H-1B Does Take American Jobs

I read some letters here that say the: "H1b Program does not take jobs from Americans, instead it pumps in lots of money in US economy and makes sure that the companies are not relocated. 

First, you clearly have not read the messages of individuals who have been posting here. These are individuals who have in many instances hard facts to prove that they were replaced by imported labor. Others are reporting documented cases in which they have been denied the right to even compete for jobs in their homeland. It might make you feel better to fool yourself into thinking that you have not stolen a job from one of your peer professionals who happens to be a highly skilled, well educated, and creative American professional but you have.

Second, Americans don't need any more government training programs. IF American programmers and other professionals were allowed to remain employed they would be in the very companies developing the cutting edge computer software, etc etc. Training courses through colleges and universities almost always lag the real working world. Keeping American professionals employed is what will allow American professionals to keep their skills fresh and current. I find your suggestion that our experienced American professionals are less up to date in their skills than imported workers who come from Third World Nations highly insulting and shows a complete lack of understanding of the crisis in American employment. American workers need the right to work in their own country in which they have been paying taxes to maintain its roads, waterways, bridges, public schools, etc. American workers have the right to have access to the American job market in which American lives have been lost providing freedom for other people throughout the world. It's about time the imported workers show some basic respect for Americans whom they have displaced and thrown into unemployment. Next time think about the American educated professional who now has no means to provide for his or her family because you have their job. 

Third, you actually might be right that the imported H-1B worker does ". . . pump in lots of money into US economy. . ." but those monies only go into the hands of the holders of major corporations and political leaders. This economic growth is not benefiting the unemployed US professional --- your technical peer professional whom you have displaced because you are taking his/her job at cheap wages with the help of politicians who have been induced to vote for legislation because of mega dollar contributions to their re-election campaigns. The headhunters, the immigration lawyers, the CEOs, and the politicians are reaping the ". . . lots of money. . " because they are still charging huge sums for their products but using cheap laborers to produce their products. 

1) The H-1B program was NOT designed to fill a "labor shortage"
2) The H-1B program was NOT designed to fill an IT labor shortage
3) The H-1B program was NOT designed to meet the needs of a lack of
highly educated Americans
     [Congress has already spent tens of thousands of taxpayers' dollars declaring no such proof exists]

So WHAT was it designed for?

1) The H-1B program WAS designed by lobbyists for major corporations to help their clients reduce their labor costs
2) The H-1B program WAS passed BECAUSE of massive campaign contributions by these lobbyists
3) The H-1B program WAS acknowledged by a US Congressman that IT WOULD displace currently working Americans
4) The H-1B program WAS supported by special interest groups who benefit by false claims that US workers are under-educated, lack cutting edge skills, etc etc.
5) The H-1B program WAS designed such that NO harmed American worker can be protected from being replaced by a cheap imported worker;
6) The H-1B program WAS designed to have no significant safe guards to protect the H-1B from abuse under the program from being "benched" to low pay to working over time, etc etc.

You may want to feel warm and good about the fact that YOU have a good American job and hence are willing to look down upon your unemployed and displaced American peer professionals just keep in mind that YOU have the job you do because laws were "bought" such that YOU would be favored over your VERY qualified American peer professionals. YOU are NOT more qualified for that job than the American technical professional. You simply have the job because you can be exploited even if you don't know it because THAT is what the laws were designed to do.

By the way ----- if you feel you are such a terrific professional -- how about volunteering your time to mentor some of these Americans technical professional peers whom you think are so unqualified to work in their homeland? How about GIVING something to America instead of simply taking jobs from her citizens? How about giving something back to your peer professionals and SHARING the name of your headhunter firm with your peer American professionals in the hopes that they can get a job as well? I contacted a headhunter that placed thousands of imported H-1B professionals throughout the USA in hopes that they could help me get a job too. You know what they told me? They don't accept resumes from American citizens! Yes, this firm had offices throughout the United States but they wouldn't accept my resume BECAUSE I am American.

Finally --- I am not worried that these companies would leave America for Third World Nations if they couldn't import cheap labor. Why? Because many of these companies that have done so have realized that it is not like doing business in America. The quality controls don't exist, some firms need environmentally clean communities to work in and to have to clean up these countries first in order to work simply is not cost effective, the political instability of these countries interrupt work, the lag time between communications with these Third World Nation sites to the headquarters in the USA makes for undesirable working hours, and the language skills problems is a major problem. So, if these companies want to move out of the USA it would be fine with me if they have no loyalty to the USA let them move off shore. We certainly don't need to have these companies making false accusations about the so-called unskilled American workforce just so they can get cheap labor. They ought to be honest that they want cheap labor while the salaries of CEOs have increased over 650% in the past half decade. Companies want cheap labor and they will get the kind of product that they pay for. They want quality goods and services then they need to be willing to provide fair, honest, and decent compensation to their employees. If these companies move overseas then good ole American know-how which created these firms in the first place will develop new firms and hopefully staff them with managers who know how to manage better then the current batch.

Let's give American workers the right to compete for work in America. It is time to repeal the H-1B Visa program. American programmers, engineers, scientists, faculty members need to get politically involved and take appropriate legal means to have this law repealed. Contact the webmaster here if you don't know where to begin nor who to contact. Information is but a mouse click away.

Signed,
American technical professional whom Congress sold my job to the highest paying lobbyists.

Thanks

Hey just a quick note to let you know your endeavors in maintaining this page are appreciated here in Alaska.

The more I search through your website I find myself growing just a little more disappointed in our government...and just when things are at their worst with this election problem. None the less rest assured several of Alaskan will be communicating our points of interest to our senators and congress people here in Alaska. Fun we vote them yet this was the first I had heard of this H-1B. 

Currently I am attempting to get sanctioned through the small business administration here in Anchorage as an 8a. category for Department of Defense contractor. Can you spell the words Male & Caucasian and still expect to receive a fair shot at the job market. Didn't think so. Check out URL: http://www.pronet.sba.gov and see what they offer the good old American worker. Not too much. 

Troy T.

A Voice of Support

I can't tell you how pleased I am that you cared enough to put up this site. It takes a lot of guts, to say nothing of time, money, & energies to take a solid stand on this topic. You are to be highly commended for your continuing effort.

Those who don't believe that foreign labor is having a negative impact on the people of this country are in for a most rude awakening. A major newspaper in Texas was today carrying a story regarding the use of H-2B visas for laborers & other low-tech workers. One segment of that report dealt with a firm in Texas who was having difficulty finding enough workers for their meat-packing facility. They currently employ some 700 workers compensated at the rate of $5.62/hr. The party being interviewed went on to say, most happily, that now they're having great luck thanks to the H-2B visa program getting new workers from Mexico - to continue paying $5.62/hr.

Regardless of whether it's H-1B, H-2B, or some other visa program, we desperately need more Americans to speak out and become involved. I cannot speak for any other profession other than I/T. In the I/T profession, there is no shortage if I/T workers. What there is a shortage of are companies who are willing to pay a wage commensurate with the level of expertise and knowledge required to develop proper I/T solutions.

Much has been written about the level of education foreign labor coming in under the H-1B program has. Education is only the first step in becoming a true I/T professional. A group of 24-28 year olds coming in under H-1B typically are seriously lacking in depth. Learning what I/T solutions work, what don't, & why are primarily obtained thru many years of experience in addition to education. A great many of you entrust your investments to professional investors to manage; persons of depth, education, & knowledge. Would you want to turn those same investments over to someone fresh out of school with six-months experience? The answer is obvious. Why then is it any more sane to systematically remove seasoned I/T professionals in favor of green talent? Keep in mind the companies that are doing this are likely some of the same ones you may have invested in thru mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc.

Long term success in any business does not come about by just hiring the cheapest. There's more at stake here than just your job; as if that wasn't enough! Become an active voice to bring about change; it's your future!

Steve Richardson

You are very correct that it doesn't matter if the visa is an H-1B, H-2B or any other name, they are all visas that are importing workers to take our jobs for lower salaries. Originally the focus on this web site was to be H-1B. There are so many types of work visas that I have decided to add information on work visas in general. 
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

I appreciate some portions of your message. But all things you mention are not correct.

H1b Program doesn't take jobs from Americans, instead it pumps in lots of money into US economy and make sure that the companies are not relocated. Just think if there is no H1B Program , all these companies have to open their offices in other countries to get work done and once they taste the labour rates in those developing countries they might move all the operation to those countries. Another thing for displacing old American workers in favour of Aliens in not true. If you consider Technology Industry imagine how many students in US are getting exposed to Latest Technologies ? The education system has to change here .There should be lot of Govt. funded Institutions that offer these courses at very minimum expensive level. But I do not see this at all even Immigration fees are increased. So when the technology is changing rapidly and the employees are not ready to adopt those new technologies very quickly then you see such things. Govt. should not encourage donation by companies to political parties.

I have very bad news for you - most major companies have software development shops in India right now. The only reason they don't ship all of their operations there is that software is very tough to develop in a remote location from the corporate offices. Companies such as Microsoft use the threat of moving overseas in order to scare our government into increasing H-1B. This threat is very hollow and will not sway American workers who are being threatened by H-1B.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

How is a company caught and fined abusing H-1B

I have seen several postings on various sites about different companies getting caught underpaying H-1Bs. How are they caught? Who brings the  charges? Who levies the fine? Can third parties report abuses? And where?

The reason I ask these questions is because like it or not the H-1Bs are coming and they are coming for one reason only and that is because they are cheaper. Writing Congress may help. But I think it's going to have to get pretty bad first before Congress acts. I have been writing Congress weekly and have sent some of the TV news shows links to various sites hoping they will cover this issue.

If there is a way that you know of or others know of to raise the costs of hiring H-1Bs and make them just as expensive as American IT workers. At least then it would be a level playing field. Pitting an American's work experience against a H-1B's work experience. If that is the case then at least the most qualified will get the job and hopefully pay rates will stay high. 

Gene, Atlanta, GA

There have been very few successful wage dispute cases against companies that exploit H-1Bs. In every case I am familiar with, it was the H-1B that filed a complaint with either INS or DOL. It would be extremely difficult for a third party to win in these situations without the cooperation of the H-1B, and that doesn't happen too often.

You would need to know a few things to even have a chance of the DOL listening to you. You would have to know the prevailing wage that was on the LCA, the job category, and the salary the H-1B is earning. You would then have to prove that the company in question is paying below prevailing wages. Since prevailing wages are whatever the company says it is, you can see how difficult it is to win this argument. Even if you have all of these pieces of evidence, you will be contacting two agencies that are woefully understaffed and get far more cases to investigate than they can possibly handle.

You are correct that companies are at the H-1B feeding trough because they can hire them cheaper and they can be reasonably sure the H-1B won't leave them for at least six years. Companies save so much money by hiring H-1Bs that the only way to stop this monster is through legal action or lawsuits. It's very tough to file lawsuits against  huge companies that can hire the richest, most powerful lawyers. Changing H-1B will not happen until the public demands it. So far the American public doesn't know about H-1B or they don't care.

I asked an H-1B expert at the DOL your question and here is their answer:

We have received complaints and set up investigations on allegations from U.S. workers that the H-1B workers were being paid less than the U.S.  workers or (in other words) that the H-1B workers were paid less than the actual wage. But we were unable to prove that so those complaints were not "successful". The only successful attempts have been when H-1B workers complain about pay problems as being too low.

The employer is required to pay the prevailing wage for comparable services in his own firm or in the surrounding labor market, whichever is higher. Ipso facto, any employer is violating his wage attestation if he pays the H-1B less than the average wage for comparable services in the firm itself (since that's the minimum permissible wage). Cases are harder to document when the employer pays both H-1Bs and comparable US workers the same wage, but that figure is less than the prevailing wage for the surrounding labor market.

Obviously, such facts are only one component of the equation. Laws are rendered impotent by failure to provide sufficient funds to enforce them. It's a time-honored tradition to pass laws that look great on the books ("we passed ... to protect your interests"), then deny funds for their enforcement.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

question about your database

I have a question about your H-1B database. When I do a search, the "pay rate" column always contains the value "A"? What does this mean? What are the other possible values?

Also, I know of companies in my area that employ H-1B visa workers but do not appear in your database. How can I get information about what these individual companies pay their H-1B employees?

-Maurice Martin

These are such good questions I decided to make a Database Tutorial to answer questions like this. Also be sure to check out the FAQs and the letters on this page for more information.

There are two ways you can find out the pay of these companies. The H-1B law says that companies are required to disclose wages and other information about their H-1Bs to anyone that requests it. Unfortunately most companies won't and this law isn't enforced. Your other option is to call the H-1B division of DOL in Washington D.C. and ask for the information. They are usually cooperative if you ask them for specific information. If they don't cooperate you will need to send them Freedom of Information Request. The phone number is 202-693-2952.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

I got a good laugh from the feedback from the self-professed 49 year-old H1-B who stated flatly that age doesn't matter. Of course it doesn't matter for HIM - he's an H1-B, so he's definitely indentured, and probably lower-paid than an American of the same age would have been, had he not been displaced by this person. If I were looking to cut my labor costs unethically (i.e.. at the expense of American I/T workers) I might hire a 49 year-old H1-B to replace a YOUNGER American, too. I wouldn't NEED to discriminate on AGE, just on national origin! 

Russ in Boston, MA

The H-1B program is a good example of many sides of the American economic, political and social life and it is worth examining. At the same time, it is not the intent of this letter to discuss positive and negative sides of the program.

The Class Struggle
While many Americans believe that the class struggle and warfare is a thing of the past, it is clearly not. When software companies raise programmers’ salaries, it cuts into their profits and hurts owners/shareholders. It may be difficult for the software companies to pass increased costs on to customers. Thus, wealth is redistributed as a bigger slice of the pie goes to employees (proletarians) leaving less for shareholders (capitalists). Capitalists resist this redistribution of wealth by trying to increase supply of technology workers. The latter, on their part, try to limit the competition from foreigners that is threatening their livelihood. This behavior on both sides (pursuit of self interest) is entirely consistent with Capitalism and is the Class Struggle, pure and simple. 

Programmers are no Teamsters
The employers are clearly winning the fight, at least for now. They have more money and are better organized. Programmers, on the other hand, are not well organized. To most people an idea of a programmers’ trade union would seem ridiculous. All they can do is write complaining letters to their congress people and senators and gripe about it on the Internet. Their letters and griping are mostly ignored because they do not represent a cohesive force. 

Of course, programmers are not exactly like the blue-collar workers. First, they usually work in smaller groups or alone. Second, many of them are upwardly mobile. They join the management ranks, are given stocks and profit participation. The border between capitalists and proletarians is blurred. Programmers, unlike blue-collar workers, have little class conscience. Thus, programmers are unlikely to get organized and represent a strong force ready to take on the employers.

The practical conclusion would be that all programmers should strive to become managers/shareholders. If you can’t beat them, join them. 

The Political Process
Congress passed the latest H-1B increase with an overwhelming majority. Apparently, most senators and congress people did not care that the majority of Americans were opposed to the increased immigration. No surprise there. A minority that is strong, well organized and well financed usually beats a disorganized and nebulous majority. The H-1B immigration does not affect most middle class Americans and is not high on their agenda. It is high on the programmers’ agenda but they lack the political power. 

Senators and congress people are after all just people. They pursue their own self-interest, which is to side with those who have power and money. They may also believe that the H-1B increase is positive for the economy (after all, there are plenty of arguments both for and against the H1-B increase).

Victims of Their Own Success
American programmers created the best programming languages of the world, which crushed competing programming languages in other countries. Today, programmers from Beijing to Bombay to Moscow use C++, Visual Basic, Java, etc. American software companies as well as programmers have benefited from selling software to foreigners. As a result, foreigners are ready to replace Americans. No pain, no gain. Please, have some compassion! People coming to the U.S. mostly come from poor countries. For them, it is the only chance to have a better life. They come to America to work, not to partake of a public largess. They make some Americans worse off but the plight of an American programmer denied a raise because of foreigners is nothing in comparison with the plight of billions of people in  the poor world. Be good Christians and share the wealth!

Alexander Nevsky

Your views on the class struggle in America is quite valid. Most of the American working public still has not  faced the reality that they are the proletarians and they compete directly with capitalists. 

I understand your call to share the wealth. I think most Americans are willing to share the wealth of this country by letting a controlled number of immigrants to live here. On the other hand, the idea of worked based visas to cut labor costs is repugnant and counter to our American ideals.    [H-1B Hall of Shame]

While all this is pretty convincing, and it is clear that most of the horror H1B stories are true, I am still sure that an American who loses his job to an H1B worker is just who he is - a loser. All the crap regarding ageism - I just don't believe it either. I am 49, I got my H1B in 1998, and I just don't believe that age counts. If you've become slow, stupid, rigid - this definitely counts in this always moving area of software development. One has to learn all his life, that's it. As a friend of mine, a Japanese, says, Americans are lazy. I partially agree with him.

Thank you,
Vladimir Patryshev
from Silicon Valley (originally from Russia, as you could guess)

I am always willing to print letters like this one. The American public needs to see that many H-1Bs are arrogant, racist fools who have nothing but contempt for the U.S. and its citizens. What I can't understand is why we are putting Americans out of work in order to employ these ilk.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

The site is informative.

I know a person who has applied for H1B visa but has not yet got the visa and is working for a long time here now.

What can I do about this illegal alien worker. How can I approach INS.

Thanks for the reply
cynthia

The alien might be here on some other kind of visa. There are many loopholes that employers can use to hire aliens while still in the process of getting the H-1B visa. I would recommend calling the H-1B Office at the Department of Labor in Washington D.C. at 202-693-3010. There are several letters here discussing similar situations so study them.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Thank you so much for your web site. It is amazing that no-one in the mainstream media does an analysis of the H-1B program or questions the premises of the supposed high tech shortage. It amazes me that in this era of "free markets" that no one questions how it can be that their would be such an acute shortage of technology workers as the media and technology companies claim. After all, if their really was such a dramatic shortage, wages would be rising dramatically and companies would be searching throughout the United States to find qualified people. The higher wages would induce more people to enter high tech fields and the "shortage" would be resolved. Yet wages are not significantly increasing - certainly not as much as one would expect if their really were hundreds of thousands of unfilled positions. Also, I recently graduated from an East Coast engineering school and much to my surprise no West Coast companies such as Intel, Cisco Sytems, AMD, Cadence, or National Semiconductor bothered to recruit there. India and China are not too far to go to recruit but apparently New York is. 

To anyone who has followed this issue closely it is obvious what is going on here and what a lie the "shortage" of high tech workers really is. There is no shortage of high tech workers - only a shortage of cheap and indentured high tech workers. This point was illustrated brilliantly yesterday when I read the following in an article entitled "So many IT jobs, so few takers" :

" One reason for the shortage is the high salary demands. 'If you're willing to pay market rate, you can find people' said Pete Georgiadis, founder and CEO of eBlast Ventures, a company that funds and builds technology firms. 'The issue is if you're budget-constrained, you can't get the people you want'. "

Well I guess that explains why Intel, Microsoft and Cisco have to look overseas for technical help - they are "budget constrained". I really hope that people wake up to this issue before the technical fields are denuded of Americans.

Keep up the good work and let me know what I can do to help.

Dan      New York

You can help by telling a friend about this website.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Web Site is informative and shocking

I really enjoy visiting your web site. I don't know which I enjoy visiting most. Skunks.org is terrific! Finally a place to see where these organizations who fail to support US workers and show their true anti-American feelings can instantly be found. How incredibly clever of you to name this site Skunks. for indeed those nominated certainly fit that smelly category. It is amazing how these groups will refuse to stand up for American educated citizens who simply want the right to work in their own country. These groups are so quick to label US workers as anti-immigration when the truth of the matter is that US workers believe that the working field should be fair to all workers and not a selected class of cheap imported workers under national policies bought for with the best that corporate funds can buy.

My other two favorite sites to visit are Horror Stories (it is wonderful to know that my friends, family, technical peers, and I are NOT alone in this abuse of 21st Century working environment); and Feedback (it is great to get input from others throughout the USA and India about their views and problems with US immigration procedures, hostile work environments, etc and to see the postings of US managers who when finally asked to come forward with their employment needs suddenly disappear from any future postings.)

What is amazing is that you have been able to do this all without being paid by some organization to provide this public service. It amazes me that so many other organizations could have and should have been providing this shocking information to its members during the past decade but never bothered to do so. Here you are providing this terrific public service and so creatively.

Keep up the excellent work! The public needs this information!

A Fan of the Shame-H-1B site who has been victimized by the H-1B program through job loss, barred from applying for work, and wage reductions throughout the past ten years.

I don't get paid, but I'm sure having fun.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Every time a Company Announces Layoffs or Mergers I check their H-1B Recruitments

Your web site has proven to be invaluable in locating information at the local and national level regarding corporate hirings of H-1B cheap labor while doing massive layoffs of skilled US technical professionals.

This summer I learned of two companies in my impoverished state with one of the lowest economic development growth rates, high unemployment, frequent downsizings, and massive migrations OUT of the state of New Mexico.

Two companies were in the news this summer. One, Philips Semiconductor has been begging for public handouts from the city of Albuquerque to keep its current workforce in place in New Mexico. This company got a public bond handout in 1995 and apparently failed to live up to its promises of increasing employment during the prior five years. (ie 1995 through 2000) According to newspaper reports, this company actually "lost some 500" jobs during this period it was accepting public monies to add jobs. Once again Philips Semiconductor has turned to the public money machine and told the city fathers/mothers that if the city doesn't give it another bond this time for $400,000,000 it will take jobs in New Mexico out of state.

I was curious about this company that in a booming economy has to look for public handouts to survive. So I turned to the ShameH-1B web site and discovered that while the company was firing some 500 workers it was also importing cheap H-1B labor. Interesting.

Amazingly, when I presented this information to the local print and electronic media in the area not one alleged news agency was interested in reporting this bizarre arrangement where current workers are fired while folks are brought in under the claim of a "shortage" of workers.

Maybe a journalist reading this web site can explain how it is that this kind of scandal is over looked even with the facts handed to the media on a silver platter ---- or in this case a world class, searchable, government data base of information which is objective. I would also like to challenge any investigative reporters to inquiry as to why this national scandal has received almost no media coverage during the past decade. There are certainly plenty of victims of the H-1B program willing to talk to journalists who are interested in an in-depth report on this national disgrace.

ShameH1B is also puzzled that the media takes so little interest in this scandal. I have been interviewed by an H-1B reporter before. Could this explain part of the problem? The newspapers have many H-1Bs working on their staffs and have a special interest in not cutting the hand that feeds it.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Shocking Wow! What a database!

As a 40 year old chemical engineer I have felt the sting of H1B hiring. Your database brings home some real facts - companies I have worked for are paying bottom dollar for for H1Bs.

I also surfed Novell, Qwest, and US West. These companies recently laid off large numbers of employees. I note from your database that they had hired a large number of H1Bs. Question - Did Novell and Qwest ditch the H1Bs first, or do the H1Bs still have a job? Very very shocking.

Jeff K. Smith, P.E.

Joe Nacchio, the new hatchet man CEO at Qwest, has stated his desire to drive away older employees and to increase profit per employee. With that in mind I think having a huge workforce of indentured slaves fits right in with his vision.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

For those curious about managers seeking workers 

During the past several months this site has included statements from persons identifying themselves as managers who have been unable to find programmers to fill their needs. I suggested that they not be shy and come forward and ask about hiring the American workers who have the skills, education, dedication, and drive to be loyal and productive workers who frequent this site. Since that posting there has been ZERO responses from managers. Why? Suddenly you are offered the opportunity to contact hundreds or thousands of highly qualified and talented American professionals and you are now deafeningly silent. You weren't silent when you claimed you were unable to find any US workers WILLING to work for your firms and thus were justified in seeking H-1Bs. Where or where have you gone Mr. and/or Ms. Manager who is in dire need of skilled, educated workers? 

Also, Mr. Perez posted this summer that US schools were begging for teachers and specifically bilingual education teachers in English/Spanish. Where has he gone? I requested that he provide information of SPECIFIC schools that were actually hiring teachers but he has remained silent. I can only assume that his silence means that he doesn't know of any specific schools that are actually hiring but he was only retelling stories of woe and worry drummed up by the "chicken littles" that the US doesn't have enough workers to meet its corporate or educational needs.

For the visitors to this site --- since my postings requesting managers and Mr. Perez provide this information no job vacancies information has been forthcoming from ANY manager nor any public educational instititution. Now, don't you think that if there REALLY was a dire need for workers that ONE job opening would have been provided by ONE employer anywhere in the USA?

PhD in Physics

This site has never received an offer by these HR managers to review the resumes of  anybody else that is having a tough time finding a job. This must be because they are merely shilling for cheap H-1Bs and they are not interested in American workers.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Is it possible to determine how many FASHION MODEL visas  are given under H1-B in a year? I do appreciate your efforts!

Jim McDonald

In theory it is possible to determine how many fashion model visas are given, but not from this database. Remember an LCA is an application. Once it's approved it is sent to the INS. There is no way to know how many of these LCAs resulted in actual visas from this database. There is a possibility that this could be determined from the INS I-129 database. 

Go to the Visa Database and do a category search for Sales, Fashion Models. There are many fashion model LCAs. Isn't it very interesting that the U.S. has such a huge shortage of good looking women?   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

In your study of the so-called "protections" for American workers, you state that often the H1-B is already working for the employer before the LCA is filed. Is that legal? What would be the likely visa status of such an individual at the time of hiring - student visa, perhaps?

Russ Ghull

There are so many loopholes in the so-called protections in the law that it is unlikely that the DOL would ever take action against  a company for this. There are much worse abuses of H-1B occurring.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

LCA Database

Your LCA database has been updated twice since 6/9/00, but I couldn't find any year 2000 petitions? All I can find is older cases. Anything wrong?

Thank you, Henry 

The data you see online was taken from the DOL computer on January 2000.  They were very backlogged and didn't have LCA entries past March of 1999.  I have periodically added more records to the online database and that is what I refer to as "updates". I now have almost 1/3 of the million LCAs that I obtained from the DOL. I will be obtaining more recent data and will put it online, hopefully soon. 

The DOL recently told me that they are being deluged with LCAs and simply can't keep up with them. Many are not being entered into the computer; they are just approved and passed to INS.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

H-1B database. Modis, Inc. sure does show a lot of LCA's (1,500+). Do you think its correct??

thanks  joe mcdonald

Assuming the DOL entered the data correctly, and that is the one thing we can never know for sure, you are observing a corporate behavior called "banking". Companies submit an enormous amount of LCAs so that they can cover future needs. Of course the law says that H-1Bs are to be used to fill empty spots. Obviously banking is another method used to abuse the law.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

H-1B deportations ?

I'm currently working with a truly incompetent H-1B (Oracle DBA) who has been hiding information and has caused the dismissal of one American contractor and another American employee of the firm !

If there are no laws directly protecting American workers are there less direct approaches to take ? This 'guest worker' has fairly casual attitude toward motor vehicle laws. She's had two recent speeding tickets the 2nd of which was while driving and unregistered car.

She's hasn't documented anything and won't grant the authorizations that her back-ups need to do their jobs. She then goes on vacation leaving the rest of us holding the bag. Needless to say there have been problems in her absence and the last two people to work with her were fired because she told management they were incompetent when they simply had no ability to do the job.

Given this situation isn't it reasonable to use any approach necessary to remove this nuisance and protect American jobs ? Is there an agency that would be interested in this 'outstanding workers' disregard for our laws ? 

You won't find any government agency that will be able to remove this H-1B because there simply is no requirement in the law that an H-1B has to be competent. Your suggestion to use less direct methods probably won't work either, unless you can convince your employer to fire the H-1B. See the letter that follows this one for more on this issue.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Revoke H1B Status??? 

Have reviewed your and the INS sites and found no way to help get an H1b status revoked! There MUST be some method/procedure that individuals who read your site can use to report abuses. There are a number of H1b's that are incompetent, do not perform their jobs properly and have started their own businesses. These definitely are not in the "spirit" of the law let alone legal. 

We might have some effect on this law if we challenge one individual to the INS at a time. Friendly politicians can even point to these complaints as examples in their efforts to get rid of the H1b status. 

How do we challenge an H1b//H4 employee????? 

Jack Koch 

The "spirit" of the law allows U.S. companies to hire H-1Bs regardless of their competency. The politicians who wrote the law say that H-1B is to be used to bring in the best and the brightest This rhetoric is used to fool Americans about the real intention of H-1B; it is an indentured servitude subsidy for greedy corporations thirsty for cheap, young blood. 

Just recently some H-1Bs working for the I.R.S. were fired because their employer violated the law. This is very rare because Replacing Americans with H-1Bs is totally legal!!!

The letter below has some good suggestions on how to fight H-1B.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

H-1B - What to do 

Corporate America might fund the political campaigns of our elected officials but remember it's the PEOPLE that voted them into office. 

If the politicians continue to support a H-1B increase we should work to UNSEAT them in the election. All we need are a dedicated group of individuals that will come together achieve this end. 

By handing out fliers and doing mass mailings against these politicians we can expect to reach a large percentage of the electorate. 

Once the American public come to know that their jobs and those of their friends are at stake, they will come out in large numbers to vote against the officials that support H-1B 

And believe me, any official that knows he/she might be out of office will change his/her tune very quickly. 

Can you post this without using my full name? Since I'm currently looking, and looking, and looking, for a full-time job, I don't want to be "black-balled" as a trouble-maker because I'm opposed to H1-B visas. I've written to my Senators and a couple of reps from my state. I've told them I've had trouble finding work, and I oppose the expansion of H1-B because it will make it even harder for me, and other older workers, to keep our I/T careers going. I know that aides handle this mail; the rep's don't read any of it themselves. But you'd think they could at least spend a couple of minutes to respond the specifics of my letters. A short condolence on my employment situation would be nice, or at least an acknowledgement of the plight to which H1-B has exposed American workers. But no, they don't even bother with that. I get the same form letters, saying how there is "near universal" recognition of a high-tech worker "shortage". One rep says "one out of 11 production jobs in (our state) is vacant." I asked what "production workers" has to do with the purported intent of H1-B. Naturally, I got ANOTHER form letter, thanking me for writing on this "important issue" and assuring me that I am "free" to correspond with this Congressman at any time. For what - another form letter? (Sign me) "Russ" from Boston, MA

Go to the Library to see more of these form letters from our Shameless politicians.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

I just wanted to ask you if you are aware that hundred of Hispanic  children (both illegal and legal that are considered LEP Limited English Proficient) do no have teachers in their classroom because there are no bilingual teachers? So would you rather have their lives ruined because they can not understand what some substitute teacher is saying? O even worse been crammed into a classroom with 45 other children. If you are bilingual and want to work go to any southern state and you will have a job as a bilingual teacher. That is why ISD are hiring people abroad...not because they pay them less but because there is a tremendous shortage of teachers. In the midtime let the INS approve visas for teachers since not many in this country want to teach. I am sorry but I think that you should do something more productive than to take on  115,000 qualified aliens that come here for a maximum of 6 years.

Walter S. Pérez 

I am Hispanic and sympathize with your cause to improve the education of Spanish speaking children. I also sympathize with the Hispanic and Latino U.S. citizens that need jobs and can't because low paid H-1Bs are cutting them out of the job market. Let's use our own Latinos to teach or to be a translator.

Local governments don't want to pay teachers a living salary and they are using the shortage argument to hire H-1Bs. Our government would love to destroy the Teacher's unions so that they don't have to pay teachers higher salaries. Why don't you triple the salaries at your school and see how long the shortage lasts?

Don't forget that the ITAA, a lobby group presided by Harris Miller, manufactured the statistics on worker shortages. Miller got his start by bringing in Braceros to bust up Cesar Chavez's union efforts. Now he is doing it to white collar workers. 

Check out "Regarding Perez", a letter by a PhD in Physics that disagrees with your teacher shortage theory.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Our Protest Letters to H-1B 

I wrote a letter to both of our Senators (California), to our local congressman, to the President and his wife, Vice President and his wife in which I expressed my strong protest against proposed H-1B increase as well as to this program at all. This letter was also sent by the members of my family and many of my friends. The only positive response I got from my local congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) which sent us letters expressing strong opposition to H-1B. Today we got 3 letters from U. S. Department of Labor signed by Dale M. Ziegler (Chief of Foreign Labor Certifications) where he thanks us for our letter "...to President Clinton supporting an increase in the cap on the number of temporary foreign 'professional' workers admitted to the U.S. each year on H-1B visas has been referred to this office for a reply." This is
outrageous! We have only 234 signatures to the Petition to abolish the H-1B but officials think even this is too much. They are manipulating our names and lie! You mentioned several times that congressmen keep on saying that they have not heard any voices against H-1B. Now we can see how.

Sincerely, Vladimir Gender

Your Letter To Clinton and the response are posted in the Library. Clinton's administration didn't even care that you opposed H-1B, they sent you a form letter that thanked you for supporting the Clinton increase in the H-1B quota. 
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Questions about the H1-B database

What is the size of the database? In what format did the Dept of Labor supply the information? 

I am considering an EEOC complaint against Compaq and am considering the possibility of setting up a database so that I can print out reports for the complaint. 

Paul Ortega 

The database that I have online contains over 615,000 LCAs. The entire database sent to me has about 1 million. The DOL gave me the data as a Paradox relational database. I had to convert it to a Microsoft Access database to work on my site. There is a lot of data in the database that I don't put online because of privacy concerns and because I don't want to clutter the web page.

Make sure you have studied H-1B before filing a complaint. It is wise to know thy enemy.

It is 100% legal to fire an American and replace him with an H-1B. Read the law and you will see that they allow this to occur and provide huge loopholes for companies to avoid lawsuits. Listen to the politicians talk about charging more for the visas so that training funds could be provided for the displaced Americans. They admit the Americans can be replaced if they don't have the proper skills, a very nice loophole that can always be proved.

CONGRESS OFFICIALLY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT AMERICANS WILL BE REPLACED WITH H-1BS AND THAT THIS PROCESS IS LEGAL AND SANCTIONED BY CONGRESS.! 

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Here is a letter that I received that may be of help to you:

Filing an EEOC discrimination action

27 Jul 2000

Don't wait too long before filing your complaint with the EEOC. Your window of opportunity is extremely limited. In most areas it is under six months time from the date the injury occurred. See if you can find a very interested and willing EEOC case officer. Many of the EEOC investigators are unwilling to commit to another case and therefore may not take your case seriously. Before submitting your complaint to the EEOC office find out what specific information EEOC will accept as evidence of the discriminatory actions that took place. Depending upon the skills and interest of the EEOC case investigator into your problems you might find that while the legal standard of the harm done is of course the same --- what the investigator will accept may be a much higher expectation than is really necessary. Ask the local EEOC office if other complaints have been filed against this company and check with other regional EEOC offices to see if they have handled complaints of this nature against the problem firm. The EEOC investigator has an INCREDIBLE amount of power to conduct an investigation into your complaint and you will be permitted to see a copy of that report. 

Someone who has worked on EEOC issues before

I have browsed most of your site and I found no reference for L-1 visas, which I assume, are so few they don't even show in the general statistics. L-1 is an inter-company transfer, i.e. a company that has offices overseas, sponsors an individual to come to work to the US. Since there is no need for labor certification, green cards can be obtained within one year, as opposed to five with the H-1 procedure. 

I came to the US five years ago and have worked for three different companies so far. I have found that very many citizens are not well prepared to fight the battle against immigrants, mainly because of lack of focus, let me give you an example: in the high tech industry, immigrants spend four to five years studying high tech related careers, while non-immigrants study music, biology, poetry, philosophy, etc., which is not bad, but they still want to work in the high tech industry because salaries are very high. It is not a matter of comparing the MIT with Bombay University; I’m sure every single MIT student has a guaranteed seat anywhere they want to work; can you say the same about people graduating from De Anza College, for instance? 

Finally, I have to agree that using a non-sarcastic tone and a more proper verbiage in your comments, supports a more respectful point of view and has a better, long standing impact. Of course, it’s your site. 

zapito

Eventually I intend to address all immigrant based visas. Currently H-1B is the largest so I have focused on that. Since you mentioned L1 I decided to add a Visa List to mention some of the major work visas that are currently being used.

My sarcastic tone has been criticized before.  Being rude is so much more fun than being scholarly!   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

What Can We Do?

I was reading your horror stories and feedbacks. I can tell you that there are anyway a lot of respectable H1B. I have a couple in my company and their salary is way high that mine, but they are worth their salary. At the same time I agree in saying that there are many abuses. Big company cannot abuse just because they have "big" names. The story about that lobbyist guy in Hotmail is really scaring.

Has the Microsoft HR department been informed ? Can you send that to them? Can you start sending each story to the HR department of the corresponding company and a CC to the INS and Department of labor?

H1B are useful, but abusing is the biggest crime against us.

Vincent Brown

Big companies do abuse the H-1B system but they aren't the only ones. All types of employers are dipping into this cheap labor source in order to reduce costs. The DOL doesn't enforce the weak protections in the bill, and unscrupulous employers know they can get away with fraud.

There is nothing Microsoft would learn from this web site. Microsoft is one of the largest employers of H-1Bs and they pay big money lawyers to lobby for more H-1Bs with less protections for American employees.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

 I would like to bring something to light that misses the eye of the Americans policy makers. I'm an Electrical Engineer from India. I studied all my life in India in the schools & Colleges at Bangalore. I was one of the more fortunate child to afford to go to a school for which my parents paid fees every month. 99.8% of the schools in India are private/public schools to which students pay fees & huge donations. The less privileged go to the government schools called free schools. It is a normally understood fact that the coaching on math science & other classes is much better in the private/public schools. But even these so called better schools lack modern teaching equipments like a computer or a TV/VCR even at the high school level. The result is that those who seek a job after school end up being second division clerks/maintenance people etc. So the children are encouraged to go to college. 

The scenario is no different in an Engineering college. You are prescribed big fat text books for every class & asked to read & read & read & do all the problems using your own two hands & calculator when the students in the US pursuing the same course are exposed to the modern software tools that can solve a complex problem in a matter of a few seconds. Hence the students in US are already several steps ahead of their Indian counterparts. Once out of an Engineering college with a degree in India 2 out of 70 graduates might end up with an engineering job. So the rest of them are left to fend for themselves, hence they go on to do advanced studies or pay huge fees to computer schools & train themselves in the operation of computers hoping that one day they might get a job in America. 

So if the US companies disqualify an American Engineer saying that he/she is less skilled or less qualified then I can swear that they are lying only to save 10,000$ or 15000$. That is exactly how much a company might save on salary by hiring a H1-B instead of an American Engineer. Come to think of this Can you imagine how much an American Engineer might have spent as a student in tuition fees, books, boarding & lodging etc in order to become what he/she is? 

All over the world people spend money to educate themselves thinking that they are making a investment of time & money for life , but if that investment is not going to bring any returns to the American citizens then all Universities in the US might as well close shop here & try to open shop in the III world countries. That way the US can see to it that all the US children & Old ( Since these are the categories that do not contribute to the economic development of the country & are liabilities to the American society) move to III world countries where it is less expensive to maintain a university & to live in the U.S,Course fee for 3 semester hours=15$U.S) & all adults capable of working in the US can move to the US (Mass exodus of the HUMAN beings). 

Can you imagine the US being filled only wit! h Adults between the ages of 24 & 45? Is this what our policy makers determine to make of this beautiful country ? a country having only 2 categories the company owners & the laborers? Because if you provide an opportunity to a foreigner that which was denied for a citizen then it not only contests the principles on which a secular society such as this was formed but it also accounts for treason & breech of trust & faith that a citizen vested in the country. Then Don't complain about drug problem, child abuse teen pregnancies etc in the country-Ideal mans brains is a devils workshop. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to express my opinion on the issue. If Mr. Buchanan is the only candidate opposed to the H1-B Visa policy then he is the Mr. Right to be the next President of the U.S. 

Anandi de la fuente

Both Buchanan and Ralph Nader have come out strongly against H-1B. Unfortunately Bush and Gore are following the lobby dollars to support H-1B. 

You discuss some interesting points in regard to the cost of education. U.S. taxpayers pay for a typical engineer, scientist, or programmer to be educated at all levels. The student makes tremendous sacrifices in money and time to get that degree. The taxpayers get a very bad return on their investment when an H-1B displaces one of these Americans. 

I agree that our politicians should be held accountable for this contemptible treason and breech of trust.   [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Database BUG? 

I think your database query may have a bug. I searched ILLINOIS and Deloitte Touche had 20 SR Business Consultants. When I searched Deloitte Touche all states, Illinois had the same 20 plus another entry for 20 SR technical consultants at a different salary and dates. Did I do something wrong?  tom

You didn't make a mistake and the data you observed is accurate. Many large companies have HR offices in various cities. Any of these offices can file an LCA to hire an H-1B.   The database results only shows the city where the H-1B will be employed. I chose not to show the origin of the LCA so that the data is not cluttered.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Patriotism

Surely, if there was one ounce of patriotism in our legislators' bodies, they would kill this H1B thing as soon as possible. Just think of all our  young folks studying in colleges and tech schools right now, all hoping to get a job in their field when they graduate-----and our legislators will have given them all away. SHAME. 

Jerry Jernigan, Marietta, GA

Patriotism is now sold to the highest bidder.  [H-1B Hall of Shame]

I'm H1-B worker, so I've got mixed opinion on your site.

I agree 100% H1-B program is a shame. Period. Americans have fought for freedom to the people against slavery. But H1-B is just a modern slavery of high-tech age in the country of freedom. H1-B worker is the slave of his/her "host", the visa holder company. If the worker wants to leave a bad employer he has to get approval from INS that takes months. And if a company sponsors H1-B employee with Green Card he has to work for the company for a long regarding low salary, for the visa process takes years. 

Besides, DOL and INS, in spite of their statements they are fighting seriously against immigration/labor law violations, in reality keep their eyes closed. One DOL officer from Boston, MA said in a private conversation: “ We aware about the violations, but it is too long and complicated process. In reality, DOL cares just about the most impudent violations”. It means companies can exploit their H1-B workers without any troubles. 

You see, that’s system that keeps H1-B workers under employer’s thumb. There are lots of regulations that can protect US workers. If both DOL and INS have been really care about it would have been much less “horror histories” in your site.

By the way, the major violators of the laws are not big companies, but small ones, so-called “consulting companies” that are called “slave-owners” or “slave-traders” by H1-B guys. Big companies, perhaps, pay a little bit less, but much more honest with their H1-B visa workers and help them with Green Card process pretty often. So, I guess you should put “slave-owners” at the top of your “Hall of Shame” list.

Now let’s speak about your concern about US native employees. I do understand that. But what do you mean, speaking about "native" ones? The USA is the country of immigrants and this is a basis of American prosperity. Talented people from another countries have been contributing to their new motherland. Sikorsky (helicopters, you know? native Russian); Von Brawn (the "father" of US rocket industry, native German); Einstein (need comments who is it? native German), Davidson (Harley-Davidson, native Russian Davidoff), Gupta (native Indian, Gupta Inc.)...Do you need more names? 

Besides, the reality is the modern IT industry in the USA does really need employees. And US workers cannot fill up all vacancies. Just ask HR people about it. My point is without contributing of foreign workers the USA hardly to be a world leader on IT for the long time and the country’s economy hardly to be in a good shape for so long.

By the way, some US competitors like Canada, Germany, and Australia have realized that and have changed their immigration policies for high-educated people. For instance, experienced IT specialist can get Canadian permanent (not temporary!) resident visa for 6-9 month.

So, I do agree with the point of view of Immigration Reform Coalition. Permanent residents cannot be treated as the “high-tech slaves”, for they are free to change a bad employee. And they can be under trade union’s protection as well. I agree with the Coalition the immigration policy should be reviewed. I think for the USA would be more valuable to welcome immigrants who don’t need any support or welfares, who have proved their ability to contribute to US economy. 

But now refugees, for instance, are able to get the Green Cards in much more easer and faster way than H1-B employees. Don’t you think it’d be better for Americans to have employees, not welfare receivers? Don’t you think it’d better for the country’s long term interests to have more high-educated people than low-qualify workers?

Booba KASTORSKY,

H1-B worker Master Degree in Computer Science

Your letter is a welcome addition and has some views that are important to the H-1B debate. 

I disagree with your reality scenario that there aren't enough American citizens to fill the vacant job positions. When this site refers to natives, it refers to current American citizens. If you look at the Visa Database you will see H-1B positions for grocery baggers, cooks, nurses, secretaries etc. Surely we have people coming off welfare that could use these jobs. 

Job shortage claims are made by industries that don't want to pay a fair wage. They are firing American citizens and hiring H-1Bs at the same time. A labor "shortage" is defined as a lack of professionals at the low wage levels determined by management.

Foreign scientists and engineers have contributed to the U.S. economy and they should be recognized. It is in our countries interest to let those exceptional people come here to contribute. Out of the 110,000 H-1Bs per year being imported, I highly doubt that all of them are Einsteins. If the H-1B limit was 1,000 per year then they would truly represent the best and brightest. 

I think it would be very good for the nation to get control of an immigration system that is broken. Sovereign countries have the right to control their borders.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Native American Responds

It is amazing that some individuals who post to this site are so confused about the content and purpose of this site. It is amazing the number of folks willing to stand up for the foreign H-1B worker who is a mere guest worker in the USA under federal law but is unwilling to express similar levels of concern for US workers who have been displaced by these workers. Nor do these folks express any shock or concern that US workers have been denied the right to even apply for work because firms are discriminating on the basis of national origin.

Mike Tully is so confused about this site that he thinks that the issues herein are simply a desire to close US boarders to immigration. Note that this site addresses ONLY employment issues NOT non-employment immigration, not family unification issues, not political refugee immigrants. This site ONLY and narrowly focuses on the employment based immigration programs and specifically which have been developed upon a fraudulent claim of a shortage of workers and anti-American declarations that US workers are unwilling to work. The lobbyists and Congressional supporters have openly expressed open contempt of US workers (which you and others forget INCLUDES permanent resident aliens). 

Are YOU Mr. Tully a lazy worker? Are you stupid? Are you under-educated? The lobbyists and the US Congressmen/women and Senators have said that all US workers are. So if you are not an immigrant on a visa you are deemed to be stupid, lazy, and unwilling to work American. Of course if you are an immigrant still on a visa YOU are automatically deemed to be a hard worker and well educated --- in fact if you come in under the "best and brightest" visa program (NOT the H-1B program) you don't even have to have gone to college a day in your life to land a job that a US worker might be expected to have an earned Ph.D. degree. 

Mr. Tully asks if everyone here is Native American and that no one else should be allowed into the USA. Mr.. Tully, I am a tribal person (persons such as yourself refer to us as Native American). THAT comment of yours was extremely racist and offensive. First, the original citizens of Turtle Island (you refer to as North America) welcomed all of the new arrivals to this land.

Unfortunately, the newcomers got greedy and kept taking, and taking, and taking. The new arrivals described their hosts as "savages" and "uneducated" and then burned the tribal peoples scientific documents (Aztec, Mayan, and tribal documents throughout the North America) to prove what "savages" these current inhabitants were. It made it easier for these newcomers to justify their subsequent acts of stealing lands, culture, history, religion, jobs (yes we had jobs in our traditional cultures) and our basic rights including our governments.

If you look at what is taking place with the H-1B program it has frightening similarities. People who had jobs have them "legally stolen" to give to others who did nothing in this community to earn those jobs. Reference is made by some posters that the American engineer or computer scientist is "uneducated and less skilled and lazy". It sounds like the same old racism only this time it attacks folks purely by being an American professional.

The H-1B program --- once again as so many folks have posted here --- is NOT about the use of the best and the brightest talent in the world. If it were one would have to consider the outstanding American talent. The H-1B program is about taking jobs from folks with jobs and giving them to others with no loyalty to the USA. As you will recall elements of the American Revolution were fought over similar events. The goods produced in America were compelled to be shipped back to England and resold back to the Colonists. England prohibited goods from being taken from its natural state and transformed into manufactured goods in America. The folks rebelled! The US technical workforce is starting to rebel as well when they see their hard earned and paid for education are being trampled on by the H-1B program.

Mr.. Tully your lack of cultural understanding and sensitivity is shocking at the beginning of the 21 Century. You really ought to apologize to the tribal people on this site and to your fellow Americans for your anti-Native American comments. And, you might visit your local public library and read a few books on tribal people, starting with "Custer Died for Your Sins" and "God is Red" by Vine Deloria, Jr. J.D. A good, well rounded education would do you a world of good --clearly wherever you went to school they failed to teach you about tribal people and American history. And then you might read the Immigration Act of 1990 and its history so you will be well-versed on the concerns being discussed at this site.

A Tribal Person

Mr. Eric Hill an engineer in the work force for a mere nine years suggests that this web site is mere "...spewing of propaganda..." and that "I [he] don't believe that an H-1B can be used to replace . .. " a US worker.

Unfortunatley, while Mr. Hill may be successful at having a current job in engineering, he does not know anything about the H-1B Non Immigrant visa program. The real world is not governed by Mr. Hill's wishes and beliefs but by the facts of conduct of employers and the US Congress. Facts, please , Mr. Hill not your uneducated gut feelings will prove the point.

Fact---US Congressman John Bryant stated when the H-1B program was approved by most of the US Congress that it would displace currently employed US workers. (Look up the Congressional Record) Fact--AIG a large insurance company had hundreds of working US professionals on the job. Fact, this company imported H-1B workers. Fact this company had the current workers train the unskilled in the job H-1Bs to take their jobs from the US workers.

Fact---H-1Bs are given teaching and research jobs when US workers have never been given the opportunity to apply for work at national research labs and public high school and universities. (documented denials of US government employers refusing US applicants while aggressively importing H-1Bs --- contact US Department of Labor)

Fact--the H-1B program is NOT designed to plunder the international market place of its "best and brightest". The H-1B program was NEVER designed to be a magnet of the "best and the brightest" is was solely and exclusively designed to bring in warm bodies for corporations that could not (see Congressional Records again) objectively document that there is/would be a shortage of any technical professionals in any occupation.

Fact---There have been rare occasions on which the US Department of Labor has investigated some of the abuses of the H-1B program and has provided token fines for displacing literally thousands of US engineers and/or programmers with imported H-1B programmers at a fraction of the salaries of the US workers who were in the jobs. (Read the US Department of Labor investigative reports---public knowledge)

Fact---H-1B Non-Immigrant workers give their word that they will only work in the USA for a maximum of six years. Fact, the H-1B program has been corrupted to use it as a stepping stone towards a permanent green card for these individuals who could not get into the USA in other lawful manners OR who were too self-centered to think that they should comply with the normal waiting process for immigration to the USA. (See Spring 1999 "Denver Post" coverage of an Indian programmer at 28 years old who was mifffed that the US government wasn't so grateful for his presence that if this company (private employer) did not get his Indian bride whom he married in India into the USA by-passing the normal immigration procedures that he would leave America and return to India. Of course he would be taking about an 80% reduction in salary to return to his country of origin. No word that his wife has been allowed special immigration rights nor has he given up his plush American job)

Mr. Hill's declaration that any US technical professional who is displaced or unemployed is less skilled, hardworking, and talented than himself is utterly amazing!

To Mr. Hill and others like him, if you find the content of the information posted on this web site upsetting and troubling it should be. It is the truth. It is the real world for many --- even if it hasn't come home to you yet. Before you declare these real world job victims as peer professional "losers" etc. etc take the time to read the statements and conclusions of objective third-parties. Read the reports by the US Government Accounting Office; the Senate Subcommittee of Space, Science, and Technology Hearings held in April of 1993 which declared that it is impossible to predict future job growth. Take the time to educate yourselves first before berating your peer professionals who have experienced a different life and career turn of events than you have.

After educating yourselves --- then form your opinions. But to make wild and judgmental statements that these experienced problems is nothing more than ". . . propaganda. . ." shows how little time you have spent in understanding these events. And finally---read what your Congressmen and Senators have stated in the public records on these matters. That alone is enough to frighten any rationally thinking American as to the abuses of this H-1B Non Immigration program designed to take jobs from US workers. 

It ain't pretty baby -- but it is the real world in high tech!

Spouse of a US technical professional victimized by the H-1B Non-Immigrant program

My daughter figured it out...

...she's already seen friends and parents of friends laid off of programming jobs in their 30's and 40's. As she said' 'why should I spend 4 years + of my life and a small fortune to learn a career where I'll be forced into obsolescence in ten year or so'?

Too bad, she has a real knack for the profession. Great site!

"Managing senior programmers is like herding cats." - -Dave Platt

Move your daughter to the head of the class.  [H-1B Hall of Shame]

Nurses not treated fairly in other parts of USA

If Nurse poster is correctly reporting outstanding working conditions for the imported workers in the Bay Area this is wonderful news. What about the US nurses that would have wanted those jobs?

The nurses in my state are picketing the largest employer of nurses in my state because they are not being paid a fair and living wage and benefits have been reduced in the past decade. They are reporting a direct