.

Seriously, I've seen this up close and it's ugly, not just in terms of the American market, but also in terms of how H1Bs get treated. They're underpaid, overworked, HR violations up the ass, living in dorms or similar ad-hoc situations, and they don't dare protest because they're basically indentured servants. I've worked with Indians who were idiots, sure, but I've also worked with Indians who were brilliant, whom I've very proud to have known. But with few exceptions, they were putting up with shit that would make you sick.

[The Hitman]

16. You dont understand how H-1B works

You dont have to show a shortage to get an H-1B approved. Nor should you.

You do have to pay the prevailing wage or the wage paid to Americans, whichever is higher.

If employers are violating the system, report them to the U.S. Dept of Labor. Not only are there whistleblower protections, but it is something that DOL takes very very seriously.

[The Hitman]

18. This is not how H-1B works.

H-1B beneficiaries must be paid the higher of whatever the company pays to US workers, or whatever the prevailing wage is.

If foreign labor is cheaper than US labor in your company, report the company.

[OhioChick]

21. That is precisely how it works (cheaper labor)

H-1B workers earn less than American counterparts, report says

The visa holders are supposed to be paid prevailing wages

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- H-1B visa IT workers earn on average $13,000 less than their American counterparts, according to a study of U.S. Department of Labor records released by the Center for Immigration Studies.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/107442/H_1B_workers_earn_less_than_American_counterparts_report_says

Study: H1B Visas Lower US Programmer Pay

Our estimates indicate that H-1B admissions at the current levels are associated with a 5-6% drop in wages for computer programmers and systems analysts. Offshoring appears to lower the wages of a slightly broader class of IT workers, including IT managers, by about 3%. These effects are larger for employees exposed to external labor market forces, such as new graduates or job-hoppers.

http://hothardware.com/News/Study-H1B-Visas-Lower-US-Programmer-Pay/

I'm sure that you can easily find more info out there to confirm this. Google is your friend.

[antigop]

28. Norman Matloff: The H-1B work visa is fundamentally about cheap, de facto indentured labor.

http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/h1b.html

The tech industry lobbyists portray H-1B as a remedy for labor shortages and as a means of hiring "the best and the brightest" from around the world. Though I strongly support that latter goal, the lobbyists' claims are not valid.

The vast majority of H-1Bs, including those hired from U.S. universities, are ordinary people doing ordinary work, not the best and the brightest. On the contrary, the average quality of the H-1Bs is LOWER than that of the Americans.

Furthermore, vast majority of H-1Bs, again including those hired from U.S. universities are not doing work for which qualifed Americans are unavailable.

Instead of being about talent, H-1B is about cheap, immobile labor:

Employers accrue Type I wage savings by paying H-1Bs less than comparable Americans (U.S. citizens and permanent residents).

Employers accrue Type II wage savings by hiring younger, thus cheaper, H-1Bs in lieu of older, thus more expensive (age 35+) Americans.

Both types of wage savings are fully LEGAL, due to loopholes in the law and regulations. The problem is NOT one of lack of enforcement.

For many tech employers, having immobile workers is even more important than having cheap labor. If an engineer leaves an employer in the midst of an urgent project, this can be a major problem for the employer. The H-1B and green card programs give the employer heavy leverage to force workers to stay.

Abuse of H-1B extends across the industry including the large U.S. mainstream firms., facilitated by the nation's top immigration law firms. It does NOT occur primarily in the Indian " body shops," and it DOES occur in the hiring of international students from U.S. university campuses.

[OhioChick]

29. Interestingly enough, DHS has no idea of how many H-1B's are even here

"Among the changes the GAO is seeking is better accounting of H-1B use. The government doesn't know how many H-1B workers there are in the U.S. or how many stay after their visas expire, the watchdog agency said.

The senators wrote, "We are deeply troubled that DHS has no idea how many H-1B visa holders are working in the United States at a time when millions of Americans are unemployed."

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9207458/Senate_s_H_1B_foes_begin_new_attack

[cstanleytech]

12. Here is an idea.

Make it so the companies have to prove they made every effort to find someone qualified who would do the work and if they lie and or didnt try then they have to pay 1% more in corporate taxes for each offense with no cap and no loopholes out of paying for it.

[The Hitman]

17. Or not

Lets not make an already super restrictive system more so.

[GoHomeVisa]

25. Time to get busy

put the steam on, petition your rep's - they work for you! Help kill this toxic crap legislation, end this proposed nonsense H1b increase

[OhioChick]

26. Even U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren thinks they are undercutting the US workforce

"At a 2011 House hearing on H-1B visa issues, U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said she had asked the Labor Dept. for a report the average wage for computer system analysts in her district. The result: $92,000 overall for entry level workers, but department also reported that the entry level rate prevailing wage rate for an H-1B worker was $52,000. "We can't have people coming in and undercutting the American educated workforce -- that is just a problem," Lofgren said."

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236396/What_will_an_H_1B_cap_hike_bring_to_U.S._

[GoHomeVisa]

27. ?????

so why is she being such a dummy now ?????