Posted on 11/04/2005 9:44:55 PM PST by nickcarraway
In a major boost to information technology professionals from India hoping to emigrate to the US, the Senate has voted in favour of increasing the cap on H-1B visas by 30,000 to 95,000 from next year.
The Senate has also voted to increase the number of legal immigrants besides increasing the cap on H-1B visas favoured by Indian IT specialists, as part of a broad budget deficit cutting bill that was passed on Friday by a margin of 52 to 47 votes.
With a view to meeting its deficit reduction target, the Senate Judiciary Committee had last month called for adding some 90,000 employment-based green cards per year and raising the fee by $500, which would earn some $250 millions for the government.
The Judiciary Committee increased the cap on the H-1B visas by 30,000 and raised the fee, adding another $75 millions to the exchequer.
The budget deficit reduction bill that was cleared by the Senate also removes family members from the ceiling on employment-based immigration visas that would now increase legal immigration by 240,000 people every year.
The total increase to immigration would now come to 330,000 a year, up nearly 33 per cent.
The passage of the Senate bill did not come by without opposition.
Senior Democrat from West Virginia, Robert Byrd tried to take away the visa provisions from the bill but was overwhelmingly defeated by a 85 to 14 vote with only ten Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent supporting him.
Paying down the deficit by selling off American jobs. Makes sense to me..........
I hope the House kills this, its insane.
ping
One way to undercut outsourcing.
Makes sence to me...BLECH!
They gotta look for Americans first... just about as hard as folks on unemployment insurance have to look for jobs, that is. Totally pro forma. In this era of telecommuting and worldwide corporate networks, it's also much easier to fill jobs with people living overseas without even touching the H-1B pool. It's difficult to believe that in a land of hundreds of millions of people, nobody is there who would not gladly and competently do what each H-1B is doing and even for the same pay.
Michelle Malkin is not going to be a happy camper with this one.
"It's difficult to believe that in a land of hundreds of millions of people, nobody is there who would not gladly and competently do what each H-1B is doing and even for the same pay."
I hate to tell you, but companies "want" H1B workers because they have total rule over them. They work them 60 hours a week and give them squat for benefits, and if they whine to the company , the host company just threatens to turn them into the INS and have them deported for any reason.
From a business standpoint, who would you want to hire?
The government doesn`t keep track of these people either. There are a load of "expired" H1B visa holders still in the US and the government doesn`t know where they are?
Its a system that has been completely bastardized.
They're not going to reduce the deficit by increasing immigration, they're going to enlarge the deficit.
What are they thinking? That these immigrants will pay for government pension schemes? They can't. They don't even pay taxes.
Agree 100%, ask anyone looking who's got a grey hair or three.
great ! maybe we'll get a few more Noshir Gowadia's .....
lovely
The real increase is 305,000 not 65,000.
I don't like this either, but at least these people are educated and intelligent. Better than illiterate illegal aliens from Latin America.
Better than hiring idiots who took a single MS course and pronounce themselves IT specialists.
If you don't have a 4 year degree in CS or EE, don't touch my computer.
Unless you are a 17 year old.
Only hope is the House. Amnesty Jorge will sign it in a heartbeat.
Don't worry, you're getting both.
Nothing about this H1-B sell out means fewer numbers of garden-variety third world migrants.
Great news! I was worried that the US senate would agree to the demands of some 'conservatives' who think that when the 'brain drain' occcurs here the US, that American jobs are taken. Of course, any time government gets bigger and attempts to prevent private industry from doing what it will, it ends up hurting the United States. In this case, 'Conservatives', unfortunately, including many Freepers, who argue that government should get biggger and meddle with and regulate whom high tech companies employ in order to 'save American jobs' are actually accomplishing the opposite of their intentions - as more Americans jobs would be lost if these immigratns were prevented from coming here....
How many more examples such as this do we need before we realize they ALL have to go. Send these money-grubbing, time-wasting bastards back home, and replace them with rookies. Defeating every incumbent, regardless of their so-called "party" affiliation, would send the best message possible to those remaining that WE are in charge.
I'm so sick of these bloviating idiots that I could just spit. Not a one of these overpaid hacks has our interests at heart, and continue to sell us out at every opportunity. Not that I blame them; if the electorate continue to prove, time and again, that they will tolerate outrageous behavior, then why not take advantage of the ignorance?
I work for as a subcontractor for the Department of Defense in a division that handles all pay and personnel applications for one branch of the military. We're in the middle of a major expansion and cannot find the software developers we need to do the work in the time frame that the Pentagon would like. Why? Because as a part of the DOD all employees and subcontractors have to qualify for a security clearance. The H-1B movement has pretty much destroyed the U.S. born programmer base, and getting a clearance for an H-1B is damned near impossible. So we either lower our security standards or don't get the work done. Either way wouldn't you say that the U.S. is hurt? But which solution would you prefer?
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