You should really try to learn WTF you're talking about before making such stupid statements. Really, is it that hard to google up "HB1 Visa scam"?
This is a common misconception. The U.S. is the only country with such a visa that does not require companies to hire its citizens first. The only requirements are that the company must give citizens equal opportunity to apply and must pay the "prevailing wage". The hiring company gets to decide how much that is. There is virtually no enforcement, and visa fraud is rampant. The H-1B visa is a nuisance for both the hiring company and the worker. Companies use it because they can get workers (most with U.S. degrees) for half to two-thirds what they would have to pay workers with green cards. The workers take the jobs because they need the work and because it's seen as a path to a green card.
Exactly! Anyone who is against H1B is missing this main point. When someone comes on H1B, he also lives here, buys house, pays tax, rents cars, provides business to other local and national businesses. Someone was joking - give green card to everyone who is on H1B, housing problem will go away. Currently H1B is so un-certain that everyone is sitting on their hand. ALso, un-employment numbers that you see 10% is not from these sectors that benefits from H1B. We can't have a lay-off worker do software engineer's job. If Microsoft can't bring people on H1B they'll send those jobs in to their offshore offices. In my honest opinion, it is very suicidal for govt. to impose tougher regulations on H1B. Almost every big company has one or more offshore centers and they'll move jobs if they can't get H1B. My 2 cents.
To all you H1B Visa Cheerleaders: Do you know that there are law firms out there that will assist your HR department to write a want ad that can't be filled, thus justifying the H1B Visa? I saw a video online a few years ago where a law firm was giving a presentation on how to avoid finding a qualified American in order to get an H1B applicant. What does that tell you? 3 yars ago Bank of America hired a team of H1Bs in California. The catch? in order to get your 6 months severance pay, you had to train your replacement. http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2002/11/25/tidbits.html
What does your tax adviser do? He suggests you legal ways to avoid IRS audit. Isn't it? That is a work-around to save employers from stupid restrictions and possible query/rejection of the application. What's wrong if law firm is making you aware about possible traps. Bottom line, if you make H1B harder, job will go away. If H1B people are here, they are also helping your economy and local businesses. If job flies out, you lose all.
This shows your ignorance. To obtain Permanent residence(which is better than H1b) of Canada, Australia etc, an applicant has to get certain number of points without the need to hire a citizen first. An H1b eligible candidate could easily get those points. Besides this, already Canada is poaching H1Bs see: http://www.canadavisa.com/in-the-us-on-an-h1b-Alberta-pnp-has-a-new-option-for-you.html Canada and Australia don't have upper limit on the number of work permits. Microsoft set up a development center in Vancouver to overcome the problems they were facing with H1b. Because there are some bad apples, you can't label all H1Bs as bad. If US really wants to cut down immigration, they should do so to the Diversity Lottery program(50,000 Green Cards) where the minimum requirement is high school. http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_4574.html
What's wrong with that? Countries that require their citizens to be hired first have much higher long term unemployment rates and a lower general rate of economic growth. If it's true that companies can pay a slightly lower wage to H1-B holders then that means they're allocating resources more efficiently. That's a good thing. BTW, I don't know how true that claim is in general. My experience has been with traders on H1-B visas and they were never underpaid.
I think you misunderstood my post. These attorneys are not merely helping people with the H1B Visa paperwork processing - they are helping businesses AVOID hiring Americans by telling them how to write a want ad that is difficult to fill. They don't want a qualified American applicant. So yes, I take issue with that on a societal level. We tell kids to invest in their college educations, to take on debt for an expected ROI.... then toss them aside.
Also, once in, some of these H1b's also have tactics for displacing Americans out and bringing in their own H1b friends instead. I've seen this take place many times in IT departments at leading corporations.