Actually, form economic perspective, it is the citizenship that constitutes barrier to mobility of labor. The visa program lowers that barrier.
You are technically correct - citizenship is a barrier to mobility of labor. My response was addressing the underlying issue that this barrier raises. In my opinion this is a good barrier. If a corporation does not like the labor pool in this country or the labor pool does not meet it's needs then that company is free to move. Why should our government have to change it's immigration policies to satisfy corporation x's labor barriers. Labor barriers that are self induced due to the lack of desire to move out of the USA.
Worth repeating.
This is my opinion as well.
If a corporation does not like the labor pool in this country or the labor pool does not meet it's needs then that company is free to move.
I completely agree with this statement as it is worded.
The problem addressed by H1-B is not this one, however: it deals with a sort of an intermediate situation, where the company prefers to stay in the U.S. but lacks very few individuals. If a company wants to hire a German manager to reside in the U.S. but direct marketing campaigns in Germany and Switzerland, say. The company likes 10,000 American workers in its plants. What is it to do? Certainly not move the entire company to Germany, right? Whom does it benefit if we don't allow that German manager to come and work in the U.S.? Nobody (and actually increases the costs of goods, for which we all pay). The same situation occurs em masse in major universities. Talent is spread around the world, and universities want the best. If the candidate happens to be Italian, why not hire him/her?
Situations such as this is what H1-B is designed for. The German manager and the Italian professor are allowed to work. YOu never hear about the success of this program, however: all you hear is whining from programmers. It is true that some abuses may exist in that sector (and should be dealt with accordingly) but that does not reflect neither on the objective nor success of the program.