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Thursday, October 9, 2008

H-1B visa fraud found, reform proposed

Oct 9 2008 7:09PM | Permalink |Comments (78) |

As many of our readers have suggested, there are plenty of problem with the H-1B visa program, but the ones uncovered by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may not be the ones that first comes to mind.

Try forged documents, fake degrees, and use of shell companies at phony locations. That's what an internal report by the USCIS examining the H-1B visa program has found evidence of.

In fact, the report released by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) finds a more than 20% violation rate of the H-1B visa program and describes the situation as one of "significant vulnerability."

The report was released by the US Senate Judiciary Committee and represents the first time the agency (rightfully part of the Department of Homeland Security, by the way) has documented the issues with the controversial H-1B visa program.

Of course, "controversial" doesn't begin to describe the H-1B visa situation. H-1Bs are loved by corporations, be that because they allow for talent not found in the US or be that because they allow for cheaper talent pools, and generally are despised by US-born engineers, many of which claim H-1Bs drive down salaries and restrict employment opportunity.

Proof can be found in the 75 comments that have been posted to one of the first blog entry Now Hear This! did on H-1Bs (see "Wanted or not, H-1B visa process starts on April 1") and when that post was followed up with "H-1B visa cap (and readers’ limits) reached" 39 more comments flew up debating the pros and cons of the employment visa.

EEs aren't the only ones railing against the imperfect H-1B system. "This report validates the major flaws in the H-1B visa program that we have been talking about," said Senator Grassley in a statement Wednesday. "It's unacceptable that these fraudulent activities are slipping through the cracks when there is so much legitimate demand for H-1B visas. ... This report is proof that reform must come sooner rather than later. The program ought to operate the way Congress intended so qualified high-tech American workers aren't left behind."

Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) in April 2007 introduced a "The H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007." L-1 visas are similar to H-1Bs, but are used more for intracompany employee transfer than H-1Bs are and are based on employment history rather than education. Some of the key changes the two senators called for in their bill include:

Requiring that before an employer may submit an H-1B application, the employer must first advertise the job opening for 30 days on a Department of Labor (DOL) Web site. DOL would also be required to post summaries of all H-1B applications on its Web site.
Prohibiting companies from hiring H-1B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50% of their employees are H-1B visa holders.
Giving the DOL the ability to conduct random audits of any company that uses the H-1B program, and would require the DOL to conduct annual audits of companies with more than 100 employees that have 15% or more of those workers on H-1B visas.
Requiring the Department of Homeland Security to share with the DOL any information in H-1B visa applications indicating that an H-1B employer is not complying with program requirements.
And requiring H-1B and L-1 employers to pay employees the prevailing wage to "ensure employers are not undercutting American workers" by paying substandard wages to foreign workers.

The USCIS report doesn't name the companies or individuals busted for forged documents, fake degrees, and use of shell companies. It was based on a random sample of 246 cases drawn from nearly 100,000 and its investigators discovered most of the problems during in-person visits to work sites, including one visit that found an H-1B holder working at a Laundromat. Out of the 246 cases, 51 were found to have problems.

What's the solution? End H-1Bs all together, cutting off the talent supply? Stricter regulation in an effort to thwart the fraud? Are the senators on to something with their bill? Share your thoughts below.

Reader Comments

at 10/10/2008 1:42:32 PM, Aclara said:
Nuke H1-B all together especially in the face of this economic crisis. We already have lost too many jobs overseas.

at 10/10/2008 1:49:33 PM, MVH said:
I am not surprised that fraud is rampant in the H1-B program. I am surprised that
the INS was even capable of detecting this fraud. For once they did something right considering their normal operating efficiency both before and after 911. I suspect that they have only scratched the tip of the ice berg concerning this fraud issue.

at 10/10/2008 2:07:01 PM, DA said:
Cancelling the visa program while the largest employers EXPORT THOUSAND OF JOBS every day won't solve the problem. The number of jobs lost through visas are only a small fraction of those offered to China, India, Mexico, etc. As usual, politicians are making a lot of noise for small issues to distract the public attention from the serious ones.

at 10/10/2008 2:12:34 PM, RTK said:
Why bringing thousands H-1B Employees with BS degrees.
Not all of them are exceptionally talented or even better educated then US Citizens with the similar BS degrees.
It is just another way for the companies to get obedient silent work force eager to work long hours for the promise of the future rewards. It is a way for the companies management to exploit the 3-d world population at the expense of the American worker. it the new form of the imperial expoitation.

at 10/10/2008 2:12:45 PM, Hcea said:
Requires H1B candidates as well as the sponsor each to pay separate fees. Increase the fee to sponsor H1B. Use 80% of these money for higher education grant funds, earmarked by the field of expertise of the position being filled.

Rather than requiring employer to pay H1B employee the prevailing wage, require employer to pay the difference toward education funds, also earmarked accordingly.

Prosecute shell companies to the full extend. Immediately deport H1B fraud cases.

at 10/10/2008 2:20:38 PM, Ash said:
One thing which everyone needs to understand- gone are the days of protectionism and controlled economies. Its a global environment &corporations will do what is right for them to keep the costs down and remain competitive. If something has to improved- its tackling the root cause. Create right environment & encourage more Americans to pursue higher professional education. Think of why American worker is more expensive.
Capping H1-B visa is only treating the symptom and not the disease. Problem lies somewhere deep inside and a quick fix is not wnough to treat it. This will be a lengthy process which will require patience & sacrifices from present and future generations.

at 10/10/2008 2:31:25 PM, Concerned said:
The majority of these H1B visas go to Indian IT companies. Is it so surprising that they have uncovered such fraud considering that India itself is ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world? (for those who wish to make the comparison, it far outranks China in this category)... What does this say about the US in general..picking such business partners?....

at 10/10/2008 2:34:40 PM, DP said:
I understand that it is good to make procedure fraud proof. However, why we find this after program is matured? Why are we making difficult for those who contribute to economy,live legally, and make US competitive in the world than those who are illegal and contribute net zero (some work and some are burden on public welfare system). Also, why government does not want to work with industry and colleges to bring out graduates who are compatible to today's work requirement.

at 10/10/2008 2:38:44 PM, RaviJain said:
I came to US through H1B program. I favour tough H1B regulatioin and implementation, ensuring jobs are not exported out and not let unemployment grow.

All the above because I want to live in this country with respect; and not being look down by (those few unfortunate ones who lost their jobs). Tough and fair regulations will help public understand that it is a respectful solution and is not being misused by corporations.

at 10/10/2008 2:41:01 PM, Mac said:
Ash needs to remember that the H1B is a major contributor to Americans NOT seeking higher education in the Engineering and Science fields. There is no money in those occupations when companies just hire lower cost people from overseas.

at 10/10/2008 2:41:52 PM, jb3147 said:
Big surprise, another goverment program out of control. But they will take good care of our $700B.

at 10/10/2008 2:46:08 PM, Former H1B said:
I agree 100% the program needs a major overhaul. As a former H1-B holder, I remember the pains of having to do it right and the frustration when seeing how many major oursourcing companies (mostly non-US based) lie through their teeth and secure hundreds of visas for mostly unqualified persons (and pay them peanuts).

I am a subject matter expert in my field and my former employer paid a lot of money to hire and relocate me. My total comp package was 30% higher than market average so save the lies about driving salaries down. Truly qualified H1B candidates are far from cheap.

This country still has a dire need for true experts and the H1B program is intended to address that. However, in its current form it is failing miserably. The few non-US based major oursourcing companies continue to bring in unqualified, lowly paid labor and hogging the visa while honest companies can't hire the experts they need. Jobs end up getting shipped out of the country. As the senator said "It's unacceptable that these fraudulent activities are slipping through the cracks when there is so much legitimate demand for H-1B visas. ... "

The H1B program is a good one. The process however, is broken. Fix the process and take the companies involved in visa fraud to task - make sure there is jail time and massive fines involved.

at 10/10/2008 3:04:50 PM, TomV said:
The H1B program is nothing but a farce and benefits only the rich corporations who do not want to pay American wages. With the unemployment rate in the US over 4% and more and more Americans losing their jobs, the fact that Washington continues to allow corporate America to import workers is a disgrace while at the same time lowering the payscale for still employed Americans. The H1B program should be stopped immediately.

at 10/10/2008 3:06:37 PM, Stuart said:
I think people need to be more realistic;as an H1B holder with more than 30 years experience in my specialist & very narrow field I am certainly not paid below the "prevailing wage rate",& pay taxes ,& spend money locally etc. If they suspend the program my employer would simply move my job to Canada or back to the UK and probably move production to China or Mexico resulting in the loss of about 70 jobs in my local area. I fully support anything that would reduce fraudulent activities but the entire process is long overdue for a revamp

at 10/10/2008 3:08:51 PM, H said:
I am curious who are contributing to this message board. Most H1B visa workers I know have been paid full salaries comparing to their colleagues who are US citizens. Do you folks really know anyone with H1B or are you just guessing?

As to losing jobs to overseas, it is much more complicated than simple greed. I thought that EDN readers are more sophisticated than this...

at 10/10/2008 3:09:04 PM, TomV said:
There have been numerous suggestions that our Universities are not graduating enough American students to fulfill the needed positions in the high tech industry. With the way that big (anti-)American companies are importing workers through the H1B visa program and depressing wages as a result, there is decreasing incentives for American Students to graduate college with engineering and other high tech degrees. Isn't Microsoft and similar companies rich enough that they have to import workers at lower pay?

at 10/10/2008 3:11:32 PM, RJ said:
New grads take loans to study engineerig. After getting their engineering degree they do not get jobs. However, those on visa keep on coming through as contractors without even having engineering degrees and do the job by learning on the job. How will the new engineering grads repay the loans?

Can anyone explain how engineers available in India & China are more qualified engineers than engineers in USA when those countries are technologically way behind USA? How are they getting more experience in latest technology than their counterparts in USA? USA is way ahead of countries like China, India and has much better engineering educational facilities to teach new engineering grads, but still US companies cannot get qualified people in the US when so may of them have been laid off and they have to keep on getting more and more H1B visas.

at 10/10/2008 3:24:40 PM, Ken Best said:
Intel is the heavy user of H1B.

at 10/10/2008 3:41:59 PM, Shri said:
One way to separate fraud in degrees and documents is to have a separate visa category and process for non US citizens educated in the US than those directly coming from outside.

at 10/10/2008 3:43:19 PM, OneH1BWorker said:
I'm glad that the USCIS has at last detected this fraud. But it got it's numbers wrong. It's 40-60% of the time that unqualified folks with fake degrees and made up resumes apply for the H1Bs. Most of the time, fraud happens with bodyshopper companies floating their candidates taking money in the name of "training" totally unqualified workers, bumping up their resumes and to put them in the market. Genuine folks like us suffer because of this - H1B lotteries, Increased competetion in the Employment based Gcs etc.

at 10/10/2008 3:57:38 PM, Rich said:
I worked with a nice Chinese woman who told me that she knew of companies would use phony ads to prove that they had searched for domestic talent. The job ads were out there, but the responses got thrown away. Companies would use services like these knowing that it would help them hire the non-green card holding foreign national. They would show that they put out an ad - they didn''t have to divulge that the responses were thrown out.

This was in the mid-90s.

at 10/10/2008 4:43:31 PM, Joe said:
I would like to offer my special thanks to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) who had researched in H1B fraud. I wonder why he does not have time to check the other 80% of H1B holders. 80% of the H1B holders have to suffer because of 20% of the fraud. Lets think if 0.1% of people living in america are criminals should 10% of innocent people should be jailed. I would like to question Senator Chuck Grassley why HR5882 did not make its way. Why are you looking in the case as 20% empty rather than 80% full. America is going in a recession and it would be great if we can work our steps in comming out of recession than going into it.
From the above article 80% of H1B guys produce jobs for american people. Without them talents would be lost. Refer to IEEE request to Nancy Polosi.
I beg to see 80% rather than 20%. H1B guys are welcomed to canada because of their skills and if more restrictions are made all the talented candidates will move to canada or Europe and we will be in hot waters.

Special thanks to numberusa to getting our country in recession.

at 10/10/2008 4:47:57 PM, Rich said:
End H1B visa and lets go into another talent recession

at 10/10/2008 5:10:24 PM, H said:
Bingo! We finally nailed the root cause of this recession/crisis. Let's save the 700B, revoke all H1Bs, save all the jobs, shut down Intel or anyone setting up shops outside of US, and the economy will get back on track in no time.

at 10/10/2008 7:23:45 PM, Z said:
If there is a REAL demand for those experts, give them green card right away. Why even go for H1 Visa? H1 Visa just force the expert to be stuck at that company for a few years.

at 10/10/2008 9:20:06 PM, Chris said:
At this time of job loss and economic downturn, we must scrap this program, which is little more than a subsidized immigration program.

at 10/11/2008 3:14:46 AM, L said:
You mean all those ads I have
been responding to are "frauds".
No wonder I still am unemployed. I thought it was because I wasn't qualified.

at 10/11/2008 7:58:55 AM, Randy M said:
Companies used to compete on how well they educated their employees. How many great internal training depts are left? The idea of hiring someone and then training them has been forgone for the cheap and proven fraudelnet H1B program. Is it any wonder the gap between Senior Manager pay and line staff is greater in the U.S. then any Industrialized Nation and the gap is getting greater and more obscene. Heh, Bill Gates that's why enrollement in engineering is dropping at U.S. universities.

at 10/11/2008 3:37:18 PM, sbe said:
PM, H.
There are legitimate h1 and L1 visa workers. But as a whole this system is fraudulent. Yes I do know ,and count as friends, many h1/l1 types. Most of them are used by body shops as contract labor. This is bad for all of us.

at 10/11/2008 7:14:36 PM, Tech Fella said:
H1 visa is necessary,but it should be regulated. I welcome the proposed reforms. To those who oppose this program, think about the following. What happens when a Phd grad from Stanford cannot work at an US company because there is not enough or no H1 Visas ? What happens when companies like Boeing does not get enough talented people to work on a critical project ? Remember, talented ppl always get job, where ever they are. So, those complaining about outsourcing, see what your weakness is before blaming others. Tomorrow you can kick H1s out, but remember, if the company that you work for does not a have good product, the company will get kicked out of Global market,So eventually you will be out of job, if you are not talented. Remember, Ford, GM is closing down, not that many Japanese automakers.

at 10/12/2008 1:42:24 AM, AK said:
Many of these posts indicates the level of intelligence, or the lack of it, of an average American - possibly (and surprisingly) Engineering Undergrads/Grads here. The basic econo-awareness is missing as well. Realize, that the only country that stands out to lose on scrapping/minimizing the H1B numbers is the US.

As far as frauds are concerned, the recent US financial markets crash tells it all.

at 10/12/2008 9:03:34 AM, annonymous said:
It is unconcionable that corporations can claim that they CANNOT find proper talent in the 300,000,000 million population talent pool of the US....If an employer cannot legitimately find a US talented employee, let them put a additional amount equal to the pay of an H1B visa employee into a government sponsored program to train a US employee to do the job thereby producing a self correcting system whereby the H1B visa program is
ELIMINATED,

at 10/12/2008 4:05:22 PM, 1983IT Grad said:
Has anyone ever seen programing code coming in from India? Ugly, lots of it needs to be redone. Do you think it gets better being done by a H1 visa engineer here? The answer is no because I've seen it, redid it and it drives me nuts. The USA has enough top engineering schools to put out the gradutes. I agree with RJ, new grads are saddled with too much debt from engineering school and then can't find jobs because of H1 visas. I hope there's jail time and deportations after this investigation.

at 10/12/2008 11:30:56 PM, annonymous witness said:
Besides the abuse listed in these emails, I have seen whole groups of American engineers fired due to "business reasons." However, after a few weeks, magically a ton of Indian H1-Bs show up doing the same work under the umbrella of contractors working for a
front company. Ironically, the quality of their work was
much poorer than that of the engineers they replaced. My company also put up paper over the office windows to hide this questionable
activity from the other employees.

Remember folks, our government
sells HIBs to corporations which effectively means they are profiting from giving our jobs away to foreigners. The
whole system is rife with corruption and should be abandoned.

at 10/13/2008 11:39:24 AM, just me said:
So hit me with a news flash.
Not only are H1B’s the 21st century slave but there is fraud and corruption involved.
Gee whiz, who would have thought?
Can we start the deportations now?

at 10/13/2008 4:31:52 PM, Chris said:
As noted above, the H1-B programs are nothing but migrant labor programs for tech companies.

If the U.S. needs skilled people, and we do, give them green cards, and the freedom to not be indentured to specific companies.

Reform the immigration system, don't continue the H1-B program. Make companies compete for skilled labor in the market instead of renting slaves overseas. How many of these workers would be in the H1-B program if they could get green cards?
None.

at 10/14/2008 8:34:26 AM, yonnie said:
H-1B program is pure exploitation. It should be abolished. I've been an EE and IT for 30+ years, I know no one who is a US born citizen and has a job with a US company. I used to know hundreds. I went back to college, borrowed more money and ended up training my un-qualified replacement who was paid less than 1/2 my salary. 12 years later, I'm still unemployed and still paying off my college loans!

at 10/14/2008 10:20:12 AM, Dallas student said:
I agree with some comments that US educated students should be kept out of lottery system. I disagree with critics saying H1 is not needed. The fact is that US citizens dont like to study or do engineering jobs. Even after they get one they are always planning for managerial posts which means there has to be somebody to do engineering jobs.

at 10/14/2008 12:02:39 PM, DP said:
18 years as an engineer and every H1B I have worked with had nothing special in their skill set. Companies do it because they can get expensive engineers cheap and they are easy to manage since rocking the boat ships them back home. Keep the program if you like, put require all positions be posted on the top 3 job sites for 90 days. This will end the program since there has always been plenty of engineers in the U.S.

at 10/14/2008 12:09:08 PM, the usual suspect said:
I work in the valley, and most of my colleagues either started out as H1B visa holders or are currently holders. I think having access to the best talent available is a good thing and it keeps the job market competitive, but when I graduated with my degree in 2001, there were 4 other people in my class (all US citizens). All very capable and I would have hired any of them if I were a manager as their resumes don't look any different than mine when they came out, but they collective are 1) managing a starbucks, 2) as a technician, 3) still in grad school after failing to find a job, 4) as a bartender. WTF???

at 10/14/2008 12:12:44 PM, Boomer Child said:
I think the salary issue is less at play, and what is really powerful is that someone with and H1B visa has a MUCH harder time quitting there current job and going and finding another one than someone like myself (US Citizen). Talent is one thing, being able to control it and keep it in one place is something else.

at 10/14/2008 1:08:51 PM, mcqueen said:
After all, employers know how to use their own money to hire what kind people to do their business for the best interest of their shareholders. If American engineers are more competitive than H1Bs in capability and payment requirement, there is no reason for employers to hire H1Bs, then H1B will be fade away by itself. On the other hand, if American engineers are less competitive, there will be high H1Bs demand, and that''s what it''s happening.

at 10/14/2008 1:58:05 PM, Wellwisher said:
I completely agree with having sticter regulations for H1B. But scrapping H1B completely will be a very bad move since 36% of NASA, 25% of Microsoft and many more consists of employees who came to USA with a dream by getting their H1Bs. If you throw these people out, I think pretty soon, USA will have a hard time competing even with 3rd world countries(forget Russia or China). Again, International students coming to USA and later getting H1B visa contribute largely to US economy(in fact, tuition and visa fees collected from these students is 5th largest economy of USA). So think hard before some one claiming to scrap H1B. The very first idea of open economy proposed by USA is being contradicted by USA itself. Then why don't we call USA a communist country?? I would suggest everyone to be competitive enough to secure their own job by getting good education, hard work and little bit of sacrifices.

at 10/16/2008 8:44:47 AM, An Engineer in India said:
Hello, The H1B issue can be resolved as follows. 1) Ban H1B completely. 2) Encourage American students by assisting in scholarships from fees of foreign students. Many foreign students take up MS programs in USA. They should now be given a 3 year work permit along with the admission to MS program. By this way US universities will get a lot more students from abroad filling up their coffers. A part of this fees money earned should be invested as scholarships for american students. The advantages are as follows: 1) Corporate USA is assured of a foreign talent pool. 2) USA can build up its own pool gradually. 3) Foriegn students get enough exposure in the 3 years, so that they can return to their native and work there. Thanks for your patient reading.

at 10/18/2008 11:02:32 PM, Mary said:
Abuse goes both ways.
I work with an H1B Visa holder. The Visa Holder is suppose to be highly skilled and willing to work. Instead, I have had to train the HIB holder on basic job skills they should know and that they wrote on their resume as knowing. H1B holder also has made it clear that they can only work 8 hours. I or one other person will have to pick up the work. The H1B Visa program is highly abused. It is hurting America and what it stands for.

at 10/22/2008 9:28:34 AM, Pete said:
I know a few Cisco Preferred Vendors that hire Indian workers over Americans because they are greedy and want more profit. They pay these indians about 50% less, because they are desperate to get into this country to work...save money and bring all of there family to live in 1 little apartment. It's gross what they are doing. It has taken this country at least a century to get to a decent standard of living for all and now these greedy SOB's are killing us IT workers and congress is letting them. Unemployment for CCNP's etc is out there, but somehow Indian L1 and HB holders are still working.

at 10/22/2008 9:33:03 AM, Pete said:
Additionally....note to Wellwisher....I know ALOT of CCIE's and CCNP's as well as MCSE's that changed their fields because of the fact that they were being undercut by foreign workers. They built infrastructures and then their employers found ways to hire cheap foreign labor to maintain them and squeezed out the Americans. There a plenty of us out here to managed these networks and NASA should not be hiring foreigners anyway.

at 10/22/2008 9:33:04 AM, Pete said:
Additionally....note to Wellwisher....I know ALOT of CCIE's and CCNP's as well as MCSE's that changed their fields because of the fact that they were being undercut by foreign workers. They built infrastructures and then their employers found ways to hire cheap foreign labor to maintain them and squeezed out the Americans. There a plenty of us out here to managed these networks and NASA should not be hiring foreigners anyway.

at 10/23/2008 1:45:57 PM, Linda said:
End H1B visas and tax corporations offshoring American jobs.

at 10/24/2008 4:05:22 AM, arclight said:
All: This is a national-security issue just as much as the management of strategic nuclear weapons, because if (a) we can''t maintain employment for our own people, (b) we can''t maintain global competitiveness for our industrial base, and (c) we can''t maintain in-country design and manufacturing of all critical components for our industrial base, we''re through as a nation because we will be hostage to others who may not have our interests at heart. It''s that simple.

The first step in this is to confront our citizens (some of whom are lazy, uninvolved, and uninformed) and show them that this is the case, and that there''s no magic cure, and that like every generation before them they get to roll up their sleeves, set the things of childhood aside, and get to work.

The next step is to figure out what policies (including H1B) need to be created, changed, or done away with to facilitate hitting the three targets above year after year without fail. We were able to do this within the framework of our Constitution for some 200+ years, so I don''t think there''s any fundamental reason we can''t once again do these things.

As we go about this, we must bear in mind that we don''t ASK the attorneys and the lawmakers anything

at 10/24/2008 4:07:01 AM, arclight said:
As we go about this, we must bear in mind that we don't ASK the attorney and the lawmakers anything; we TELL them the outcomes required and TELL them to write and administer the law accordingly within the Constitutional framework, and don't take NO for an answer.

at 11/3/2008 8:25:01 AM, Kurt said:
HIB Visa fraud and offshoring USA jobs are symptoms of the same problems. USA companies have lost their sense of loyalty to this country. Yes, we all know that companies only stay in business when they make a profit. But, if you make that profit in the USA, don't you have an obligation to the USA.

Companies want the rights of individuals, but they do not want the responsibilities.

at 11/4/2008 11:21:40 AM, Tom said:
A federal tax should be charged to public US companies for each H1B visa granted (In the range of $40K - $60K annualy) to compensate for losses of federal and state income taxes revenues no longer paid by US employees being laid of, and the extra burden they bring to the unemployment system. The minute US corporation will pay a penalty for each person being granted a H1B visa, they will think twice before flooding their offices with cheaper labor from Asia. Special circumstances might still justify unique talents not available domestically, but this is truly an exception, not the rule

at 11/11/2008 5:26:20 PM, Timbo said:
SOLUTION: BLAME THE CONSULTANT COMPANIES!!

There are consultant companies in US that jack up the resume. This is what the consultant companies does. They get a new grad student from university, send them to 3 months course on how to handle interview, then they jack up the experience to like 6-7 years. Now what happens here is that people with excellent talent and 4/4 GPA would not get a chance for interview since experience is better than education (in corporations). Plus these big corporations do not even check if the experience is valid or not.
If the government is giving H1B, then they should give H1B to the company who the person is working for. Consultant companies MUST be banned or this is going to be disaster. Also GPA below 3 should not be allowed for H1B, I mean I don''t see a point for people who suck in school working with seven years of fake experience on a fortune 100 companies (remember most of us have stock here).

Solution:
1. Ban consultancy companies
2. Make education a requirement
3. Check, double check, triple check if the experiences is legit. If falsified, deport them for wasting our precious time.

Remember, we did not have this issue when there was no consultant companies.

at 11/12/2008 5:05:24 PM, offroad said:
Stop the H1B VISA ABUSE
I worked with an H1B Visa Holder. I had to train her on basic skills. I guarantee that there were plenty of people in the US that could also do her job.
This person also was not willing to work past 40 hour week (salaried). I had to pick up the slack.
She was not qualified.
The employer must have pulled some strings to get her into the US.

at 11/14/2008 5:16:13 AM, AnotherLazyStupidAmerican said:
You will notice that the people who contribute here in support of the H1B program can barely put a proper sentence together. I am one of those lazy stupid Americans that needs to be replaced by an H1B person. I worked a full time job,plus a weekend job. I went to school at night while raising a family. I maintained a 4.0 GPA and after ten years graduated with an advanced CIS degree, with honors. Isn''t it amazing that the United States can''t survive without all of these aliens. Geez how did America ever exist with so many lazy stupid people?

at 11/18/2008 7:44:22 PM, I am an H1-B Slave said:
I am on an H1-B and feel like a slave. I wish I had not come to USA in the first place. I was planning on doing an MBA in my home country but got lured by the dollar and came to pursue Masters in Engineering in USA. After paying almost $20,000 in tution fees using my parents'' saving, loans etc..finally got a job as an H1B and then my slavery in USA started. I wanted to get an MBA degree but was forced to work long hours and could not really find time to study. My manager would expect me to work long hours without paying overtime while the other citizens had full freedom and I was hesitant to revolt for fear of loosing my job and then deported back to my home country as per the Visa rules. Despite having a Masters my manager would sometimes make me do work fit for a small time labourer and I could not budge due to these draconian visa regulations. I had to miss a lot of important family events back home for fear of being fired if I take too many holidays. I pay taxes and abide by the laws of the country and have stayed in the USA for more than 5 years now but I could never develop respect for the country and could never assimilate or integrate with the american people due to these cruel H1-B visa regulations. All I am requesting is to allow the H1B workers to stay in the country for atleast six months if they get fired or laid off from their jobs so that they have enough time to look for one and not have to be treated like SLAVE in their companies.

at 12/23/2008 12:16:01 PM, Observer said:
While refusing thousands of high quality, well-educated H1Bs adding to American work force, USA is allowing millions of illegal immigrants with no/low education come and stay from Mexico. It is time to consider American competitiveness in education, science and technology in the future

at 12/26/2008 10:49:33 PM, H1b slaves said:
I m in H1b visa and i also feel i m slave.If u are making $100 per hour from client,you ending getting $40-45 per hours, if u are working with 2 layer (i vendor and another ur H1b visa holder company. you are not even getitng what u deserve for ur services.The process of green card from H1b is hell longer take almost 5-6 years for resident of India maxico and china.If US really want H1b service he have to change this immigration law for H1b holders otherwise at some point No one will work for US companies.RIght now 70% indian are working in IT and servering US for nothing

at 12/26/2008 10:53:33 PM, Issue Green card to H1b visa holder said:
Issue Green card to all H1b visa hold ASAP
Request to elected president Barack Hussein Obama II

at 1/12/2009 10:00:26 PM, US Engineer said:
The H1B visa program is a farce. I have worked with many "software developers" and "database gurus" with H1B visas that knew nothing. They worked on products which were late and then US workers would bust butt to get the product out on time. I am shocked to walk into engineering companies now and see NO American workers. These H1B workers are the pits, they get paid as such and they pretend to be great.
The new indentured servants.

I also know many, many US graduates that are great engineers that are unemployed!
The US should be ashamed and so should Microsoft, Intel and the like.

at 1/21/2009 8:31:35 AM, Stonethrower said:
I was on H-1B visa from 1998 to 2004. I gave my best years (33-39) to US economy. I lost my opportunities to become a valid US citizen due to very peculiar US politics regarding H-1B visa and due to overhauling US jobs overseas. The peculiar US politics I mentioned is basically a very toughtful scenario of (ab)using one''s talent (mostly in EE and IT sectors) and best yeras of life dedicated basically to improve US economy and during these years I did almost nothing to improve my life. I have started "H-1B life" in 1998, in my age of 33 in US and 10y of previous experience in the field od R&D and EE deisgn, with $33K salary as EE, while entry-level EE had $45K at the same time. As subcontractor, the company who rented my brain to another company, charged my time $2k a week, therefore cashing in 3x times more than I "earned". Is that simptomatic enough? Greed? Yes, but as my at-that-time boss said: "There is unwriten sugestion from US goverment: use Eastern-Europe people to the extreme, because they are cheap, good educated and poor." The obvious accent is on that "poor" statement. Meaning, from my perspective, US economy and people who constitutes that economy is as mean as hell. While I''m waiting for the Green Card in my coutry of origin, I''m again willing to tie myself with H1B because H1B is the only way to get the Green Card (permanent working permit) and furthermore the citizenship. H1B is very thoughtfully engineered by US goverment to be "the rope on the neck", therefore only the strongest will survive that rope, because H1B visa can exists only 6 years in the row, after that the H1B holder must leave the soil of US and spend abroad at least 1 year before s/he has a chance to get into another H1B 6y-pack. All of that yields a very hard-to-achieve any significant career, therefore citizenship is a logical way to get myself out of H1-B slavery, a slavery of the most modern type. But, and there is always a big but arround, citizenship is a hard-to-get thing because it requires at least 5 years in-the-row stay in the US without interruption, and with today''s economy where H1B holders work for smaller companies, where H1B''s along with contractors are first to be fired, I believe that very small percentage of H1B workers actually present themselves as a threat to US-born engineers. And, God-forbid me to forget to mention this, "better" positions (like senior EE, and management positions) are "somehow" dedicated to US-born engineers, far-aways from H1B.

at 1/21/2009 8:59:13 AM, Stonethrower said:
In my previous post, I forgot to mention a very important thing: It''s not us (H1Bs) who brings salaries down, it''s the employers who blackmail H1B''s to take lower salaries, which in turn makes the overall salries slide down, while keeping the profits up. H1Bs are not the threat to US-born engineers, overseas workers are. For a one US-born engineer''s salary "they" can BUY 4 Mexico-born engineers or 40 China-born engineers.

at 1/23/2009 1:02:48 AM, Makesense said:
I do not accept RJ comment"that Engineers available in India & China are anyway less than US ualified engineers because those countries are technologically way behind USA?" That just speaks of RJ not knowing any idea an prejudices mind, You can find some of the best Enginners who are dedicated passsionate and brilliant,it may be due to economic reasons and countrys infrastructure not being developed but the education system in INDIA is one with a very high standards. Many researches and corporations are reaping the benifit of hiring Indian engineers and seeling thier product at Made in USA so like intel..

If you assume for a moment if countires like INDIA and china''s Brain gets drained back to INDIA and china which is welcome for them which country is a loss US not India.

RJ has some prejudices against foreign nationals which is wrong, respect knowledgeble engineers of any country an be above caste creed, race ...

I argeee they may be some wrong doing that shoud be corrected and not generalise the country as such.

at 1/24/2009 10:34:16 AM, thanks for ur views said:
I have been working for one of the india''s biggest firms in oil and gas and recently got an oppertunity in US with a firm but after reading the comments of the US people on indians and chinese in their country, I am not going for that, so cheers, one more job saved for a US Citizen. And thanks a lot for projecting the view of thinking of US people and saving my time.

at 1/28/2009 8:27:20 PM, Anonymous said:
Cooks, drivers sent to US as engineers

G S Vasu & Vikram SharmaFirst Published : 23 Jan 2009 01:48:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 23 Jan 2009 02:52:49 PM ISTHYDERABAD: A new dimension is emerging in the infamous Satyam saga. Information available with the Express suggests that thousands of people have been sent to the United States by the IT major on the basis of fake educational and employment certificates.

Highly-placed sources told this paper that this has been happening over the years and it is possible that a significant number of them may or may not be with the company now.

One reason for Satyam to resort to this step is the need for assistants of a varied nature — drivers, cooks, attenders, gardeners — for its highranking officials employed in the US.

While Indians are available for a pittance, employing a US citizen for similar works is a far more costlier proposition. What is interesting is that a majority of those packed off to the US for sundry jobs (projecting them as engineers) come from villages in Ramalinga Raju’s native district West Godavari in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Most of them belong to his community.

While Satyam employed North Indians in top positions, it chose those from Ahmedabad as low-level assistants.

About 400 of them from Hyderabad figure in the long list of those sent to the US by manipulating the records. It is also possible that hiring officials in Satyam, who allegedly offered employment to job-seekers for pecuniary consideration, may have provided fake employment papers to those intending to go to the US if they are not Satyam associates.

Politicians and others, whom Satyam has to keep in good humour, may also have used the Satyam label to obtain visas in cases where they have a vested interest.

The CID wing of the AP Police, which is probing the Satyam scandal, has sniffed this angle too and is in the process of gathering details.

at 2/11/2009 5:43:22 PM, Gem of a guy said:
Pay peanuts and you only get monkeys...

at 2/22/2009 7:31:24 PM, Anonymous said:
Friends,

To report any suspicious activity or to make a confidential reporting of immigration or customs violations, please call 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423).

Please make the call. This is the right time to make the call. These days immigrations dept. is raiding companies for illegal activities.

Remember the 5 firms that ICE raided in regards to H1B visa fraud last week. 11 of them are under arrest and they may serve up to 15 to 20 years of prison time.

Its not just the employer who is breaking the law, employees are supporting them too. As far as L1 visa interview goes, they know from the forum what questions they are asked and they know what to answer even if it is not the right answer.

For L1 visa they have to say they are working on a proprietary tool and have specialized skills to get the visa even if they don’t have those skills. This is fraud and they need to go to jail.

Remember the only way to stop these guys is by putting not 11 but atleast 1100 in jail. They can afford to pay as mush fine as required without any issues and still continue the same old unethical practice. It’s only the jail time that they are scared off and which will make them stop.

Please spread the word

at 2/24/2009 12:15:56 PM, IamOnH1b said:
We are used to cheap labor thats why Walmart is in business. We want to use cheap good and complain that manufacturing jobs are joing to China. Catch 22.

at 3/2/2009 7:36:28 PM, sp1do said:
The US should check its H1B laws. What is happenning in US is nothing but exploitation of workers, without the knowledge of US government, people and the clients. The immigrant workers are nothing but slaves of sttaffing firms.

Staffing firms are started in the backyard with a spouse. Immigrant workers are reared as cattles in a townhouse and sent around to prospective clients for interview. The golden hen is given food and shelter as long as then give 70:30 cut to all the agents who linked it to the client. Until the hen escapes from the agent, it works as a slave. The hen can escape only after it gets a green card.

The exploitation is not happening just in US. On the other end of the world innocent people lose lifetime saving of parents to these agents. The agents lure young people about opportunites in US, take money and run away promising to get a job in US.

So the agents charge 70:30 commission from immigrant workers every month. They also cheat people in India promising to get a job in US.

It doesnt stop there. The agents charge the client for outsourced work done offshore. They HRs of the company charge fresh graduates lump sum money to get employment at these companies. This is called backdoor entry. So, the agents get two incomes in the outsourced work one from clients and one from employees. There is also a lot of bungle in charging the clients. The number of hours are manipulated. Employees are made to work as donkeys but asked to put in less hours off-shore.

The workers off-shore are recruitment through backdoor, recommendation, caste, political power and so on. Thats why even with so much outsourced work and employment India is poor, everything is eaten up by the agents, politicans and few middle class.

A survey of people employed in US will show that under previleged people still live in US. The people who got employment and moved to US are so-called high class brahmins. In a country of 80% Hindus there are hardly 10% brahmins, but they occupy the key positions in governments, public sector units, IT companies on-shore and off-shore. Since they have money and power, a lot can be done with this.

How many muslims and christians are employed in IT in US through Indian agent companies. Out of the Hindus how many are from low and unprevileged communities. They live in a Western society, but exploit poeple in India but sending their income to VHP, BJP hindu fundamentalist. If Brahmins are only intelligent race, who can get a degree and do computing then it violates the basic value that all are equal. Given the right opportunity all people can develop the skills not just high class brahmin race.

The money from clients are used for oppression in India. It is better to give these money as aid to India and develop the really disadvantaged community by giving bright people in that community to come and live in US.

The US should not support human rights violation, oppression and fraud. The Indian caste system should not get into US. Even in US, I heard that promotion is given based on caste in Indian staffing companies.

at 3/2/2009 7:49:28 PM, Radu said:
Why Obama can't stop outsourcing

The Indian information technology industry has reacted with a mix of hope and caution after President Barack Obama said last week that he will not allow US companies that send jobs away to enjoy his tax breaks.

Obama is presumably talking about industry-specific tax breaks, though the details are not clear yet. But it is clear to me that he cannot go very far.

For instance, the US plan can affect General Motors, which is getting government help. I know from experience that GM is doing advanced design for its next generation of automobiles using aviation-standard materials in Bangalore. Does Obama's budget mean that GM will stop using India as a base for innovation? How will GM keep a global edge?

Now, take Accenture, which many think is a US company. It is actually incorporated in Bermuda. Will a US-based retail company (like J.C. Penney, for instance), handing over IT work to Accenture suffer from Obama's moves? If it does, and rival IBM gets a deal that Accenture might have had, remember that IBM has tens of thousands of employees in India, doing work for US clients. The simple point is that US has itself led efforts in making the world economy in an inter-connected web. The nitty-gritty of crunching IT spending is going to be painful.

US firms have already lost the game of efficiency in automobiles to the Japanese and in overall manufacturing to the Chinese. In pharmaceuticals and services, Indian firms can shake the US in everything but blockbuster product development. If you take new products, IT and distributed global research and development are at the heart of whatever remains of Ameri-can capital efficiency, innovation and competitiveness.

In other words, US firms are no longer US firms, but effectively global firms. By doing harm to what Americans call outsourcing, Obama may be axing a branch he is sitting on. Which is why I see his speech as little more than symbolic post-election posturing. If the benefits of tax breaks are outweighed by the gains of outsourcing, US firms will do what makes more sense to them.

(Source:yahoo.co.in)

at 3/19/2009 3:50:53 PM, Bubba Dave said:
The fraud is perpetrated by politicains that take money from lobbyists in exchange for voting to continue and/or increase H-1Bs. What a surprise, government is corrupt - damn I''m brilliant!

Remember: Absolute power begets absolute corruption.

at 5/19/2009 10:41:13 AM, hillary_2016 said:
The only change in the h1b program is that the annual cap. will be either officially or unofficially removed.
The ability of corporations to dictate policy is too strong to be ignored.
The closest thing to an honest politician is one that stays bought once bought.

at 6/28/2009 1:46:26 PM, padmadevan said:
Easy way to cure the ills of H1-B based on comments above:

1) Native US folks are discouraged from pursuing computer science due to H1-B.
Cure: Allow only folks that received a MS degree from a tier-1 US univeristy to be eligible for H1-B. Then there is more competition of seats in good US univ between native born and foreign born students.

2) H1-B fraud and fake degrees:
Cure: Allow only folks that received a MS degree from a US univeristy to be eligible for H1-B. So, only if a US univ commits fraud will there bw a fraudulen degree.

3) Not all H1-B's are talented:
Cure: Allow only folks that received a MS degree from a tier-1 US univeristy to be eligible for H1-B.

What will happen a a result:
Foreign born H1-B's will fill the void for talented and specialized individuals. Native born BS degree folks can take up the jobs that were occupied by H1-B's who are not talented and merely work hard and do unspecialized work. Native born folks will be driven to computer science and get BS degrees. Those with a real passion willl continue onto their MS and even Phds !!!!! Easy, huh.

My observation after working with folks with H1-B's in Infosys, Wipro etc veruss H1-B's working in Miscrosoft and Google. The differnece in level and sophistication is obvious !!!!

at 7/27/2009 2:02:30 PM, PopularGuy said:
Hi,

I am on H1-B and a popular guy. I guess that should help. a stupid girl approached me to get her impregnated while she had not even finished school, i flatly turned down the request but life is good, yeah

Right now I got HeadFirst JavaScript from O'Reilly's

Thanks

at 8/12/2009 8:05:53 PM, Informed said:
This is in reply to RJ and others with similar views. You cannot co-relate the technological advances of a country to the skill levels of its citizens, though on the outset it seems to be the case.

The reason a country like India has lagged behind a country like US is many but to name a few, it is mainly due to the fact the way the entire socio-economic system out there. To be specific, lack of innovation due to very poor laws to protect intellectual properties, very weak patent laws, an isolated economy (up until 1991 when the country opened up to the world), corruption in Govt. establishments, Casteism wherein talent is not recognized due to caste wars, inept Govts in providing infrastructure and so and so forth. What do all of these mean? It means an entrepreneur cannot dream of succeeding in that environment and that means innovation suffers.

The talent pool of a country like India is not any less good than in other parts of the world. No wonder, these same people excel when given the right conditions like it happens when they prosper in US. They do have the drawback of lack of exposure to the latest and greatest in technology but not any more. One other thing going in favor of an Asian individual is the fact that education is given a lot of importance in the family and distractions are much less.. drugs, sex, violence which seems to be pandemic in US are usually restricted to fringes in a society like India. Eventually kids do end up growing up focusing on Education than others.

These are my views having lived in both US and India.

at 9/7/2009 11:12:34 PM, honest said:
Put all the Indian body shop owners from Andhra Pradesh in Jail. 90% of the frauds will be eradicated. These are the guys who are misusing the freedom given to them. I know of a Guy from Andhra Pradesh who has many body shops. He hires fresh graduates, fake their resume with 8-10 years of experience, bribe the managers(Indian and Chinese predominantly) and get them the job for which they are not qualified at all. This big ISP in middletown, NJ is the company which hires most of his employees. They have 2 years contract for each employee and then one cannot be hired for next 6 months. To workaround this, this guy changes his employee's name(trust me this is true) after 2 years and get him a job in the same ISP company but in a different team with a different name.

These are the guys who bring in bad names to every Indian. Please if there is a safe way to report to the federal, let me know.

at 9/29/2009 1:58:24 PM, Academic Voice said:
It is unfortunate that overt discrimination based on national descent is committed with this H1B "inspection". Given the security and control for visas, I do not believe that there can be 20% visa fraud. Looking at the math achievement across the US, I believe that some people are simply not qualified for their political positions and are unable to calculate numbers.

The US has gained its wealth through the work of H1B specialists! They do not take away jobs but rather provide services in areas where there are not enough highly qualified people.

Please stop overt discrimination and nationalism against people from other countries. They are NOT responsible for YOUR crisis.

P.S.:

Recommendation: Read the US Constitution!

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