Peg H-1B visa cap at 115,000: US lawmakers

[OhioChick]

Source: Rediff Business

April 22, 2008 12:38 IST


A Republican caucus has asked the Democrat leadership in the US House of Representatives to approve a proposed Bill to nearly double the present 'artificial' cap on H1-B visas, much sought-after by skilled professionals, including Indians.

The Republican Study Committee of the House of Representatives, in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, appealed to them to take up the legislation and pass it in the next few months.

The panel called for an increase in the number of H-1B visas from the current 65,000 to 115,000 and for 20 per cent built-in annual increase.

The letter addressed to Pelosi and Hoyer, emphasised that the demand for the H-1Bs far outstrips the 'artificial' quotas.



Read more: http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/apr/22visa.htm

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Hopefully our Democratic leadership doesn't cave in on this....


Email Nancy Pelosi:
http://www.house.gov/pelosi/contact/contact.html

Steny Hoyer
http://hoyer.house.gov/contact/index.asp

[AzDar]

1. Yes...just what the country needs : more foreign workers.

Morons.:mad:

[ramapo]

2. Just great, 115k fewer Americans working

Don't count on much help from the Democrats. Bill Clinton was all for this program.

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd. DOUBLE IT? OhioChick, keep me posted on this one please.

I'd like to know what kind of reaction the Dems have.

[OhioChick]

5. I Will.

I wrote to many Senators, Congressmen and Pelosi so far. I'll keep writing and writing....:mad:

[OhioChick]

6. I know of only two Senators against raising the cap...

DURBIN AND GRASSLEY INTRODUCE FIRST BIPARTISAN H-1B VISA REFORM BILL TO PROTECT AMERICAN WORKERS


Monday, April 2, 2007

- U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced "The H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007" late last week to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programs to give priority to American workers and crack down on unscrupulous employers who deprive qualified Americans of high-skill jobs.
The H-1B visa program allows American companies and universities to employ temporary foreign workers who have the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree in a job category that is considered by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services to be a "specialty occupation". The L-1 visa program allows companies to transfer certain employees from their foreign facilities to their U.S. facilities for up to seven years.

"Our immigration policy should seek to complement our U.S. workforce, not replace it," Durbin said. "Some employers have abused the H-1B and L-1 temporary work visa programs, using them to bypass qualified American job applicants. This bill will set up safeguards for American workers, and provide much-needed oversight and enforcement of employers who fail to abide by the law."

"This is about protecting the American worker," said Senator Grassley. "We're closing loopholes that employers have exploited by requiring them to be more transparent about their hiring and we're ensuring more oversight of these visa programs to reduce fraud and abuse. A little sunshine will go a long way to help the American worker."

http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=271783

[barnel]

29. Here's the dem reaction

"I'd like to know what kind of reaction the Dems have."


"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"

http://www.cio.com/article/197100/Bill_Would_Double_Cap_on_H_B_Visas

thank goodness for democrats

[ihavenobias]

4. K & R

[Canuckistanian]

7. The bottom line - They work cheaper.

You can get a PhD for the price of an undergrad.

And an undergrad for a bit more than a Guatemalan refugee.

It's the race for the bottom.

[AlphaCentauri]

8. All this discussion about visas should be part of a whole immigration package reform

the democratic leadership should not act in favor of the fat cats living poor immigrants under the boots of the republicans

[BearSquirrel2]

9. If Republicans want to run on this ...

If Republicans want to run on this, by all means, I encourage them to tie their own neuce.

[OhioChick]

10. Repubs love free trade, as well.

McCain argues free trade is a solution, not the problem, in hard-hit industrial towns

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3278996&mesg_id=3278996

[Thor_MN]

20. Neocons are all about letting the markets decide, until it comes to wages

THEN, they yowl for government intervention to reduce wage pressures. Typical, hypocritical sewage from the right.

[barnel]

27. both parties believe that

but you're absolutly right

'free market' stops right at the door of what they want to pay for labor

then, it's all about 'entitlement'

is the worker facing a 'shortage of gas'?

or just a shortage of gas at $2.50?

tell that to the oil company that wants to hire an H-1b which they *all do*

they define 'freedom' as they're free to win, and you're free to lose

[BearSquirrel2]

31. McCain believes what he's told ...

McCain believes what he is told to believe from his new GOP masters.

We know that education isn't the answer as white collar jobs can also be outsourced.

[high density]

11. Let's cap it at zero.

Either that or let's outsource the house and senate.

[OhioChick]

12. "let's outsource the house and senate."

I'm sure US citizens could do a better job with half the pay.

[crimsonblue]

13. Well, demand far outpaces supply for Patriots tickets, so should we just sell more tickets?

There are 40 thous American Engineers, scientists, and other professionals looking for jobs. Are we really to suggest that an education in India is better than one here in the US? Give me a break.

[girl gone mad]

14. Of course it's not better..

it's just a whole lot cheaper (subsidized by the hundreds of millions of impoverished Indians).

[Phred42]

15. Why do Republicans Hate Americans and American So much?

God help us, these people are evil

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. In January, 2001...

64.8% of the population worked. This month, only 62.6% of the population worked.

Our population is rapidly outstripping our economy's ability to support us.

The only real salable commodity most of us have is our labor. Those of us who continue to support policies which undermine the value of that labor are idiots.

Immigration, of all kinds, should end until our current population becomes employed again.

If Microsoft can't get geeks from India, they'll invest in educating ours.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_04042008.htm

[OhioChick]

17. Well Said!

:toast:

[Virginian]

18. Different link to Speaker.

The link you gave was for constituents. For the rest of us who want to write to her as speaker and not as our representative, the below link will work.

http://www.speaker.gov/contact/

edited to add:
The H-1B visa program is the same as outsourcing. It's just more in-your-face as we watch our replacements buy the big houses and drive the expensive cars. They don't have the student loans to pay off. In India, college is free.
Those L-1 visas should be reciprical. For every Indian in the US making an Indian wage, there should have to be an American in India, making an American wage.
For every Indian with "special skills" who gets an H-1B visa, the employer should have to train an American in the exact same skill set. This training should be administered through the unemployment offices.

[OhioChick]

21. Thanks for posting this....

By the time I had realized it, my editing time had run out.

[truedelphi]

19. The Democratic candidate promising more of these visas just won the PA primary! n/t

[OhioChick]

22. I'm very well aware of that.

:mad:

[barnel]

23. I predicted that last week

easy to do, when BOTH of the favor it

Obama: Nov 2007

"I will support a temporary increase in the H-1B visa program as a stopgap measure until we can reform our immigration system comprehensively. I support comprehensive immigration reform that includes improvement in our visa programs, including our legal permanent resident visa programs and temporary programs including the H-1B program, to attract some of the world’s most talented people to America"

http://pradeepc.net/blog/?p=193

[barnel]

24. Blog covering the unbelievable about of H-1betrayal last month

http://carriesnation.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

scroll to

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Never-Ending Post, or, Government and Business Leaders Work 24/7 To Keep Americans Away From High Tech Jobs

and that post is ALREADY out of date

[barnel]

25. The time has come to stop tollerating this in EITHER party

Can there really be anyone left who doenst know that this is about cheap labor, and the preference for indentured servitude, now that there is a huge rash of bills to raise H-1b in a recession when wages are plumeting, unemployment is increasing and cost of living is skyrocketing - such as 1% PER DAY at the pump?

that BOTH parties are in on it (bills were submitted from both parties last week, such as giffords (D-AZ)?

that BOTH parties advocate abuse of 'emergency powers' to screw workers in a recession (Kerry co-signed Liebaerman's letter to homeland security), to please the richest man in the country, Bill Gates?

[barnel]

26. 80% of Americans have ALWAYS been against H-1b

this has always been against the will of the people

it's a disgrace that the 'party of working people' has long been far more willing to believe the lie$ instead of the truth on this issue

[barnel]

28. the H-1b/outsourcing labor model threatens nearly ALL corporate white collar

Former Fed Board member, and free trader Allen Blinder says so. Would have been nice if he'd thought of that before he threw us all to the wolves, bt at least he's telling the truth now. Kind of amazing how he can support policies that blow away an entire social class, then admit he's wrong, and he's still got a job. must be nice

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2007/02/alan-blinder-29-of-us-jobs-are.html

people say 'well, my job's not offshorable' as though their job will be safe from the ARMY OF UNEMPLOYED former white collar people in desparate need of employment

we have to quit tollerating this within the Democratic party and so-called 'liberal' media who turns a blind eye or even worse repeats the propaganda

[barnel]

30. India resents US advice

WOW! they sure dont like it when someone get in THEIR business, like they haven't been trying shove their will down the American citizen IT worker's throat for each and every policy decision that affects the citizen's economic future for the last decade

(I dont know if they were right or wrong in this situation, but after suffering a decade of their overbearing involvement in American IT (Information Technology) labor policy, it's interesting how indignant they get toward some who they think is butting into THEIR business)

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1401447.php/India_rejects_US_advice_on_Iran__Roundup_


His remarks followed comments by members of India's left parties describing Casey's remarks as 'audacious and arrogant' and amounting to an 'infringement on India's sovereign position,' Times Now television channel reported.

India and Iran did not need guidance on how to conduct their bilateral relations, Navtej Sarna, official spokesman for India's Foreign Ministry said in a strongly worded statement issued Tuesday that began by referring to Casey's remarks.

'India and Iran are ancient civilizations whose relations span centuries. Both nations are capable of managing all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care and attention,' Sarna said.

He added that neither India nor Iran needed any guidance on bilateral relations 'as both countries believe that engagement and dialogue alone lead to peace.

'It is important that the genius of each nation living in a particular region is respected and allowed to flower to meet the expectations of enriching relations with neighbours,' Sarna said.

Meanwhile Sitaram Yechuri, leader of India's ruling United Progressive Alliance's prominent left ally, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, said the government should register a formal protest with the US envoy to India.

'India must take on US for interfering in our foreign policy,' he was quoted as saying at a press briefing by Times Now television channel.

'India does not appreciate such imperialistic arrogance by a self- appointed police,' he said. The Iranian president is scheduled to arrive in India on April 29 for a brief visit on his way back to Tehran from the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.