Posted on 02/02/2017 5:39:03 PM PST by AU72
While America's political future is steeped in uncertainty, there is no questioning what the US political establishment wants to do with the controversial H1B visa for highly-skilled workers.
Three legislative bills and a soon-to-be-expected executive order may look like overkill but growing momentum against the H1B gives the impression, at first glance, that the visa program in its present form is living on borrowed time. Especially noticeable about these efforts is the fact that they transcend party lines. see also Will Donald Trump's first 100 days as president include a cybercrisis?
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Republican Congressman Darrell Issa from California kicked things off earlier this year in the first week of January by introducing the Protect and Grow American Jobs Act (HR 170) bill, which aimed to constrict but not entirely eliminate an 18-year-old loophole in legislation that allowed US workers to be displaced by a visa-holding employee who has a master's degree or is paid at least $60,000. Issa's bill bumps the salary threshold to $100,000 a year but eliminates the master's degree exemption altogether, thereby somewhat disappointing those who were looking for more rigorous protection mechanisms for American tech workers.
A few weeks later, Republican Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Democrat Richard Durbin (Illinois) re-introduced a bill from previous years, called the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, that they say will bump up enforcement mechanisms and modify wage requirements in service of both American workers and visa holders.
Specifically, the bill would prevent companies with more than 50 employees, of which at least half are H1B or L1 holders, from hiring additional H1B employees. The bill if passed would also empower the Department of Labour to actively patrol the visa landscape by being able to investigate and audit firms from a compliance standpoint and probe for abuse or fraud.
Their bill would also bring to end the system of computerized lottery with which the H1B visas are allocated, giving way to a "preference system" where foreign students enrolled in colleges and universities in the US get priority. So would advanced degree holders, those who managed to secure a high-paying job, and those with prized skills.
Then, a few days ago, California Congressman Zoe Lofgren -- known to be the 'Silicon Valley' politician -- introduced the High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 in the US House of Representatives, which prioritises allocation of H1B visas based on a market-based system of allocation. This is designed to eliminate abuse of the system by preferencing those willing to pay 200 percent of the prevailing wage but above the minimum wage rate of $130,000 (more than double the $60,000 minimum rate established in 1989).
Playing to Silicon Valley galleries, Lofgren's bill would also seek to put aside 20 percent of H1B visas each year for startups, defined as firms with fewer than 50 employees.
All of these efforts come on the heels of several high-profile events where American IT workers were fired and then replaced by Indians. In one egregious case, which I wrote about here, Disney fired some 400 of their workers who were then replaced by their Indian counterparts from TCS and Infosys. The fired workers were also then made to train their replacements or lose their severance. Similar events have taken place around the country in the past few years to make this a burning issue, and President Trump, while on the campaign trail, vowed to correct what he said was a gross injustice against American tech workers. TRUMP'S EXECUTIVE ORDER
So, not to be outdone, President Trump is reportedly also looking to issue an executive order, due in 90 days and currently going through some final tinkering, which covers much of the same ground that the bills do. CNNMoney managed to get hold of a draft that gives an inkling of what to expect.
While the wording on the draft doesn't reveal too many details about possible changes in the H1B, it does apparently propose numerous changes to many of the other visas that are important to the tech community such as J1 (summer work travel), the Optional Practical Training (OPT, which allows international students to stay in the US after graduating), and the E2 program (an investor visa).
Also going under the presidential knife is the L1 visa, which allows a foreign worker to transfer from an office abroad to the same company's US branch. Now, an applicant will be subjected to site visits within six months by Homeland Security. Within two years, there will be mandatory on-site checking for all employment-related visa programs.
Yet, despite all this action with the H1B, observers are not convinced that Trump will allow the visa program to be severely mauled to favour American tech workers. Indian IT companies generate some $65 billion worth of business in the US and cutting off that spigot will mean the likes of GE, Boeing, and Cisco suddenly being unable to sell their turbines, planes, and routers in one of the world's fastest-growing economies.
It is going to be a fascinating balancing act that walks the tightrope between bombast and action while keeping the registers clinking on both sides of the globe.
Compared to our suicidal lunacy all of them have an immigration “ban”.
I may raise some costs by employing Americans. If we don’t get these folks back to work, the welfare costs to the taxpayers for these displaced workers will exceed the costs incurred by hiring them.
It's very unlikely with a population of 330 million people that your skills are unique. If your skills are unique (and presumably useful), why couldn't you stay in your native country and command a very high salary? Why couldn't an American be trained so that your skills are no longer unique? Or are you just blowing smoke?
If his skills were that unique, why didn’t his employer go through the pain of obtaining an O-1 visa?
I sure wish I had unique (and useful) skills. I could command a very high salary. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the high tech industry, it’s that everyone is replaceable. Everyone is unique in his own way, but someone else is out there who can take his place.
And that will end the H-1B abuses how?
Money quote.
If I could play Tinkerbell for a moment & could tap you on the forehead to give you one of the “hot” in-demand Software Engineering skillz, you’d be lucky to be working.
If you’re older, you’ll be actively discriminated against due to your age.
If the company is H1-B infested... well, they only hire their own kind.
If you look at dice.com right now, there are 82,168 tech jobs available. In reality, the overall number of tech jobs Dice really has may be 10 percent of that number.
Yep. Been there, done that. I left two different positions where the companies were being overrun by Indian H1Bs. In both places, the new Indian managers started hiring only Indian engineers, and used H1Bs like a club to demote and replace the native-born engineers. Fortunately, I found a position in defense, where only US citizens could be hired. Unfortunately, the prevalence of H1Bs in the US has depressed salaries for the entire industry. I’m only a few years from retirement, but definitely couldn’t recommend going into engineering for anyone just starting out.
Amazing that this CEO’s nose isn’t growing on camera during the interview:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/03/godaddy-ceo-blake-irving-h1b-plan-trump.html
You’re quite naive aren’t you?
And quit trolling, chum.
Quit trying to play the damsel in distress, pink is not your color.
High earners don’t typically get most of their employment income from salary. Did you not know this? Don’t want to distract from whatever point you were making but your choice of words left me with no choice.
Gee, way to change the subject there, genius. The reason I’m using the word “salary” is that the lucrative contracts that I had before are no longer available to me, so I had to take a salaried position. But you don’t care about American engineers, do you? The other reason I used the word “salary” is so that more readers would understand what I’m talking about. Not everyone is a H1B snowflake like you.
By the way, snowflake, if you’re going to say that the highest earners are business owners, well, I got priced out of that, too. But I’m sure you care only about foreign engineers, so don’t worry about it.
No I was talking about employment income. Bonuses more important that salary.
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