Posted on 03/29/2017 6:50:29 PM PDT by Theoria
President vowed changes to the high-skilled-worker program
President Donald Trump ran for office promising changes to the H-1B visa program, which brings high-skilled foreign workers to the U.S. But come Monday, the government opens another round of applications using rules that have long been in place.
Demand for the program badly outstrips the supply so, as in past years, the government will use a lottery to decide which companies get them. The visas are coveted by tech firms, who have unsuccessfully lobbied Congress to increase the cap, which is set at 85,000. The new visas become available each year in early April.
Large outsourcing firms typically scoop up a substantial share of the visas, and they have drawn scrutiny for importing foreign workers, particularly in cases where they are hired to do work once performed by Americans. Smaller firms that request just a few visas have said they have a hard time planning because of uncertainty about whether they will win any.
Changing that distribution would require a time-consuming rewrite of regulations governing the program, experts said. Given that no action was launched right away, the new administration has been expected to maintain existing rules for this year.
There was a window in which the White House could have made serious reforms, said Russ Harrison, director of government relations for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA, a professional society that lobbies for changes in the program. For whatever reason, they decided not to take it.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
American business in on the verge of a boom, and we already have a shortage of skilled tech workers (and having a zillion Lesbian History majors doesn't help matters). So, it doesn't make sense to abruptly reduce our source of qualified skilled workers.
Can’t get around the paywall... but
He did have a draft proposal on an EO that would have covered all the work visas. Don’t know what happened.
Legislation is moving, but he should have done something on his own.
It’s like the swamp is running a DDOS against him.
Pfffft.
Just a TAD busy with other things, just SLIGHTLY more important at the moment.
And sad that Freepers don’t see that this is WSJ open bordres trying to cause trouble with Trump supporters.
Wise up.
He hasn’t signed the eo...dunno why.
You think Cruz was going to stop it? He wanted to expand h1b. What person in existence is going to do something about other than trump? Some of you folks are daft.
Those of us in the IT field with mortgages to pay and families to feed are tired of waiting.
If you don’t wise up and support the guy it will never happen. But you’ll still have “muh principles” while your house is being foreclosed.
Like I said, daft. Some folks have little EQ.
He either does it or loses my vote. Period.
Well he’s got 3 years and 10 months doesn’t he. Enough with the hand wringing.
Again I ask...name one person more likely to address it. Just one.
There's shortage if the goal is to pay skilled AMERICAN tech workers slave wages.
Wages are flat for IT and they have been flat for 20 years. There is no shortage. You are clueless.
There is not any shortage of tech workers. There enough laid off tech workers to take every H1B position with more Americans still looking.
I’ve had plenty of contact with the H1Bs and most have no true advanced tech knowledge, many bring in bogus qualifications, and many of them will lie and cheat to get by.
Kill the program and there are more than enough qualified Americans to fill the need.
Trump is failing. We didn’t elect Ryan. Very sad to see every day more signs of Trump and Republicans selling out Americans and reneging on campaign promises.
Has it made any difference in the job market since Trump suspended the fast-track processing of H-1B visas?
Exactly.
A lot of people are not aware of how our university system works.
Even at the undergrad level, a significant segment of our science and engineering students are either foreign students or the first generation American children of foreign immigrant.
Most come from Asia or India, but with a smattering of European, Canadian, South American, Aussie and Africans students.
At the graduate level, in many science and engineering programs, foreign students are the majority of the students
Americans are just are not opting for the difficult and rigorous disciplines in the numbers they used to, and many who do are the children of H1B parents who have become naturalized Americans.
At the PhD level, Americans are the minority of both the students and faculty.
This is why the H1B visa program was started.
Without the H1B program, America's brain drain of top foreign students returning to their home countries would become a crisis.
And yes, H1B students are cheap labor ( up to 50% less than an American of similar qualifications) that tolerates working conditions and life style no American would tolerate for the first 3-5 years of employment while they get established in the US. In the Silicone Valley, H1B visa is almost a tradition in the mold of what internship used to be for medical students transitioning to become doctors or boot camp is to soldiers.
Like all government programs, there is serious abuse of the program by unscrupulous and exploitative companies and the the H1B visa program needs serious reform to stop the abuse, but H1B is vital to our nations ability to recruit the best and brightest.
Talk to any millennial snowflake and it will immediately become clear why this visa program is needed.
Good point....the college idiots are the problem.
Nope...not enough skilled workers......”workers” is the keyword and that leaves out most of today’s college grads
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