Foreign-worker visa program under fire
The 85,000 H1-B visas available today to highly-skilled foreign workers are expected to be in high demand, especially in the tech sector. But critics say some employers are taking unfair advantage of the visa program. Steve Henn reports.
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TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: This is a big day in the U.S. labor market. Not in absolute terms. But certainly in political circles. Today's the day the government starts accepting applications for H1-B visas. There are just 85,000 of them to go around to what are called highly skilled foreign workers. The technology industry expects demand to widely outstrip supply. Even in the face of a weak economy and rising unemployment. Marketplace's Steve Henn explains.
STEVE HENN: Companies that hire highly educated, foreigner-born workers argue the H1-B visa program is one of the best ways to get this country's economy moving.
DEAN GARFIELD: American universities are educating the best minds, and it's critical that those minds stay in the United States.
Dean Garfield heads the Information Technology Industry Council. He says new industries like Health IT need innovators. Robert Hoffman at Oracle says foreign-born students dominate U.S. high-tech graduate programs.
ROBERT HOFFMAN: Roughly 70 percent of Ph.D. graduates in electrical engineering are foreign born.
But in the past few months companies that depend on H1-B visas have become lighting rods.
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY: Some of these companies are nothing but pimps.
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley says if companies can't find Americans to do a job, then it makes sense to hire from abroad. But he's convinced some firms abuse H1-B visas to lay off Americans and hire cheap foreign workers. And Grassley just co-sponsored a bill that put new restrictions on H1-B visas for bailed-out banks.
SEN. GRASSLEY: Don't tell me that when the banks are laying off tens of thousands of people that other banks that want to hire people, that they can't find qualified people out of the people who have been laid off.
Grassley writing another bill aimed at preventing fraud. But some in the tech business worry it could make the process of applying for these visas expensive and unworkable. That, they say, would push some talented U.S. graduates overseas.
People like Mexican Milton Esteva. He just earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Rice University on...
MILTON ESTEVA: Trying to find a numerical model to predict the mechanical and thermal properties of nano composites.
His research might make accidents at oil rigs less common. That could save his employer, BP America some money.
ESTEVA: But the most important thing is safety.
But if Esteva doesn't get a visa this year he's not too worried. His American education means jobs are waiting all over the globe.
In Washington, I'm Steve Henn for Marketplace.
Comments
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From FL, 10/03/2009
Senator Grassley is correct. I work at a bank that took stimulus money. The the rate of visa workers is estimated to be 9 to 1 natural born US citizens that is employed there. Meanwhile local technology talent languishes as unemployed. Having worked for the "staffing companies" I can say the his use of the term Pimp is spot on.
From Bethel, OH, 07/09/2009
Question My foreign owned company is laying off the American Employees and then replacing them with employees from the parent company because they are slow as well. Can you really ship someone here on a work visa to replace an American with someone from your country just because?
From fremont, CA, 05/24/2009
Instead of blaming American education for not preparing students properly, and for not encouraging minorities and women to enter the engineering field, why not look at the real reason students no longer want to enter this field—no job prospects. With American engineers and computer programmers no longer able to compete against a huge influx of cheaper imported labor via H-1B and L-1 work visas, and with many more high-tech jobs going "offshore," it's simple economics. Students do not want to invest many thousands of dollars studying in a field for which there are no job prospects.
Me and my IT colleagues lost our programming jobs when our company imported programmers and made the Americans train them in order to receive severance. The company posted LCA sheets as required by law, and thus, we learned that the visiting programmers are earning about half of their American counterparts. Whenever I contact my elected representatives, the Dept. of Labor and the Dept. of Commerce about this, their shoddy excuse is that Americans aren't educated enough or prepared enough or smart enough to do high tech. But I'm not surprised. That's what the corporations and the media tell them.
Myths:
1) These are Temporary (Guest) Worker Visas and NOT IMMIGRANT VISAS
2) They are paid the same wage as Americans, they are paid about 12,000 or more less
than their American counterparts
3) They are just average programmers and in fact some of them are incompetent
4) There is no labor shortage with millions of highly skilled Americans and Permanent Residents unemployed.
Hire local it's the American thing to do.
Greedy Companies use them to replace Americans with:
1) Cheap Foreign workers - These companies don't want to pay the prevailing wage.
2) Younger Foreign Workers - Those over 35 are discriminated because of their age.
Hire Americans and Permanent Residents. Help America.
Yet another sellout of the American worker, just so a few executives can make a few more million.
Hiring or continuing to employ an H1B worker (or any other VISA) in the US in our current time of crisis is un-American.
From Somewhere,, CA, 04/13/2009
I participated in a Japanese government sponsored program to encourage international exchange at the university level.
Shortly after beginning the program, I found that most participants had no Japanese ability whatsoever.
The instructors at foreign student language program center were just amazed that I could read the newspaper (I had lived in Japan, and studied on my own for several years before applying for the program). And they discouraged my aspirations to perfect my writing ability by not offering classes (at the graduate level), and be telling me that it wasn't really necessary for me to write in Japanese. It would be fine if I wrote in English.
Turns out they are trying to expose the Japanese university community to native English speakers under the guise of educational exchange.
Information flow one way, out of US into Japan.
By the way, most people, especially those with limited overseas experience are oblivious to the fact that they are being used and discarded.
How about job hunting in Japan? Prospects are often limited to teaching English...or entertainment.
From CA, 04/05/2009
My husband worked for a big tech company - 3/4 of the workers were from Australia, France, Canada, Germany, etc... when there were so many Americans applying for the jobs. Also in my field of health care there are massive numbers of visa workers who take over entire units and make it difficult for an American worker to be effective/integrated on American soil. When they had my husband on 7 days a week mandatory for a month (12-16 hour days) he and the other Americans and the foreign workers could not complain or have enough traction to stop it. When I lived in Europe in my twenties - I tried to volunteer at a hospital and that government had to advertise the volunteer position nationally for 1 month before I could even work for free for them!! This is non-sense that the US has not made healthy boundaries for its citizens - only profitable horizons for its corporations.
From CA, 04/05/2009
My husband worked for a big tech company - 3/4 of the workers were from Australia, France, Canada, Germany, etc... when there were so many Americans applying for the jobs. Also in my field of health care there are massive numbers of visa workers who take over entire units and make it difficult for an American worker to be effective/integrated on American soil. When the had my husband on 7 days a week mandatory for a month (12-16 hour days) he and the other Americans and the foreign workers could not complain or have enough traction to stop it. When I lived in Europe in my twenties - I tried to volunteer at a hospital and the had to advertise the volunteer position nationally for 1 month before I could even work for free for them!! This is non-sense that the US has not made healthy boundaries for its citizens - only profitable horizons for corporations.
From CA, 04/02/2009
What a bunch of bull. My nephew is looking for work with a Mst. in Bio Engineering and he is being interviewed by people that he can't EVEN UNDERSTAND what their saying. KNOW MORE foreign visa's and let's see how it all works out for these companies. Pershaps, they will start to take an interest in education. Put your money where your mouth is. When we tried to start a high tech computer lab and science program at my son's high school many years ago we had difficulty getting money from these same companies that then complain they don't have the workforce. It's all about money and that's it!
From Richfield, MN, 04/01/2009
Hi,
I don't think this recession will affect good companies bringing people to USA. I work for Accenture and I am brought here on L1 visa. I am doing programming even if documents show I am Manager. I think my company knows what how to work around laws as both my bosses Ashish Vimal and Indranil Chowdhury are Indians.
-Prateek Shrivastav
Accenture/Bestbuy
From Belle Vernon, PA, 04/01/2009
I have come across several H1b workers in last several years. Majority of them have foreign education. In the majority of the cases it does not even equate to the US education of the same field.
All of these bogus cases are in line to get their green-cards. That is the last chance US government has to inspect their credentials and to see if their case for green card still makes sense or not. Otherwise in few years we'll see every 3rd or 4th person would be recent immigrant.
US grants thousands of student visas, all the students get 1-2 years of practical training visas. Does anyone even know how many jobs are taken from that program!
If someone gets H1b it should not lead to green-card (permanent residency). Come here, work here and go back.
From CA, 04/01/2009
It simply makes the most sense to keep American-educated workers IN THE U.S. There are benefits to the "ambassador" effect of people returning to their home country, but recently it seems like we might just be educating the rest of the world at the expense of our own innovative economy.
From CA, 04/01/2009
I work for a large IT consulting company. On my current project, a third of us were laid off and replaced by H1-B workers at a lower cost (who work for the same company). From a macroeconomic perspective, that's probably better, but in terms of visa abuse, it is a clear case. We HAD US workers willing to take the job (they had it), but they were replaced by cheaper alternatives.
From Manhattan, NY, 04/01/2009
I listened to this program on H1-B Visas with great interest. The "greatest minds" are needed? At age 6 my kid tested with an IQ of 130 without the ADD meds he eventually went on. (There is debate on whether kids of "gifted" or have ADD as they can look the same.) He is about to enter High School. His education has left him without basic skills such as grammar, composition, and so forth. I am rent over his lack of basic skills. Test wise he does great. Maybe the great minds of foreigners are so by virtue of getting real educations? I think so.
From Houston, TX, 04/01/2009
H-1B visas are not always assigned to foreigners with Ph.D.s. They are assigned to those possessing only Master degrees or less. These individuals do work that could be performed by U.S. Citizens with the same degrees, if hired.
Companies in Houston, Texas, such as KBR, Bechtel, Jacobs, are significant employers of H-1B labor. I know because I use to work for some of these companies. Older workers are layed off and replaced by younger foreign labor.
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