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| BusinessWeek: High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud | |
| 2008-10-15 | |
| A study finds that 13% of the visa petitions for U.S. employers to bring in skilled foreign workers are fraudulent 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 to bring in skilled foreign workers to fill jobs that employers claim can't be filled with U.S. candidates. Tech companies like Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOG) have pushed to get more visas, claiming that a shortage of skilled workers is hampering U.S. competitiveness. Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has twice testified in front of Congress on the issue. Critics say H-1Bs help U.S. companies replace American workers with less costly foreign workers. "The report makes it clear that the H-1B program is rife with abuse and misuse," says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "It shows the desperate need for an auditing system." However, both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), have said they support expanding the program.
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| Posted by:3dc |
| #4 "Makes you wonder if ACORN is in charge ..." Guess not, 3 - only 13% of the visa are fraudulent. If ACORN were involved, the number would be much higher. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-10-15 23:39 |
| #3 Not going to be able to write our own code in a decade since the H1Bs are raping the CompSci market and keeping wages and job security no better than a middle manager. So why bother? I discouraged my son from going into software - its simply not worth it to compete with some guy in India who will take less than half of what you make when he's in the US, and McDonald's pay when he is working remotely from India. Who will write the software in our military hardware in the future? Assholes are selling our security for greed. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-10-15 23:33 |
| #2 both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), have said they support expanding the program. And this saves jobs for Americans how? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-10-15 09:24 |
| #1 Technology companies, in particular, have come to rely on the H-1B visa program to bring in skilled foreign workers to fill jobs that employers claim can't be filled with U.S. candidates. When they don't want US workers. Those who they can pull their visas are far more docile than workers that can tell the employer what violates Fair Labor and Standards Act. There is no incentive for Americans to commit to years of college or technical training only to be displaced by a foreign tech. American business should have been forced to grow their own if they needed them so much. Instead we've had two decades of corporate welfare with the H1Bs in the tech fields. Your own military trains people to do technical jobs. It requires a contract for years of service to receive the training. Corporations do not want to lock themselves into such contracts. They treat labor as a liability not an asset, to be dropped when it is convenient rather than preserved for its value. H1Bs are a disincentive program for Americans when it has run longer than the time it would take to train someone here at home to do the job. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-10-15 08:47 |