US body seeks amendments to increase H1B visa

[OhioChick]

Source: Zee News

Washington, July 27: Throwing its weight behind crucial amendments seeking to increase the H1B visa cap to 1,15,000, the US chamber of commerce has urged lawmakers to provide relief to companies dependent on highly skilled workers to help them compete in the global market.

The highly influential chamber representing several American companies that bring in thousands of highly skilled workers into the country said the inability of firms to bring highly educated workers and students into the US severely hurts their ability to compete internationally.

"... The H-1B visa cap was hit for the ninth time on the first day visas were available for fiscal year 2008. There has also been a backlog of employment based (EB) green cards," the chamber said.

"these shortages and inefficient processes often force companies to move some operations to other countries so that they are able to recruit the workers they need. It is imperative that reforms to the H-1B visa programme and the Eb green card system occur this year, allowing the Us businesses to remain competitive," it added.

"Amendment 2428 would provide an interim solution for companies and organisations in need of highly skilled workers by raising the H-1B cap to 115,000 for 2008. It would also recapture unused EB green cards from previous fiscal years, and make them available to help alleviate the current backlogs. These provisions would provide a needed short-term fix to the system," the chamber argued.


Read more: http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=385382&sid=NAT&ssid=&news=US%20body%20seeks%20amendments%20to%20increase%20H1B%20visa

[candice]

1. What about H-1B's for American workers over 40?

And weren't the top ten companies demanding foreign workers already heavily invested abroad?

[Bitwit1234]

2. Darn not only is bush - for the benefit of HIS corporation buddies

sending all the good paying and benefit jobs overseas, they now want to put foreigners in the jobs that are left. Thereby cutting the middle class out of any opportunity to make a decent living. What in the hell is wrong with bush...is he really an American or some silt monster from outer space.

[antigop]

3. And Ted Kennedy wants to rev up the h1-b program

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003668844_harrop17.html

>>
A provision for revving up the H-1B program is contained in the immigration bill that last year passed the Senate. The co-sponsors, Democrat Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Republican John McCain of Arizona, have contended that their legislation requires employers to search for U.S. workers first. It does not.
>>

Thanks for nothing, Ted.

[BearSquirrel2]

4. "searching"

Searching means you put an ad online. You leave it there for a year. Then plenty of Americans who have been laid off after already being replaced by some foreigner scratch their head while their resumes go ignored for the position. At the end of one year, the position is unfilled so the company can now state that they could not find an American to do it.

The "qualifications" for these jobs is that you have to do it at half the price of an American. The program requires that hires work at "market wages" but these individuals are effectively indentured to the corporation that sponsors them and no enforcement is done to ensure that the numbers put on the H1-B visa are those that are actually paid.

Congress got snookered in the 90s when the software industry claimed it did not have enough workers. The result was the importation of massive numbers of foreign workers. This mass importation is what ALLOWED the companies to subsequently outsource their businesses as these workers could then follow the work home.

I'm disappointed in Ted Kennedy. He talks about education, but who wants to spend money to have the wages of high paying fields massacred by foreign imports. Why not just be a plumber?

[OhioChick]

5. I'm Disappointed in Kennedy, as Well.

What ever happened to this?


Senate bill gives Americans preference for tech jobs
Published: April 3, 2007, 1:14 PM PDT

update High-tech companies and others clamoring for additional H-1B visas to hire foreigners would be forced to give priority to American job seekers under a new U.S. Senate proposal.

Just before Congress departed for its spring recess at the end of last week, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced a bill--which appears to be the first of its kind in the Senate--designed to curb abuse of the controversial worker visa system.

"Our immigration policy should seek to complement our U.S. workforce, not replace it," Durbin said in a statement.

Dating back to 1990, the H-1B program allows foreigners with at least a bachelor's degree in their area of specialty to be employed in the United States for up to six years. There's currently an annual cap of 65,000 visas, at least on paper, with up to 20,000 extras available for foreigners who earn advanced degrees from U.S. universities. (Various exemptions bump the total allotment to just above 100,000.)

The 32-page Senate bill would impose a host of additional obligations on employers. They would be required to pledge that they made a "good faith" effort to hire an American before taking on an H-1B worker and that the foreigner was not displacing a prospective U.S. worker.

Employers would also have to advertise job openings for 30 days on the Department of Labor's Web site before making H-1B visa applications, and they would be prohibited from advertising positions only to H-1B holders.

In addition, companies with 50 or more workers would not be allowed to employ more than half of their staff through H-1B visas.
In an attempt to discourage employers from hiring foreigners at lower wages than their American counterparts would command, employers would have to pay all H-1B workers the "prevailing wage," as calculated by a different method that raises the minimum to a higher level than it currently stands.


http://news.com.com/Senate+bill+gives+Americans+preference+for+tech+jobs/2100-1014_3-6172981.html

[ramapo]

6. That's another 115,000 jobs not available to Americans

There is no end to this insanity

[AX10]

7. Ted Kennedy is on board?

:wtf: