Problem or Solution?

[SuperScout]

No sooner had the Labor Day speeches extolling American workers ceased than the leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives - who just happen to be Democrats, for those living in Rio Linda - decided to bring up a bill this week to inflict 550,000 stab wounds onto those American workers.

That's right: A week after we hear that official unemployment is at a 5-year high, House leaders are going to try to move a bill to offer 550,000 MORE permanent greencards, above the 1 million immigrants already planned!

Call, write, or email your congressial representative and tell them that we don't need any more 'workers.'

[colmurph]

The Democrats don't give a fig about the working class. They just want more greencards to turn into Democrat Voters 5 years down the line. If they gave a crap about us they wouldn't keep raising our taxes all the time to feed the illegals. Seems the average joe in the Democratic party doesn't have the brains to figure out what the DNC is doing to them and the DNC wants to keep it that way. The Democrat "Fat Cats" can roll in the dough and blame it all on the "Rich Republicans". Throw out a few bucks as bait as "Free Money" and you can reel in a lot of suckers. Too bad Gimpy and the rest will never figure out that there is no such thing as a "Free Ride". Everybody pays in the end.

[Gimpy]

You people don't have a freakin CLUE, do you?

You're trying to blame the "Dems" for something that the "Rethugs" have signed onto lock...stock... and barrel a LONG TIME ago.

###START###

August 8, 2008 12:00 AM
BY: LOS ANGELES TIMES

"There is an interim step Congress could take that would help the economy in general and the high-tech industry in particular: Make it easier for skilled foreign workers to obtain green cards and become permanent U.S. residents. Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services makes 140,000 green cards a year available to foreigners sponsored by American employers, with preference given to the most educated or talented applicants. About 226,000 more cards are available for foreigners sponsored by relatives here. Just because a card is available, however, doesn't mean it will be issued. Tech firms complain that thousands of foreign workers in the U.S. fail to receive green cards each year because of bureaucratic holdups, creating a vast backlog and increasing the demand for H-1B visas.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) and a handful of Republican allies have introduced three bills that would ease that backlog. One, HR 5882:h5882ih.txt.pdf, would increase each year's allotment of green cards by the number left over from previous years, effectively turning the ceiling into a floor. The measure would apply to both employer-sponsored and family-related applicants. Another, HR 6039:h6039ih.txt.pdf (along with a matching Senate bill, S 3084:s3084is.txt.pdf), would provide employer-sponsored cards to any foreigner with a U.S. job offer who earns an advanced degree in science, technology, math or engineering from a U.S. college or university. And a third, HR 5921:h5921ih.txt.pdf, would remove the per-country caps on employer-sponsored cards.

Even if there were no shortage of Americans with high-tech skills, it would be a mistake to assume that limiting foreign workers automatically yields more jobs for citizens. The competition for jobs is increasingly global, and firms are chasing talent (and lower costs) wherever it's concentrated. Look at Microsoft -- it expanded into Vancouver, Canada, last year in part because of the problems posed by U.S. immigration caps. Increasing the supply of green cards would allow more talented foreigners to stay here, where they were educated and trained, and where their productivity and entrepreneurial drive can create jobs. Over the last 15 years, immigrants have launched a fourth of the start-ups in the U.S. that attracted venture capital dollars. With the economy slipping, that statistic alone makes a persuasive argument for more green cards."

###END###

You folks need to get your F-A-C-T-S straight before putting out your usual hogwash to try and blame the "Dems" for something that it appears the "Rethugs" are in agreement with and MIGHT just make good sound business sense.

Gimp

[Boats]

Sir - I have to agree with your statements. We've (our country) have seen a large decrease in high tech skills in our workforce. Many applicants in the US don't have the education or the skills to produce the research needed in many fields. Sorry to say the company I work for (Canadian owned) - has been highering foreign PHD personnal at BA prices from other countries - since those countries are overloaded with excessive talent.

As many of us know - many of us who've been in the work place for decades now - are finding replacements for us - to be very difficult. So we are enticed to stay on a little longer - or until adequate personnel can be located and assigned. This is not uncommon in many USA industries today.

Canada is always taking the higher skilled personnel into their system to remain state-of-art and have been recognized for their talents of the last 20 years. They have some very good engineers and scientist in their system.

Let's not say the US is far behind the times - but we have a very narrow focus of late and foreign talented personnel are being lost due to the US protocol or policies thru the US labor laws. I would rather have stateside residents take my job - but it seems none are on the horizon anytime soon.

This is causing the US big problems - and like Gimp said our entire country will pay for these in the long run.

[SuperScout]

The responses seem to be begging the question: if we are experiencing higher unemployment (as are many other places in the global economy), then one must assume that at least some of those newly added folks are from the high tech fold. How is there plight enhanced by the additional 550,000 more green card carriers?

Many tech firms want more H-1B visas issued for the simple fact that they can hire these foreigners at lower wages then a US citizen. Living here in the shadow of Silicon Hills, I know this is a fact, as many of my friends and fellow church members are in the high tech bizness. H-1b'ers, as they're called, are hired as a 1099 contract employee, with no bennies, no deductions; at the end of the year, they're given a 1099 Form, with the taxes stated that are then owed to the IRS, but by this time, many of them have already moved back to India or Pakistan, the two countries where most of them originate, and the taxes are never collected.

In the meantime, the unemployed US citizen is screwed out of a job, the US tax revenues are less and our country is worse off. I think we need to cut off off immigration, legal and illegal, for at least two years; once we get it sorted out, as to who is here, and who doesn't belong here, perhaps some immigration could re-start. And something other than some "advanced degree" needs to be demonstarted before being allowed in; I've seen some H-1b'ers who couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.

[Gimpy]

those two years more and more "jobs" like these will be "outsourced" overseas.


The USCIS, which is the gov agency responsible for issuing these Visa numbers (a.k.a Green Cards) to EB (Employment Based) applicants, wastes about 20-30K immigrant visas due to their low productivity. Hence even though about 140,000 immigrant visas are mandated by the Congress to be used up every year, not all these visas get used up. This bill would help alleviate that problem.


This results in a large backlog of applications from people (H1B applicants), who have wait for undetermined periods of time, for the agency to issue them a visa number. The lives of these people have been kept in limbo as there is no accountability. This bill will bring some hope to those folks, who have been waiting and have been paying taxes on their income.


Like Boats said, keep the skills here so that outsourcing is minimized. Many of these folks are potential new US citizens.


The biggest failure would be in not passing this bill. This bill isn't for increasing VISA numbers or bringing in more immigrants than approved. It would bring relief to thousands of families who would be tax paying members of this society. This is the least that Congress can do to those skilled people who have come to this country leaving behind their home country and families and values with high hopes and also add more to the tax base. If we are already sending these jobs overseas because we can't find enough qualified current US citizens, let's take this opportunity to KEEP these jobs in THIS country and have their wages taxed in THIS country!


Gimp