Bush Administration: Tech workers won't be hurt by visa extension

[OhioChick]

It's not a back-door H-1B increase, government argues

June 24, 2008 (Computerworld) In papers filed in court Monday, the Bush administration says its student visa extension won't hurt U.S. tech workers and argues that it's not a backdoor H-1B increase.

The administration was responding to a lawsuit filed in May by the Immigration Reform Institute, The Programmers Guild and other groups challenging the extension of the Optional Practical Training (OPT) provision from one year to 29 months. That provision spells out the amount of time a foreign student can work in the U.S. before getting an H-1B visa.

The case is being heard in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., with opponents seeking an injunction to block the student visa extension. The change to the OPT was put in place earlier this year through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The extension has drawn attention from major organizations on both sides of the issue. The AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the U.S., has said the extension for student workers could lower wages for U.S. tech workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has countered that foreign talent is needed to maintain competitiveness.

The Bush administration has argued that opponents of the change, a group that includes tech workers who say they are either unemployed or underemployed, have no legal standing to challenge the visa extension. The government argues that the change "will not cause plaintiffs to be unemployed or underemployed in the future."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9103078&intsrc=hm_list

If bush says tech workers won't be hurt....you can bet your ass they will be. Another "back door" policy.....we know how those go.

[ihavenobias]

1. K & R

[Triana]

2. How many statements that have exited this guy's mouth in the past eight years have NOT been a lie?

And WHY would be believe him NOW?

[Phred42]

3. MOre BUllshit from the Reich

I'm an out of work IT Tech Manager

I have been out of work since April 2007

Have had 1 interview in that time and less than 10 jobs to even submit a resume to


Fuck Republicans

[OhioChick]

4. Fortunately,

I've been able to hold onto mine this long. When my company puts an ad in the paper, we seriously get hundreds of resumes and they all get thrown out in the garbage. They just just advertise (for legal purposes) to hold onto the H-1B's employed there. I'm SURE other companies do this as well....so I've heard.

It pisses me off, as I have unemployed friends that would be thrilled to get the job, as they've been looking for so damn long....

[Phred42]

5. You are aware of this?

It's Corporate Treason;
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PERM Fake Job Ads defraud Americans to secure green cards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU

Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers. See what Bush and Congress really mean by a "shortage of skilled U.S. workers." Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies are running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week.


And on KOS - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/18/22435/0365

[OhioChick]

6. Oh, I'm very well aware of that....

Did you hear of this, recently? How often do you think this is happening?

DOJ settles H-1B job ad case for $45,000

Complaint filed by Programmers Guild over H-1B-only job ad

May 2, 2008 (Computerworld) A Pittsburgh-based computer consulting company that advertised for H-1B visa holders only is paying $45,000 in civil penalties to settle allegations that it discriminated against U.S. citizens, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday.

The company, iGate Mastech Inc., placed 30 job announcements between May and June of 2006 "for computer programmers that expressly favored H-1B visa holders to the exclusion of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and other legal U.S. workers," the DOJ said in a statement.

A complaint against iGate Mastech was filed by the Programmers Guild in 2006. It was one of dozens of complaints lodged by the Summit, N.J.-based organization against various companies.

John Miano, who founded the guild, said in a statement that the DOJ's announcement was "is probably the most visible result" of the guild's campaign against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers "in favor of cheap H-1B workers."

One job advertisement by iGate Mastech for a Java developer on Dice Holdings Inc.'s job board said "Only H-1s apply, and should be willing to transfer H-1B."

"The problem of companies only looking for H-1B workers is a serious one," said Miano. "We are only scratching the surface right now with the companies that are brazen enough to put out ads like these."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9081898&intsrc=hm_list

[Phred42]

13. Good one - Tx

[eridani]

7. Shoutout to OhioChick for all the latest info (and best arguments against) outsourcing

How about compiling these into one thread in the Research section so they don't get hard to find after GD is archived?

[OhioChick]

10. Thanks, eridani

I think I'd need an entire forum to compile all of the outsourcing articles that I've posted since 2004. :wow:

:hi:

[eridani]

12. Just post the URLs then--only a brief description would be necessary

Extensive quotes would take up too much room.

[Cobalt-60]

8. Lets see: My IT career is already dead

so importing more IT slaves couldn't harm it any more.
Right.

[northernlights]

9. great...finally I get it

There's a tech writer I know of at EMC from England. She's been there forever. I couldn't understand how/why she could still be getting a green card when I knew of *sooo* many qualified tech writers out of work back in 2000. :grr:

Oh, in case that's not bad enough, she lives in a *rent-controlled* brownstone in backbay Boston. She's been living there forever too, while actual citizens were priced out of anything and everything in Mass. :grr:

Nough said. Excuse me while I go :puke:

[sourmilk]

11. I worked via H1-B Visas in the USA for Eight Years in IT.

The Bushites are full of SHIT. The entire system is gamed, and has been so for quite a while. There is no shortage of US-born engineers, competent programmers, or IT support staff, and I know this FIRST HAND.

Firstly, I was recruited by a US firm SPECIFICALLY seeking visa applicants in other countries. The government was apparently offering annual incentives to companies that filled their H1-B quotas. I never had to PERSONALLY apply for ANYTHING. The IT firm did all the work, I just signed the paperwork, placement guarantees and pledges to either re-apply or go back to Canada when the visa period ended. It was a quick trip out and a quick trip back in, period. They aeven handled my renewal and reapplication process.

At the time, there were plenty of US citizens doing exactly the same jobs I was doing, for similar pay and plenty of others waiting in the wings. When the mass layoffs came in 2002, I was one of the LAST of about 2400 IT professionals to be let go. I was continually moved from project to project for about 18 months, just so they could keep me on while others got laid off around me. I wasn't the only H1-B employee that this happened to, either. In the end, I was offered a position I didn't want (training Hughes' staff from Bangalore, believe it or not) before any of my US-born counterparts - but by then, I had really soured on the entire industry. The company had changed, morphed, restructured, revamped and re-morphed itself again too much for me and I decided to move back to Canada in 2003. I got a very nice severance package and was coded as "laid-off," even though it was ultimately my own decision to move on.

Get this: Even after I was finally let go (probably because of the severance I received), I was allowed to remain in the USA legally for eight months to attempt to find similar work in the IT sector.

I was always pretty confused about their hiring processes, lay-off procedures and employment policies with regard to H1-B employees, but I was directly benefitting (about $15K/year more than a similar job in Canada, including the difference in currency, at the time) and did not want to make any waves. I was always treated fairly (as far as I could tell) and my managers and co-workers were always pretty nice to me (with a couple of exceptions, near the end), even when everyone was getting the axe. I still often correspond with several, and none seem to harbour a grudge.

I am not so sure that I would be as charitable, were the shoe on the other foot. It's a SCAM, period...