[A. Pole]

The H1-B visas, given to skilled professionals, are in demand among many Indian hi-tech workers. The Congressionally mandated cap currently is 65,000 and the Senate recently passed its version of an Immigration Bill that increases the H1-B cap to 115,000 every year with a built in increase of 20 per cent annually.

Jobs Americans will not do.

[Tired of Taxes]

The H1-B visas, given to skilled professionals

Oh please. The companies send them to training classes when they arrive here. This is about companies paying lower wages, not bringing "skilled professionals" to do work Americans cannot do.

[Hodar]

Good old law of supply and demand. If the demand goes up, and engineers are needed; artificially increase the supply to keep the company profits high, and the engineer's salary low.

I'm 46, and there just aren't a whole lot of engineers my age or much older out there anymore. Why? Because we are sick to death of being 'out-sourced', 'laid-off' and simply pushed aside. My coworkers have opened McDonald's, Subway and Quiz-nos restaurants; others have gone back to farm, while others have simply gone to school to be a trucker. Frankly, I'm looking at doing the same darn thing.

I busted my behind to get a degree; working full time while attending college for more years than I care to think about. I've been laid off 4x in the past 10 years. It used to be an indication of incompetent management when a company laid off their employees; now it's status quo.

So, now we have a situation at some companies where we hire 15,000 Indians in Bangalore, so we can lay off 500 engineers in the USA - all in the name of 'Globalization'. We ship jobs to China, India and Malaysia; and these countries aren't even our allies. We are training and educating the very people who will eventually be our superiors. Why? Because their culture understands what hard work and perseverance will get; while our culture punishes hard work, and rewards mediocrity.

[1066AD]

I wonder how many L-1 visas are being abused by near-fraudulent applications as a result.

[TomasUSMC]

H1Bs .... More selling out our children's future.

[mysterio]

Doing the jobs Americans won't do. For 15k a year with a degree, that is.

I'm really tired of importing people to undercut our wages. I mean, we work more than any other country. Average of two weeks a year vacation, which most of us don't even take. Come on, at least pay us well. Is that too much to ask?

[Rockitz]

If you are a dues paying member of a technical society, it's time to get active and make sure they are lobbying your elected representatives to prevent H1B abuse. If looking through the following site doesn't fire you up, nothing will.

http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/

We should have as good of restrictions on H1Bs as the AMA has on the supply of doctors.

[Political Junkie Too]

The US government has reached the cap on the much in demand H1-B visas for 2007 even though the fiscal year does not start until October 1...

What does that say about the government's estimates of the impacts of the Senate amnesty program on immigration?

-PJ