Bill Gates knows a thing or two about business. So you would think that when the Microsoft co-founder testifies before Congress, someone might listen.
Gates, like other top executives, recently pleaded with Congress to make a financially savvy decision: raise the cap on visas to bring highly-skilled foreign workers into the U.S.
Each year 65,000 visas for such workers are offered and snapped up immediately by companies seeking talent.
A bill introduced last week would double the number of “H1-B” visas offered annually. The legislation would also crack down on employers who misuse the visas to displace U.S.-born employees or undercut their salaries.
The Innovation Employment Act would also erase the 20,000-a-year cap on such visas for graduate students studying science, technology and related fields.
The bill addresses huge disconnects between the need for highly-skilled workers, the numbers of qualified people within the U.S. labor pool, and the current system for allowing technically-trained foreign workers to be legally employed.
The U.S. is not producing enough highly-skilled workers. The economy suffers from this deficit and from fears that keep foreign workers out.
A March study by the National Foundation for American Policy found that for every position filled with a highly skilled worker from abroad, U.S. technology companies employ five to seven additional workers, depending on the size of the firm. (See nfap.net/pdf/080311h1b.pdf.)
On April 1 companies may start applying for visas this year for highly skilled workers. By the end of the day, the 65,000 available are expected to be spoken for, leaving many companies without visas for needed workers.
Last year 120,000 applications were filed on April 1, with about 500 companies filing multiple forms in attempts to beat the system.
This, too, should be a clue to Congress that the current system is inadequate and must be changed.
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I think its a good opportunity for skilled works to work for big companies. But thus this effect US and its economy?
Research Paper Writing
65,000 visas
[edit] Present-day countries of origin
In March of 2006 the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) estimated the undocumented
population ranged from 11.5 to 12 million individuals[46], a number
supported by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO)[47]. Using data
from March of 2004, PHC estimated[48]
Country of Origin Percent of all illegal immigrants
Mexico 57%
Central America (and to a lesser extent, South America) 24%
Asia 9%
Europe and Canada 6%
Other 4%
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security[49], the countries of
origin for the largest numbers of illegal immigrants are as follows:
Country of Origin Raw Number
Mexico 5,970,000
El Salvador 470,000
Guatamala 370,000
India 280,000
China 230,000
The Urban Institute, a research group in Washington, D.C., estimates
"between 65,000 and 75,000 undocumented Canadians currently live in the
United States." [50]
[edit] Modes of entry
Modes of Entry for the Unauthorized Migrant Population[51]
Category
Entered Legally with Inspection
a.. Non-Immigrant Visa Overstayers 4 to 5.5 Million
b.. Border Crossing Card Violators 250,000 to 500,000
Entered Illegally without Inspection
a.. Evaded the Immigration Inspectors and Border Patrol 6 to 7
Million
A border crossing card is a card that allows non-immigrants "to commute back
and forth each week from Canada and Mexico". [52]
[edit] Visa overstay
A traveler is considered a "visa overstay" once he or she remains in the
United States after the time of admission has expired. The time of admission
varies greatly from traveler to traveler depending on what visa class into
which they were admitted. Visa overstays tend to be somewhat more educated
and better off financially than those who crossed the border illegally.[53]
To help track visa overstayer the US-VISIT (United States Visitor and
Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) program collects and retains
biographic, travel, and biometric information, such as photographs and
fingerprints, of foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States. It
also requires electronic readable passports containing this information.
Visa overstays mostly enter with tourist or business visas[54]
Percent of Illegal Immigrants who are Visa Overstayers
Year Percent
1994 More than half[55]
2006 45%[56]
Keeping foreign math and science grad students would help
Ross, we have some dislocated computer experts out there as a result of turbulence in the high tech market place but it isn't strictly accurate to say that foreigners are taking the high tech jobs that H-1B visas cover from native born US workers.
Over the past three decades native born US students have abandoned college level study and careers in these demanding fields in droves. Meanwhile we have fueled the boom in foreign technical expertise for our competitors with our own immigration rules.
More than three quarters of our graduate students in technical fields are foreign born and many are compelled to return home after graduation because their student visas expire.
The irony of exporting US technical jobs is that many of then are filled overseas by US educated technical professionals that we sent home. Domestic technical jobs go unfilled and US trained brain power simply flies away.
An educational visa/H-1B bridge program that would better allow foreign born graduate students attending US universities studying in-demand academic disciplines to match with domestic employers would go a long way toward retaining the US competive edge in these fields.
Americans still lose jobs
I keep hearing and reading all of the complaints about companies “outsourcing” and “sending jobs overseas.”
What’s the difference between sending jobs overseas or importing workers to do the jobs? Either way the American worker is still out of work.
Ross Balano Midwest Voices 2008
"This, too, should be a clue
"This, too, should be a clue to Congress that the current system is inadequate and must be changed."
Wrong conclusion, in my opinion - why isn't the focus here on correcting the problem with the U.S. not turning out the skilled workers? I mean, why the rush to get foreign workers imported for these jobs rather than fix whatever the problem is in the first place that causes us not to turn them out? I personally am a highly skilled worker in the computer industry, and the companies used a lot of these workers as a way to force salaries down, rather than as temporary stopgaps. I'm not crying about it, either - I'm simply saying why the hell aren't we addressing the root cause of the problem?
Which reminds me - you'd better get used to foreign doctors because they'll be coming by the boatload if universal health care gets passed - that's because the smart doctors will get out rather than have Uncle Sam dictating how they can practice.