Randy Mc Sorley uses a computer to Iook for work in Portland Ore. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
Must society know who is here, if they have received proper health screenings and if they going to make a needed contribution to our society? San Diego Immigration Examiner Carl Braun thinks so. He says immigration should be based on what skills are needed in the United States at the time and what level of contribution will be made by those brought in to fill those needs.
This comes as a Gallup poll on immigration finds 50 percent of Americans said the level of immigration should be decreased. Only 39 percent said the same thing last year. Only 14 percent said immigration should be increased this year.
Gallup’s analysis says the findings “may reflect the country’s economic situation as Americans tend to become less pro-immigration during difficult economic times.”
So perhaps the country is ready to move forward with H-1B enforcement. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began auditing some high tech and head hunter firms after a report in October found evidence that of forged documents, fake degrees and shell companies being used in H-1B applications.
The report found 21 percent of 246 H-1B applications reviewed by USCIS staffers contained either outright fraud or technical violations of federal laws and regulations. In addition investigators discovered on visits to work sites that some employers were not paying prevailing wages, companies did not pay visa holders when work was not available for them, or had them doing different jobs than the ones that were listed on their H-1B applications.
The Department of Justice has filed a nearly $5 million fraud case against Visions System Group Inc., in an 18-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Iowa. The Feds claim methods used by Visions Systems and similar companies "have substantially deprived U.S. citizens of employment.”
The company may have been using the Iowa offices as a recruiting tool for H-1B workers interested in a green card, according to an article by Patrick Thibodeau in the Aug. 31 issue of Computerworld.
These schemes are nothing new to border watchers. Norman Matloff is a professor of computer science at UC-Davis says the H-1B program is abusive.
“The true rate of abuse of the H-1B program is near 100 percent. [Note the distinction between 'fraud' and 'abuse.'] Virtually all H-1B hires violate the spirit (though not the letter) of H-1B, which is to remedy labor shortages. In virtually all cases, the employer could hire a qualified American.”
Comments
Interesting column, Andy. I'm torn on the issue of H1-B violations because the H1-B violations are often not the major immigration problems.
Personally, the problems I have with illegal immigration is when people make no effort whatsoever to gain legal entry into the country. These people often do not have health insurance, do not do other things properly/legally (get driver's licenses/insurance) which causes societal problems.
I would prefer the government spent its time gettting rid of completely undocumented people first. Then go after people who got appropriate paperwork to arrive, but there's a problem with it now (such as they overstaye their welcome, or filled something out improperly).
That said, if improprer H1-B visa applicants are taking jobs from qualified Americans, that isn't right. I would say, INS should start with undocumented people first, then branch into fraudulent H1-B visa applicants next.
Perhaps the number of H1-B visas allowed should be directly correlated to the national unemployment rate. Therefore, if there is high unemployment, we shouldn't be issuing H1-B visas. That way, you get fewer problems of depriving US citizens of jobs in favor or foreigners.
"This comes as a Gallup poll on immigration finds 50 percent of Americans said the level of immigration should be decreased"
I think it is more an issue with illegals, not people who go through the process of coming here legally. That is an interesting idea Rasheeda, about correlation between entry with unemployment rates. However, we also need to light a fire under some americans before we punish those with skills entering. As well, if the US government is doing everything except what they were even in existence for according to the constitution, you know, providing common defense, we have a problem. They need to stick to their constitutionally mandated scope of work, and stay there.
Finally, the USCIS is doing their job and due diligence in researching that all documentation are proper; then you get immigration lawyers complaining. These visas have been used to discriminate against locals (Americans and Permanent Residents) from competing for jobs. You can see a lot of jobs that only target those on H1-b visas.
With millions of Americans unemployed we don't really need these temporary guest worker visas. These are guest worker visas and not immigration visas. There is a new Durbin Bill S.887 that is meant to fix all loopholes in these visas programs.There are few IT jobs left. However, most of these jobs only target guest workers under the H1b visas. They don't allow locals - Americans and Permanent Residents to apply.
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 th
this is part 2 of my comments:
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
Your link appears to be broken to the Gallup poll "50 percent of Americans said the level of immigration should be decreased". Here is the link I believe you refer to:
www.gallup.com/poll/122057/Americans-Return-Tougher-Immigration-Stance.aspx
Perhaps it is because of current economic conditions, or perhaps more Americans are simply becoming more informed on the numbers involved in both legal and illegal immigration. Perhaps more Americans are becoming exposed to informational videos like this one:
www.youtube.com/v/oJ9dhqo0LA8
Universities have also ignored the differences in PhD standards and education standards from around the world, so that they can hire cheap H1s and J1s. The universities have employed massive numbers of postdoc PhDs without dissertations, this is fraud on the US taxpayer.
A PhD in the US averages 7-8 years, because of the extensive dissertation requirement. Many countries have 3-4 year PhD programs without a dissertation requirement including Japan, Germany, Great Britain, India, China.
Universities and established scientists want inexpensive foreign indentured labor to work on their research grants, so more hard-earned taxpayer money goes into their own pockets. At the end of 7-8 years of graduate school and 4 years of undergraduate Americans are out of money. So the universities and established scientists bring in a second tier of individuals to exploit, the foreign “postdoctoral trainee.”
“In England, for example, chemistry students generally obtain their doctorates in 3.5 year
whereas Americans take almost double that, says Alvin Kwiram, a professor emeritus of chemistry and former vice provost for research at the University of Washington.”
This is from “The real science crisis bleak prospects for young researchers.” Richard Monastersky. The Chronicle of Higher Education Volume 54, Issue 4, Page A1 Sept 2007
see also Nature 431, 382-383.
"in the United Kingdom, the trend [to obtain a PhD degree] is up from 3 years to 3 1/2 or four. With financial commitments from the Medical Research Council MRC and the Welcome Trust, the number of 4 year programmes is rising."
See also, Samuel Coleman, "Japanese Science from the Inside."
Japan has several types of PhDs including ronbun hakase or pepa dokuta (awarded by industry for publishing a paper and awarded without classes and comprehensive exams. There is also an igaku hakase PhD. a degree awarded by a hospital for residency on top of the MD. That is why most MD Japanese in the US are both MD PhD. Impre
Rasheeda wrote:
"That said, if improprer H1-B visa applicants are taking jobs from qualified Americans, that isn't right. I would say, INS should start with undocumented people first, then branch into fraudulent H1-B visa applicants next"
FACT: Even "PROPER" H-1b visa applicants are taking jobs from qualified Americans. Except for the "H-1b dependent" provision which applies to 1% of employers - and then only if they don't pay at least $60k - there is NO REQUIREMENT for employers to consider qualified Americans.
The largest users of H-1b are the Indian consulting firms. Congress allows them to bring in thousands of H-1b each year, pay them 25% below market, and then under-bid U.S. consulting firms, driving both American workers and American companies out of business.
- Kim
Discrimination Is Occurring On A Massive Scale Against Qualified US Citizens.
The Middle Class Has Been Destroyed.
Families Have Been Torn Apart.
The EEOC, the OFCCP, the DOJ-OSC Have Done Next To Nothing To Protect US Citizens Whose National Origin Is USA.
Immigration Law Firms Are Harming American Workers.
The H-1B Visa guest worker program has “RESERVED” millions of high-value jobs for citizens of foreign countries.
"Fake Job Ads” consistently and routinely DENY, DEPRIVE, EXCLUDE and DISCRIMINATE against United States Citizens during the hiring process.
Here is Cohen & Grigsby, a prominent immigration law firm (recommended by NAFSA) displaying their Good Faith Efforts To Recruit American Workers...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
When companies have job openings, they "place an order" with job descriptions to third party recruiters like ManPower, Volt, Adecco, Robert Half, etc.
(continued)...
Good article Andy. Thanks for the reference. One day , hopefully, common sense will prevail in this debate.
IBM brings thousands of H1B's into North Carolina does anyone think that's where they're working? Hundreds of thousands of American IT workers unemployed and the H1B imports keep coming. It's a farce and Hillary's promising India more visas. America almost had a middle class and it scared the devil out of the politicians;so, they've found a way to destroy it.
Rasheeda wrote:
"I would prefer the government spent its time gettting rid of completely undocumented people first. Then go after people who got appropriate paperwork to arrive, but there's a problem with it now (such as they overstaye their welcome, or filled something out improperly)."
No, the H-1B problem will give the biggest bang for the buck, by putting laid off workers back to work therby getting the economy back on the road to recovery, and can be easily solved with a stroke of the pen through legislation such as Senate Bill 887.
Easy solutions first!
I do understand most of the concerns and complaints listed in the article and comments. However there is something that is missing. US had been a leader in Information Technology and obviously the massive numbers of H1 workers that are here working in US have contributed significantly to this. The American businesses benefiting from this have grown providing more jobs to Americans. On the flip side countries like China, India have been talking about "Brain Drain" as their smartest are coming to USA. I think at this point we need a balanced approach where America does not lose its competitive advantage in the world market place. All over Europe companies are hiring foreign workers in the field of IT specially. Sorry folks our kids need to work harder in the present day. Jobs will not be handed to them in a plate.
Sorry the reason is the America is a leading technology country is because of Americans and not cheap foreign labor. Wake up. Americans invented most of the high technologies. If the guest workers invented them they should have made their mother countries rich with it. Wake up. They said if somebody tell lies everytime some people end up believing. Look at the biggest liar Vivek Fraudwa.
The H-1B program should be eliminated immediately. The idea that H-1B workers are here to make sure America remains competitive is a complete lie. Why would an H-1B worker even care about American competitiveness? Americans care about American competitiveness because we don't have the luxury of working in another country.
The "take care of the illegal immigrant problem first" argument is a red herring. Illegal immigrants aren't taking away skilled labor jobs - H-1Bs are. I doubt that many Americans blame the H-1B visa holders, we blame corrupt politicians and corporations which allow this to happen.
The unpleasant truth is that India and China cannot employ their skilled workers (and the know it), so these countries are desperate to send them elsewhere. It makes perfect sense. Do either of these countries want a bunch of unemployed and educated young people hanging around causing political trouble? I doubt it.
"In virtually all cases, the employer could hire a qualified American.”
How very true, employers will spend $4000.00 to $5000.00 in fees and attorneys for H-1B's when is the last time you've seen a tech company offer relocation assistance to an American candidate.
Further, the employer's attorney also represent the employee -- how is this not a conflict of interest? Shouldn't the H-1B have his/her own representation?
Employing many of the foreign H1B PhDs by universities government and the NIH should also be considered a fraud on the American taxpayer. Many, if not most of the foreign PhDs employed as "special experts" are PhDs awarded in 3-4 years PhD programs. How can this be? The major reason, is that foreign programs that do not have a dissertation (or thesis) requirement.
A US university would not award a PhD without a substantial dissertation, a document that usually takes 2-3 years to write. So how universities hire foreign Post docs as "scientists" that they would not qualify for a PhD? And what type of university accreditation is there in China or India? No one has examined these schools. Why is this true? Universities want more money for their coffers and established scientists want inexpensive indentured foreign H1B labor to work on their research grants. Morally bankrupt selfishness, so more of hard-earned taxpayers' money goes into their own pockets.
Hi,
I work as Intern during summer at NASA. My manager at NASA got CS degree from China, about 10 years ago and came to US on H-1B.
I am very surprised that my manager with Chinese degree does not know computer basics, that I learned at US college during my first year. It was a disgrace for the manager to have an intern who is smarter than him. I was told that I will not be hired by the manager after my internship is over, because according to Chinese tradition, Interns can not be smarter than their supervisors. He is looking for another dumb H-1B, in order to avoid embaressment. BTW 80% employees in our NASA department are Chinese, and these are supposed to be Government jobs. What do you expect from private industries, when your own government does not care?
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