US Secy (Geithner) wants H-1B visa programme expanded

[OhioChick]

Source: Times of India

PTI, Feb 17, 2011

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said that he is in favour of expansion of H-1B visa programme, offered to highly skilled professionals and students to live and work in the country.

"I agree with you on H-1B," Geithner said in his testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance when Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah said that expansion of H-1B visa programme would help the US in a big way in competing with countries like India and China.

"One of the things that would help you with great deal, would help our country great deal, is to expand the H-1B and allow these PhDs, who are educated here, who want to stay here, who are brilliant and who could help us in the high-tech world and other worlds, to stay here," Hatch said.

"It is ridiculous that the administration doesn't weigh in on that. And I know why they don't, but it's ridiculous not to. We have now created real competitors in India and in China and just to mention two places, but others as well," he said.


Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/outsourcing/US-Secy-wants-H-1B-visa-programme-expanded/articleshow/7515427.cms

[xchrom]

1. ...

:mad: i have come to really hate that program.

[Donnachaidh]

2. he needs a reality check

:grr:

[madokie]

46. That sob is way past a reality check

The world he lives in is so far removed from us everyday normal citizens that he and to include the rest of the bastids, they have no idea what its like in the real USA.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. Oh bullshit. The PhDs can already stay here.

This is an excuse to create thousands of visas to import lower level tech workers to replace Americans.

[Spider Jerusalem]

33. Well no actually they can't, automatically.

Having completed a graduate course of study doesn't automatically give one the right to work in the US. Students are in the US on an F1 visa; advanced degree holders of "exceptional ability" qualify for the EB2 employment visa. It's not automatic, and you can't just stay and work in the US on a student visa.

Also: 40% of sci/tech PhDs in the US were born abroad; that the US is so welcoming of foreign scientists and technology workers is a major factor in American leadership in the scientific, technological and medical fields, and indeed has been since the end of WWII.

[Hello_Kitty]

34. And they're using it as an excuse to import thousands of tech workers to displace Americans

And having that percentage of PhDs from abroad is a shameful commentary on U.S. priorities.

[Spider Jerusalem]

35. Not really?

America has a significant number of the world's leading universities and research institutions. Having that many PhDs from abroad is a result of that. It's NOT a bad thing. Would you prefer that they all went to China instead?

[Hello_Kitty]

36. I'd prefer we grew more of our own scientists and researchers here

[Spider Jerusalem]

37. It's not a zero-sum game

and as long as the US maintains dominance in the fields of science, medicine, engineering and mathematics then the US will continue to attract more foreign PhDs. The time to start really worrying is when the US no longer attracts those people and they start looking for work in China and India instead.

[Bardley]

49. it looks pretty 'zero-sum game' to someone who trains their indian replacement

and gets fired

they might have troublle buying the 'win-win' stuff

[rhett o rick]

4. Geithner! That's one of Obama's guys. Just sayin. nm

[Raschel]

8. He's one of the Presidents Club guys.

[cascadiance]

5. FU Geitner! We unemployed AMERICANS need AND are qualified for these jobs!

Quit letting the Chamber of Commerce and others tell you how to screw us!

If you want to HELP us and not serve corporatists, you should advocate that American kids get free bachelor's degrees so that we can compete EVENLY with Indian workers who DO get free bachelor's degrees from their universities!

[Raschel]

7. And so many can't get jobs because they're "overqualified".

[aggiesal]

15. Of course "Over qualified" means ...

too expensive!

[Bardley]

19. definition of a citizen being underqualified vs overqualified

a citizen can have every requirement to the 'T', and one software tool is one version below what they ask for (they ask for 7.2 and the citizen has experience with 7.1) = 'underqualified'

same thing except they ask for version 7.2 and the citizen has experience with 7.3 = 'overqualified'

they need people with the right qualifications (translation - H-1b, any or no experience)

[Raschel]

6. Where do we fit in? To import more workers when employment is sky high is wrong, wrong, wrong!

What are they trying to do to us?

[mike3121]

9. I'm not for this

Drafting and nurses are on this list of "high tech" workers that the US Government must import. I'm a retired draftsman and there are thousands of unemployed drafting people out there. This H-1B thing is a crock. I'm for the US worker. This is nothing but a strange alliance of big business concerned only with the bottom line and certain liberals that want, as one hippie screamed in my ear during a anti Viet Nam protest, "LETS BRING THIS MUTHA DOWN!"

[ChromeFoundry]

10. One thing is for sure...

"programme would help the US in a big way in competing with countries like India and China"

When our standard of living is equal to that of New Delhi's... Yep, the playing field will be level. Then we will once again be competitive in the job markets.

Capitalism does not function in a way to bring the other nations up to an equal standard of living. Realistically, their standard of living will increase slightly (due to the disproportionate size of their population), and our standard of living will drop to meet theirs. Nobody needs to explain this to Timothy Geithner, he is very well aware of the accumulated wealth potential of this structure.

[rhett o rick]

11. Agree. NAFTA was to bring the standard of living in Mexico up. Fail. nm

[ChromeFoundry]

14. That was just their way to sell it...

the Mexican rich got richer. And the US rich got richer.
There must always be more and more have-nots when capitalism is "working".

NAFTA did exactly what it was designed to do.

[JDPriestly]

12. Geithner is an out-of-touch idiot. I wish we could recall him and send him back

to the factory that produced him. He needs major repairs. Or, Mr. President, how about a new model? That goes for your entire cabinet especially your financial advisers.

[Bardley]

20. he's not out of touch

he knows exactly what he's doing and who he works for (hint, it isnt you)

[aggiesal]

13. With so many tech professionals looking for work ...

this is the last thing we need.

I've been advocating that the H-1B visas should be tied to
the unemployment rate. If the UR is high, then H-1B's should
go down. If the UR is low, then H-1B should come back up.

The fact is, that most companies abuse the feature at the
expense of US techs. They're suppose to pay the predominate
rate, but in San Diego area, I see some of them getting half
of what a US Tech would make. They are also supposed to advertise
looking for US techs first, but they end up advertising is
little Podunk, Nebraska News, where no engineers exist. Then
tell the gov't, "... well, we couldn't find any engineers in the
US to meet the qualifications. ..."

[AngryOldDem]

40. +1

Or, as I prefer to see it, it's modern-day slave labor.

[Bardley]

16. Good thing we have a democrat in the white house

and not someone just looking out for wall street

[tpsbmam]

17. NOW have I heard everything? Unbefuckinglievable!!

I have never been lied to more by a candidate.

[jwirr]

18. Oh wonderful another good old democratic idea!!!!

:sarcasm:

[AndyTiedye]

21. They Should Go After Some of the Managers at H1b-Abusing Companies for Perjury

To get an H1b, someone at the company has to certify that they can't find a qualified American to do the job.
To sign such a declaration at the same time as they are laying off qualified Americans is perjury.

Prosecute them.

[Bardley]

23. no they dont

(read the bolded portion - citizen tech workers are the most 2nd class marginalized/disenfranchised people in the country)

Performance Goal 2H. Address worker shortages through the Foreign Labor Certification Program.
Foreign workers may be legally hired on a temporary or permanent basis when no American workers are available, able, willing and qualified, provided their employers file applications with the Department to adequately document the need.

These conditions do not apply to foreign workers admitted on E-3 and H-1B1 visas. An E-3 or H-1B1 worker may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker.

These conditions do not apply to foreign workers admitted on H-1B visas, except with respect to job opportunities
with H-1B dependent employers. H-1B nondependent employers are not subject to the conditions, and their H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker. Additionally, the importation of the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers.


source http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/002123.html

[Bardley]

22. Ever single unemployed citizen tech worker was the deliberate action of both parties

both parties have a senior member (Durbin and Grassley) who speak the complete truth on this issue

in a true 'shortage', all existing resources are utilized

in a true 'shortage' the unemployment rate of that sector should be ZERO!

[Populist_Prole]

24. Curious isn't it? They threw blue collar types under the bus

under the basic premise of, we don't want those icky manual labor jobs here, we want "knowledge workers". Now they don't even want them anymore eh? Of course another unpleasant truth is many in the latter aforementioned groups were all too glad to see the former marginalized, or at the best, apathetic about it.

[ChromeFoundry]

26. That's incorrect.

Most of the "white collar" workforce of today grew up in a "blue collar" household, or were blue collar workers originally.
I started off in blue collar trade, but decided to move into an electronics degree and eventually into the IT sector. This was for many reasons. My entire family is still blue collar.

I saw the Reagan years cripple the unions.
I saw Clinton pass NAFTA, which painted a large bulls-eye on the backs of all US Labor and manufacturing.
Did I forget about the importance of a strong manufacturing base in this country? Absolutely not. I've stood in picket lines. I've been a member of at least 3 unions.

"All to glad to see the former marginalized, or at the best, apathetic about it" ???
The only group that marginalized the mass-exodus of labor jobs are the white collar, 20-30 yr. crowd that has never seen the US actually produce anything. They were not alive to witness any part of the industrial revolution... this has always been a services country to them.

I'm honestly not trying to pick a fight here... but I see the content of your post claimed over and over from the people in so-called "blue collar" jobs. It's an incorrect generalization.

[Bardley]

28. absolutely true, IT and engineering types often came from blue collar backgrounds

far more than accounting, law and medical people

[Populist_Prole]

38. Refreshing to hear. You're a credit to your avocational democraphic.

Thank you for your honest and though provoking reply. It's a matter of me being somewhat "slap happy" over the years. I've simply heard too many times over the past decade the sentiment I've referred to by peers in my own age group, though they were from white collar backgrounds. As far as things I've read over the same time period, I of course have no idea of the age group, but I think your assertion of them being young punks borne of a more sterile age is certainly valid.

[Bardley]

27. NOT GUILTY as charged!

"Of course another unpleasant truth is many in the latter aforementioned groups were all too glad to see the former marginalized, or at the best, apathetic about it."

BULL!!!!! I voted for perot in 1992, because I knew that less manufactuing meant less manufacturing systems jobs, and more manufacturing systems refuges and retrained manufacturing workers competing for fewer tech jobs. It meant more of my taxes supporting more unemployed people on a smaller tax base, which creates bigger budget deficits.

Just one more false accusation hurled at citizen tech workers, on top of 'uneducated', 'uncompetative', 'lazy' etc, and I'm damned FED UP with it!

ALL of that attitude came from your OWN DAMNED PARTY DLC leadership types, dont put THEIR words in MY mouth!

[_ed_]

25. Geithner is a Republican

Appointed by Obama. Like Gates.

I'm still waiting for a good explanation of why a Democratic President would appoint Republicans to such high offices, and then keep them in power for years.

[shanti]

41. *ush NEVER did that

wtf is obama doing it???

[Vidar]

29. Geithner, why don't you & Obama just join the Republican party already?

Oh yeah, that would involve honesty. How silly of me!

[Bardley]

30. 'change' means you being replaced by an h-1b

because that's what corporate america 'hoped' for

[Bardley]

31. how much of the treasury was spent to 'create jobs' he doesnt want American citizens to have?

either let Americans have the jobs, or at least dont bankrupt the country creating jobs we cant have

[Ignis]

42. Welcome to DU. Nice observation.

:hi:

[CLANG]

32. Greaseball

[AngryOldDem]

39. Just HOW will expanding H-1B help us compete? n/t

[aggiesal]

43. It lowers the wages of ...

everyone in the tech industry.
This allows those abusing companies to compete with the
lower wages of India, Russia, China, ...

L        OOO     SSS   EEEEEE  RRRRR    SSS   !!
L       O   O   S   S  E       R    R  S   S  !!
L      O     O   S     E       R    R   S     !!
L      O     O    S    EEEE    RRRRR     S    !!
L      O     O     S   E       R  R       S   !!
L      O     O      S  E       R   R       S  !!
L       O   O   S   S  E       R    R  S   S
LLLLLL   OOO     SSS   EEEEEE  R    R   SSS   !!

[AngryOldDem]

51. I'm very well aware of that.

I'm just getting sick and tired of hearing the meme that H-1s are in the best interests of the economy and American workers. That is pure bullshit.

[aggiesal]

57. I agreed 100% ...

The Losers comment was intended for those, who implement that meme.

This was in no way a statement directed towards you or your statement.

[Thor_MN]

44. How about we bring in some foreign CEOs and other executives?

Wage pressure is orders of magnitude higher for executives than any other postion. No other program could help corporations more than increaing the supply of executives, look at the outrageous salaries and benefits they are having offer to attract talent...

[area51]

45. We definitely don't need this,

as according to this article, we have 30½% unemployment.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

47. It might be helpful if their actually going to build all those stupid trains

Seeing as there might be all of four Americans, probably already living abroad with much useful background in modern high speed rail.

[sarcasmo]

48. No way should this happen in our current job climate.

[AlphaCentauri]

50. Pleasing big business and prosecuting the poor undocumented immigrants

[Safetykitten]

52. Whatever Timmy wants, Timmy gets.

[Safetykitten]

53. Dupe

[Bardley]

54. Obama 2007 "I will support a temporary increase in the H-1B visa program as a stopgap measure"

"I will support a temporary increase in the H-1B visa program as a stopgap measure until we can reform our immigration system comprehensively. "

http://pradeepc.net/blog/2007/11/26/barack-obama-on-h1b-and-immigration/

that all I needed to know. I knew that if elected president, he would support and H-1b increase no matter HOW BAD things got

nothing he's done has surprised me in the slightest - at all

globalism and job destruction is shoved down the citizen's throat, no matter who gets elected

[Bardley]

55. .....

[Bardley]

56. when and why did being a citizen tech worker become a crime?

what did i do to this party, to deserve this endless harrassment?

[Bardley]

58. gasoline hyperinflation and crashing wages

from a glutted labor market that he wants to glut even more

there's your 'recovery'

and this is better than republicans.....how?