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Do We Really Need So Many Foreign Tech Workers?
Creators syndicate ^ | Feb 7 2019 | Froma Harrop

Posted on 02/22/2019 10:27:29 AM PST by rintintin

Americans don't usually think of technical professionals as "guest workers," yet at any one time, there are more than a half-million foreigners holding tech jobs in the U.S. They are here thanks to the H-1B visa program. H-1B, so the official spiel goes, addresses an alleged shortage of "highly skilled" Americans to fill jobs "requiring specialized knowledge."

Growing evidence, however, points to companies' using the program to replace perfectly qualified American workers with cheaper ones from elsewhere. A new report published by the Atlantic Council documents the abuses. The authors are Ron Hira, a political scientist at Howard University, and Bharath Gopalaswamy, director of the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center.

Among their criticisms:

—Virtually any white-collar job can be taken by an H-1B visa holder. About 70 percent of them are held not by what we consider tech workers but by teachers, accountants and salespeople, among others.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: h1b; india; workforce
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To: marron

Sorry, but if you can’t find US citizens, wages need to go up.

The H1-B is nothing more than a cancer.


61 posted on 02/22/2019 11:35:08 AM PST by bobcat62
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To: bert

I’m totally hooked on those videos.


62 posted on 02/22/2019 11:35:41 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: central_va

This has been a problem throughout the engineering business for decades now, but it has been getting worse over the last, say, fifteen years. Early in my career you could ignore it, but in the last decade before I retired it became in-your-face.


63 posted on 02/22/2019 11:37:34 AM PST by marron
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To: bobcat62

Exactly. That is exactly my point.


64 posted on 02/22/2019 11:37:59 AM PST by marron
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To: rintintin

H-1B visas are just one of the ways foreign tech workers get in.

There’s also the J-1 visa for academic researchers (and their spouses). There is no cap on J-1. So all a company has to do is contract out some development work to a university.

http://www.visapro.com/resources/article/us-visa-options/


65 posted on 02/22/2019 11:39:37 AM PST by PapaBear3625 ("Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." -- Voltaire)
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To: rintintin

Visa Overstays are as large or larger than the illegals crossing
the southern border or so it’s claimed

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/686056668/for-seventh-consecutive-year-visa-overstays-exceeded-illegal-border-crossings


66 posted on 02/22/2019 11:40:45 AM PST by deport
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To: rintintin; central_va; bobcat62

For years, Republicans who would campaign on illegal immigration, would “inoculate” themselves by calling for expanding legal immigration, and often calling for radically expanding H1B. Even recently I remembering seeing someone calling for exactly that.

When I was younger, I didn’t think about it. But once you understand the game, such politics becomes infuriating.


67 posted on 02/22/2019 11:44:28 AM PST by marron
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To: rintintin

Sure, you need people who can read and write English, have the power of logic, and have a work ethic. You aren’t getting that from many of our high school and college graduates any more. So we have to import people with those abilities. Pathetic, but true.


68 posted on 02/22/2019 11:45:32 AM PST by EinNYC
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To: Zavien Doombringer

I toyed with one idiot who had called me with that virus line.

First ask them what version of Windoze I am running ...

Then ask them what the IP address is on my computer ...

Then ask them what virus they found ...

Then ask them if that virus is dangerous to the Linux system that is really running on my computer ...

They hang up somewhere around question 4.


69 posted on 02/22/2019 11:46:51 AM PST by ByteMercenary (Healthcare Insurance is *NOT* a Constitutional right.)
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To: rintintin

As I understand it, they admit 85 thousand programmers and engineers a year under H1B. But the visa is good for 6 years, so that’s actually half a million people competing with you in your job. And the likelihood is they are able to obtain residency during that time (green card) and stay, so its a constant 85 thousand people a year coming in to fill jobs you would be competing for...

If they were bringing in 85 thousand journalists or lawyers every year, this program would end tomorrow.

You see the same thing with medical people. They make it as difficult as possible to train Americans, and then recruit foreign nurses and doctors.


70 posted on 02/22/2019 11:53:02 AM PST by marron
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To: \/\/ayne
Yep! They often lie on their resumes about their skillsets. But many corps don't mind since it allows them to claim they can't find an American that can do the job.

There may well be a shortage of < 35 year old techies, but there is surplus of over 40 year old ones. Remove age discrimination and there isn't a shortage.
71 posted on 02/22/2019 11:53:18 AM PST by StolarStorm
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To: qaz123

At the big box hardware store where I work, 75% of the customers are either South American or from India. Repairing their houses. Mostly the bathroom plumbing it seems. Guess if you’ve got 15 dhimmis using the john every day in your house, something’s gotta give.


72 posted on 02/22/2019 11:53:52 AM PST by 4Runner
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Comment #73 Removed by Moderator

To: marron

It’s treason.


74 posted on 02/22/2019 12:04:32 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: central_va

Its “open borders” by another name.


75 posted on 02/22/2019 12:07:22 PM PST by marron
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To: greymattr
It’s not really a case of foreign workers taking Americans jobs, it is a case of powerful Americans giving american jobs to foreign workers because they are cheaper, and will increase a profit margin.

So for someone to embrace the joys of capitalism they have to embrace a borderless world where labor is trafficked and Americans are subjected to global labor arbitrage? If so you can stuff your globalist capitalism. Also say hello to President Cortez because this is how you get a President Cortez.

76 posted on 02/22/2019 12:08:06 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: coon2000

” Maybe $10 - $12 /hour.”

it must be more than that. They all have a brand new Honda.


77 posted on 02/22/2019 12:08:57 PM PST by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?)
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To: rintintin

Legal immigration should be reduced. The third worlders they are bringing in through legal immigration. Are mostly left wing voters.


78 posted on 02/22/2019 12:09:05 PM PST by Carry me back (Cut the feds by 90%)
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To: marron

These borderless globalist corporatists will be the firs to hide behind real patriots if we ever get into hot war with the Chinese and/or Russians. Cowards, sellouts and traitors. I don’t know how else to define them. To the wood chipper with them.


79 posted on 02/22/2019 12:10:45 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: StolarStorm

“Remove age discrimination and there isn’t a shortage. “

I’m 60 and I still get calls from head hunters


80 posted on 02/22/2019 12:11:28 PM PST by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?)
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