about damn time- http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/21/house-republicans-move-to-increase-h1b-visa-quota/ [rquoter]ast Friday the House Republican Study Committee sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, the Speaker of the House and Majority Leader, respectively, requesting an increase in the current H1B visa quota of 65,000 per year to 115,000. They also request a 20% yearly increase in the cap every year, assuming the previous year’s quota was met. The letter is embedded below. The current H1B program, which allows companies to bring highly skilled foreign workers to the U.S. for up to three years. It is a primary way for Silicon Valley firms to get enough technical employees, and there is almost always demand far outstripping the artificial quotas. The 1999 and 2000 quotas were already at 115,000. 132,000 H1B visas were approved in 2004 and 117,000 in 2005. But the cap was lowered again, and the 2007 quota was reached in just two months. The 2008 quota was exhausted before the end of the first day on which applications were accepted, April 2, 2008. H1B visas are one of the primary Federal-level issues holding Silicon Valley growth in check, and it’s something I asked each of the presidential candidates I interviewed about. Listen to the interviews here, and see each of their positions on H1Bs here. The letter discusses the absurd situation where U.S.-educated foreigners are unable to work here after graduation: “As a country, we are effectively handing these highly-educated, extremely desirable individuals a diploma and a plane ticket. The message we are sending is “You can learn here, but you have to work in another country.”" The letter also mentions that Microsoft opened a facility in Vancouver, Canada in 2007 exclusively to put to work foreign-born employees that could not obtain work visas. These employees would otherwise be working in Washington. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, which has 2,000 employees with H1B visas, is quoted in the letter: “With Congress gridlocked on immigration, it’s clear that the next Silicon Valley will not be in the United States.” As I’ve written before, it would be really super nice if Congress could just sort of get out of the way and quit screwing around with Silicon Valley - one of the most important economic assets in the United States. I hope this letter and associated Bill - HR 1930 - is acted on (you can give your direct feedback on the Bill at that link).[/rquoter]
why is this fantastic? I have no opinion either way just curious. do you think it was holding silicon valley back?
I know my industry is desperate for engineers, and it is holding chemical manufacturing (and refinery construction) back. This will certainly help those fields.
id have to agree w/ increasing the number of visas issued. as far as holding silicon valley back... i think the rent and land value in that area probably does just as much harm in hindering its growth.
My company is starved for people with technical backgrounds that American students are just not filling. We always recruit in the US first, then backfill with H1Bs. We always run short however, and struggle to fill the open positions.
Keeps the supply of sharp people capable of innovation coming to the US. It basically keeps the labor market liquid, which is critical for the US to continue its desirable business climate
This is also true. Pillage the smart people from other countries and have them work here. Encourages people here to be smarter and work harder as well, thus raising productivity and innovation over time.
i don't know the exact quote, but bill gates has said something to the effect of "for every H1B issued, the US economy creates 4 jobs." not an exact correlation I'm sure, but there is a very real positive benefit.
hopefully this will pass. The current system welcomes criminals and unskilled labor while pushing away highly skilled workers.
I think the better practice will be to ban the practice of h1b sweat shops: http://anti-union.blogspot.com/2008/03/more-h1b-visa-abuse-news.html Disclosure: I do own WIT shares, so I am posting against my benefit.
liberals likely don't like this because they view it as taking american jobs and giving them to foreigners
I think it is better we scrap H1B (or limit it to people with US degrees) such that the salary and job security of engineers become really high. This can attract more people to study engineering here as oppose to law and business. It can also force the IT companies in the US to hire old workers. If you are in the IT industry, you will know that once you hit 40s, they won't want you any more.
Note to Casey: Very few "liberals" in the United States believe that we should move towards socialism. That is a strawman argumant used by wingnuts to belittle the progressive ideals of today's liberals.
no, the best part was how the set up an entire argument to have with "liberals" because no "liberal" made it.
I think it is ok. If H1B is really working as it is intended which is to pay workers at the "prevailing wage", then giving a job to an H1B and a local worker is no different. So either way, such jobs will go overseas anyway. Of course, in reality, that's not the case, for example, in those Indian sweat shops, there are plenty of down time such that there is no way these workers are paid "prevailing wage"
