High-Tech Titans Strike Out on Immigration Bill (Google, Microsoft call for more H-1B Visas)

The New York Times ^ | June 25, 2007 | ROBERT PEAR

[BornInASmallTown]

WASHINGTON, June 24 — Bill Gates and Steven A. Ballmer of Microsoft have led a parade of high-tech executives to Capitol Hill, urging lawmakers to provide more visas for temporary foreign workers and permanent immigrants who can fill critical jobs. Google has reminded senators that one of its founders, Sergey Brin, came from the Soviet Union as a young boy. To stay competitive in a “knowledge-based economy,” company officials have said, Google needs to hire many more immigrants as software engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists.

The top executives of these and other high-tech companies have been making a huge effort to reshape the Senate immigration bill to meet their demand for more foreign workers. But they have had only limited success, as is often the case when strong-willed corporate leaders confront powerful members of Congress.

High-tech companies want to be able to hire larger numbers of well-educated, foreign-born professionals who, they say, can help them succeed in the global economy. For these scientists and engineers, they seek permanent-residence visas, known as green cards, and H-1B visas. The H-1B program provides temporary work visas for people who have university degrees or the equivalent to fill jobs in specialty occupations including health care and technology. The Senate bill would expand the number of work visas for skilled professionals, but high-tech companies say the proposed increase is not nearly enough. Several provisions of the Senate bill are meant to enhance protections for American workers and to prevent visa fraud and abuse. High-tech companies were surprised and upset by the bill that emerged last month from secret Senate negotiations. E. John Krumholtz, director of federal affairs at Microsoft, said the bill was “worse than the status quo, and the status quo is a disaster.”

[stephenjohnbanker]

I guess 52 billion ain’t enough for Gates : )

[Riverine]

Well, easier to argue for these folks coming in than millions of grade school- at best- educated others (and millions of their similarly educated relatives).

[Tax Government]

I am delighted that Microsoft, Google, etc. be required to shop locally for talent.

[Brimack34]

Note: They are all liberal owned Companies. They should get the treatment allotted to Wal-Mart.

[sourcery]

I think they should be allowed to hire as many foreigners as they like--provided they pay them 25% more than they pay Americans with the same credentials for the same work (and can prove that's the case.) Scarcity should be accompanied by higher prices. When alleged scarcity goes with lower prices, something's wrong.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Apparently I’m “overqualified” which is code for American worker.

[rolling_stone]

yes and the extra 25 % should be allocated to train and edcate Americans to replace the foreigners...ASAP..

[Tennessee Nana]

I never use Google ...thats another reason not to...

Does Yahoo hire Americans?...

[Lord Basil]

Related to this?

[fmkl]

Well, Yahoo’s cofounder is also an immigrant and their policies are pretty similar to Google’s. You might want to search for a native American-only-founded search engine that hire only Americans.

[BornInASmallTown]

Related to this? Different industry, same approach. "Seminars" for outsourcing and "insourcing" became very popular once the notions took off. In this instance the person caught on tape let their enthusiasm get a little out of control, and they got caught. It's all about cheap labor. There is nothing inherent in the nature of a foreign-born worker that makes them "better," "smarter," or more talented. They're just willing to work for pennies on the dollar. Yes, there are some U.S.-born workers who lack the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time. But to say that the only way we can fill skilled positions is to set up a recruiting booth at Ellis Island is a lie.

[InterceptPoint]

I continue to be amazed at the number of folks who are certainly from the loyal base of Free Republic but somehow think that there are better solutions than the free market to the problem of supplying labor to business.

My position (and the correct one of course - IMHO): the Government will always make a bad situation worse. Leave them out of it. Let the market decide wages and pay.

[expatguy]

These companies need to hire Americans - CASE CLOSED!

[Jack Black]

My position (and the correct one of course - IMHO): the Government will always make a bad situation worse. Leave them out of it. Let the market decide wages and pay.What does that mean? Kinda of a mindless nostrum, isn't it. I mean every facet of the market is regulated in the USA. The dreams of laisse faire that you and other libertarians indulge in are just that, dreams.

We can "leave the government out of immigration" right after we get them out of rest of the job market, by ending minimum wage laws, child labor laws, disability insurnace, unemployment insurance, government mandated retirement savings, wage linked health care deductions, etc.

Seeing as that isn't going to happen giving up regulation at the border doesn't make sense.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Note: They are all liberal owned Companies.

What? They are all public companies. Any time shareholders get offended by the idea of Microsoft or Google hiring Indian H1B's, they can stage a proxy fight and toss out the Board of Directors. Obviously, they aren't all that offended.

H1B is supposed to be used to hire PhD computer science and math people who are in short supply in the USA, as these firms are doing - not for foreign outsourcing firms to hire run-of-the-mill network engineers and programmers who will work cheap.

[jiggyboy]

Yeah try applying to Microsoft or Google or any of these guys and being qualified fifty of their fifty-one alphabet-soup requirements (”must have experience in ABC, DEF.2...”); for the last one, that they require six months of experience with XYZ.2, and you’ve worked for three years with XYZ.1. So sorry, you’re not qualified, boo hoo, we can’t find any qualified workers...

[stainlessbanner]

filing

[InterceptPoint]

We can "leave the government out of immigration ..."

Don't confuse security and labor policy. I'm all for security at the border and I do believe that the U.S. Government must be empowered to decide who comes into this country and who doesn't. As we all know, they are failing at that task.

But that leaves a lot a room for discussion and, IMHO, deficiencies in the availability of a qualified domestic labor can be handled in two ways:

1. Import the labor.
2. Suffer the consequences of the labor shortfall.

There really is no third choice. So, in my opinion the government should either tell Bill Gates to go fish or let him have is imported labor.