[JesseHousman]

And immigrant-rich South Florida has a large share of that talent.

Whether or not South Florida is "immigrant-rich" is in the eye of the liberal beholder.

Just scanning daily crime reports show that many immigrants and illegals contribute to the massive South Florida crime rate.

[Onelifetogive]

U.S. companies' pent-up demand for candidates in such technical fields as engineering, mathematics and research...

Should this say...

U.S. companies' pent-up demand for candidates in such technical fields as engineering, mathematics, research and landscaping.

[ican'tbelieveit]

Isn't this like reverse outsourcing or something? Giving away good jobs to foreigners, just that it occurs within our borders?

[traviskicks]

This is ridiculous. The administration should immediately lift this stupid quota. We need to draw the best and brightest here to remain competive economically. What a discrace!

[Political Junkie Too]

GONE IN A DAY: YEAR'S SUPPLY OF 'SKILLED' VISAS

Should read: GONE IN A DAY: YEAR'S SUPPLY OF CHEAP 'SKILLED' VISAS

-PJ

[snopercod]

"It means, unfortunately, that employers here will have less options in terms of hiring..."

Dear employer: Have you considered hiring some of us skilled but unemployed U.S. citizens? (Maybe I'm just jaded because I've been out of work for over three years.)

It didn't help to drive by the big construction project in town today (new library) and see all the Mexicans wearing hardhats. I still have a hardhat. Why won't they hire me?

The unemployment rate in our little county is the highest in North Carolina, which is one of the highest in the United States.

But there are no jobs for us Americans here.

[KarlInOhio]

Tammy Fox-Isicoff... said lawmakers must raise the visa cap again or ''carve out exceptions'' for disaster areas like Florida after the hurricanes

H1-B visas are supposed to be for especially skilled foreign workers. How many mathematicians or nuclear physicists does Florida need to rebuild or reroof buildings after the hurricane?

I expect that one problem with the H1-B program is that many companies are using it to bring in lower level less skilled people instead of limiting it to the cream of the crop. Too many Bombay tech school graduates designing web pages and not enough nuclear physicists are coming in and the government isn't doing any evaluation or screening - just approving the first 65,000 applications.

[softengine]

Job losses in the computer and high-tech sectors have made legislators reluctant to reinstate the bigger quota, even though U.S. companies have argued that most of the jobs filled are outside those sectors.

Uh huh. Sure.

[justanotherfreeper]

Little witch Tammy should interview all the American engineers and computer techs who can't find jobs. OH -- that's right, the employers would have to pay COMPETITIVE WAGES -- can't have that! Tammy's a lawyer -- too bad they can't hire some Indian attorney at half her salary to take her job.

[houeto]

Visas?!?! They don't need no stinkin' visas! Just tell them to go on down to Mexico and walk across with the REST of the world!!!

[Centurion2000]

''It was a real wake-up call when these numbers were issued,'' said Sandra Boyd, who chairs Compete America, a corporate coalition pushing for more H-1B visas. ``I don't think anyone believes it's acceptable that a whole year can now go by without any access to these people.''

Raise the wages offered and you will find someone to fill the job. It's called economics.

[Clemenza]

Actually, South Florida attracts many of the wealthier immigrants in the nation. It aint native born Americans who are paying $500k-over one million for the houses in Coral Gables and Weston. When I lived in Miami (99-02), wealthy Colombians and Venezuealans were buying up property like crazy.

[DelphiUser]

"There is no such thing as a "shortage of labor", there is only a lack of willingness to pay an attractive wage"

- I can't remember

(AAADD - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder)

[Tempest]

Errrrr.... and how many of those immigrants do you think posses an H1-B Visa?

I think you're correlating two very unrelated issues.

[xzins]

At what point does protectionism become a positive direction?

For example, the US Constitution forbids a naturalized foreign-born person from becoming the president. This is a variety of protectionism preventing our loss of national sovereignty.

It is a safe assumption that there are many foreign born engineers who will work for less money than our citizens would.

Why not have pure open borders and permit open bidding for the available jobs?

When does being an American citizen become a benefit in one's own country?

[jerhad]

In all my years of recruiting for technical and non-technical positions in Silicon Valley, I have NEVER had a client replace a US citizen with an H1B Visa employee. I'm not saying it never happens, but it is definitely the exception, not the rule.

Employers know that while H1B visa employees may cost less, they are far less efficient than US citizens and most times cost more in the long run. I have never had a client who "preferred" to hire a foreign worker.

I have a client right now who is a major public accounting firm and is DESPERATE to find qualified CPAs. The accounting firms in this area are all hiring like mad, and so my client is spending significant recruiting dollars to find people anywhere in the country they can find them. Cutting off the H1B visa program has hurt their business growth. And it was not because they refuse to hire US citizens or want to save a few bucks.

[AndyJackson]

If there is such a high demand for such skilled labor immigrant visas, then the government should auction these visas to industry. $40,000 - $100,000 for an immigrant labor visa for a skilled engineer would not be unreasonable, given the costs to U.S. society of training the US worker that was so displaced. This would have 3 benefits:

1. Allow a relief valve to allow industry to obtain, at fare marekt value, key skilled labor that they cannot get domestically.

2.Provide revenue to the U.S. Government (not necessarily a benefit actually as it will just hire more bureaucrats to run our lives)

3. Keep industry from using the visa program just as a way to lower salaries for skilled professionals.

4. Provide a real economic metric (i.e. the bid price in the market for these visa's) of the value of immigrant workers.

[Xenalyte]

I know this is amazingly naive, but I'll ask it anyway.

What training do these foreign workers have that Americans cannot acquire?

In other words, what makes these foreign workers the only option employers have? Why can Americans not do the work?

I'm assuming no Americans can do the work, because if they could, the problem wouldn't exist.

[Liberty Tree Surgeon]

Look, people, you're all missing a big piece of the puzzle. ALl of the slots disappeared in hours because contractor/consulting firms grabbed them all up. That way, they get the cheap labor and can tack on their profit to their outsourcing clients.

This is not individual company demand.

LTS

[F16Fighter]

And immigrant-rich South Florida has a large share of that talent.

Huh?? Where's the word "vibrant"??

[Myrddin]

There are plenty of qualified U.S. citizens to fill those jobs. The jobs won't be filled by Americans as long as businesses are permitted to import as much cheap foreign labor as they want. Putting a cap on the H1B visas means businesses that really need help will hire qualified U.S. citizens...or stick their necks out to attempt outsourcing.

We need to go one step further. Inform companies that outsource work that the U.S. is not coming to the rescue if they get in political, financial or military trouble. A company that chooses to outsource must shoulder the risk if they perceive a reward. Subsidizing outsourcing by means of OPIC should be cut off cold.