Posted on 01/06/2007 3:43:29 PM PST by shrinkermd
....But the team has a big problem. Mr. Shyiak was born in Canada and is working as a so-called temporary H1-B professional worker. His visa is expiring and U.S. immigration officials fret that this foreigner may be taking a job from an American citizen. So the university must comply with rules that require it to verify that there is no American worker who is "able, willing, qualified, and available to accept the job at the prevailing wage for that occupation." The university is taking out newspaper ads for the hockey team's head-coach position and hoping no one applies.
...Scott McNealy, Chairman of Sun Microsystems, recently implored Congress to raise H1-B visa numbers, noting that two of Sun's co-founders were immigrants who have created tens of thousands of jobs. "Why would you have an arbitrary number of smart people?" he asks. A lot of hockey fans in Anchorage are asking the same question.
...We have here a microcosm of the lunacy of America's immigration laws, and industries a lot more vital to America's economy than sports are harmed. Nearly one-third of science and engineering Ph.D.s working in places like Silicon Valley are the top minds from foreign nations, according to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Many are also here on H1-B visas. Companies are required to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, advertising expenses and long delays to secure visas for the talented people they need. And the demand for these specialty visas is two to three times higher than the 65,000 per year allotted by Congress...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The current H1-B laws tie these workers to one employer. That means they can be paid less than the market rate.
A small reform would cure this defect, and insure that we are not just importing indentured servants at the professional level.
We will then see if they are really more talented than American workers, or just cheaper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.