Debate on Immigration, H-1B Visas

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Debate on Immigration, H-1B Visas

Last week, members of the Senate reintroduced legislation that would increase the cap on H-1b visas and allow American companies to recruit larger numbers of foreign skilled workers. The current limit is 65,000 per year, and petitions to fill available slots were reached within 24 hours, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Illinois Senator Richard Durbin opposes the increase, saying that American employers must first make an effort to hire American workers before recruiting workers from foreign countries.

[almaty 19]

Illinois Senator Richard Durbin opposes the increase, saying that American employers must first make an effort to hire American workers before recruiting workers from foreign countries.

i am with senator durbin on this

[Ban Hammer 13,340]

Illinois Senator Richard Durbin opposes the increase, saying that American employers must first make an effort to hire American workers before recruiting workers from foreign countries.

i am with senator durbin on this

ditto. othewise americans will have to move to india to get a job, one outsourced from the usa anyways.

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Illinois Senator Richard Durbin opposes the increase, saying that American employers must first make an effort to hire American workers before recruiting workers from foreign countries.

i am with senator durbin on this

ditto. othewise americans will have to move to india to get a job, one outsourced from the usa anyways.

i would think and hope employment would start here if not we are all going downhill (even more than now)

[Saddle Bronc 124]

A little matter all of you missed.

The H1-b cap dates only from 1989--the year after the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (morphed badly into NAFTA) was signed.

Plus, the factoid that there is NO cap on TN-1's (the equivalent for Mexican professionals, TN-2, is subject to a different cap)--it seems that Durbin missed the obvious loophole.

[HAL 9000 96]

A little matter all of you missed.

The H1-b cap dates only from 1989--the year after the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (morphed badly into NAFTA) was signed.

Plus, the factoid that there is NO cap on TN-1's (the equivalent for Mexican professionals, TN-2, is subject to a different cap)--it seems that Durbin missed the obvious loophole.

Are there that many TNs?

I'll have to check with the family migra officials on that one.

[Mononoke28 135]

Even if they don't increase the cap on the # of these type of visas American companies will still outsource because it's more affordable for them. The company I last worked for started hiring people from Pune, India to do menial jobs to help out a little. As soon as they saw how well they did that they gave them more stuff to do. Now they plan to outsource 70%-80% of the work that needs to be done companywide and the lay offs here in the States have increased dramatically. So why pay an American worker a salary of $50k-$80k per year when you can pay people in Pune a fraction of that cost? Financially, it makes sense but that frame of mind will bring down the economy here in the States to the floor in a few years.

Diana

[HAL 9000 96]

A little matter all of you missed.

The H1-b cap dates only from 1989--the year after the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (morphed badly into NAFTA) was signed.

Plus, the factoid that there is NO cap on TN-1's (the equivalent for Mexican professionals, TN-2, is subject to a different cap)--it seems that Durbin missed the obvious loophole.

Are there that many TNs?

I'll have to check with the family migra officials on that one.

No, the # of TNs is nowhere near comparison to the H1s in per capita terms when compared to nations.

***

Diana... welcome to capitalism 101

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

I think I would be more worried about bringing in immigrants to do high tech jobs than the crappy ones we dont want to do anyway. Why not tax the ####### out of outsourced labor to other countries and pay for more Americans education with the tax money. Force Americans to get a better education.

[HAL 9000 96]

I think I would be more worried about bringing in immigrants to do high tech jobs than the crappy ones we dont want to do anyway. Why not tax the ####### out of outsourced labor to other countries and pay for more Americans education with the tax money. Force Americans to get a better education.

B/C most of those companies would just switch all operations to profitability where not taxed as such. Under the current tax code, that is. Instead of outsourcing labor they'd outsource themselves.

[Mononoke28 135]

I think I would be more worried about bringing in immigrants to do high tech jobs than the crappy ones we dont want to do anyway. Why not tax the ####### out of outsourced labor to other countries and pay for more Americans education with the tax money. Force Americans to get a better education.

What's funny is that they're not outsourcing only the "crappy" jobs, they're outsourcing everything. Customer service, IT Helpdesk, all kinds of programming, telecom engineering, accounting, you name it. They're smart, they're clever and they only ask for minimun wage to do it. So why pay a programmer $90k a year when you can pay someone $12k somewhere else and who will do the same job with no problem.

I know citibank outsourced a lot of their customer service to Colombia. They used to pay them here $30k a year and now they only pay the reps in Colombia $4k a year. It's cheap and they still provide customers with the good customer service.

Diana

[Chica Yeyé 41]

We just imported one Senior Lecturer. Last year, we imported 2 of them (one Lecturer, one Assistant Professor). Visas went through so fast I was . But that happens so often in this life, that I guess i never thought much of it.... until now, perhaps.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

A little matter all of you missed.

The H1-b cap dates only from 1989--the year after the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (morphed badly into NAFTA) was signed.

Plus, the factoid that there is NO cap on TN-1's (the equivalent for Mexican professionals, TN-2, is subject to a different cap)--it seems that Durbin missed the obvious loophole.

Are there that many TNs?

I'll have to check with the family migra officials on that one.

No, the # of TNs is nowhere near comparison to the H1s in per capita terms when compared to nations.

***

Diana... welcome to capitalism 101

Actually, the number of Canadians in temp visa types (including dependent) in 1998 was at 660K. Plus (to complicate matters), many Canadians convert from TN-1 to H1-b (Canada is #3 nation for total # of H1-b issued). Of course, there is a natural cap to the number of TN-1's--the number of Canadians with professional quals.

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

L1 visa are also used. I dont know if they have a cap or not?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

L1 visa are also used. I dont know if they have a cap or not?