[Tfug] OT: Proposed increase in H1B visas

[Jeff Breadner]

keith smith wrote:
> The tech that comes in via an H1B visa is from a sponsored employer.  
> The "employee" is tied to the employer, as far as I know.  This is bad 
> in 1) wages and benefits will be substandard 2) employee control comes 
> with the "do what I want or be deported".
>
> Form the article, this proposal is not based on fact.  As far as I 
> know  there is no study that supports the need for more H1B visa workers.
>
> I have read some on the subject over the years and find that generally 
> 1) reasonable talent is already HERE, 2) employer's wish to have lower 
> expenses and higher control, 3) some of the earnings are sent out of 
> country to support another country. - this is a one/two punch.  The 
> original job does not go to a local, and not all they money is spent 
> in our economy.
>
> Seems like a less than optimum situation.
>
> To address your question about talent, about 10 years ago I was 
> offered a job with a company that wanted me to hold a position while 
> they completed the H1B visa for an Indian programmer who would have 
> replaced me.  I refused the job!
>
> Seems I was qualified enough to be a place holder.

I'm a Canadian and have lived in Canada all my life, but will be moving 
to Tucson this summer on an L1-B visa.  This visa lets me come in as an 
employee of an International company, once  you've been working for such 
a company outside of the States for over a year, you can get an L1-B 
visa that allows you to work inside the US.

Many people in our company are in the States on these L1-B visas, from 
places like Canada, Australia, South America, Chile and Brazil, and to 
my knowledge none are brought in for sub-standard wages or benefits, all 
get the same compensation package that an American would get.  I've also 
never heard of anyone with us get threatened with deportation as a means 
of discipline; if word of this got out within the company, I think it 
would be regarded as abhorrent behaviour, and they'd likely eventually 
lose many more people than the one individual involved.

I haven't followed the H1-B visa issues and don't really have an opinion 
on it, but there are definitely other avenues for non-Americans to be 
imported by tech companies.  For example, Microsoft has field offices 
all over the world, it would be trivial for a company such as this to 
hire people locally at such field offices, then import the most 
qualified people to the US on L1-B visas after their first year of 
employment.

cheers
  Jeff Breadner