No Jobs, But Plenty of Foreign Worker Visas

While Tier 5 unemployment extension legislation collects dust on the congressional shelf, corporations are flooding the country with cheap labor using the H-1B and the L-1 visa programs. If they can get skilled workers cheap, and they can easily exploit them, then they are much more preferred than an American worker. Fewer visas would translate into more jobs for Americans-in theory.

The immigration and Nationality act passed in the ’90′s spawned the H-1B visa. U.S. firms can import “temporary” foreign workers for high skilled jobs such as those in the science and engineering fields. The idea was that to remain competitive, companies could import these foreign workers when Americans could not be found for the jobs. That was the idea.

The H-1B visa typically lasts three years, although it can be extended to six. If a company wishes to sponsor the imported worker for permanent residence, the visa can be extended indefinitely. Even those that come over on student visas can land an H-1B visa and potentially remain in the United States indefinitely.

The former Commerce Minster of India, Kamal Nath, has dubbed the H-1B visa the “outsourcing visa.” What he meant was that companies import cheap labor, not to compliment the American workforce, but to replace it. Once these worker s have been trained in the United States, they return to their native countries, and take the jobs they had in the United States with them. In other words, the jobs were never intended for Americans. .

Americans would never take the abuse anyway. H-1B visas have very low wage requirements, and as a result, foreign workers can be brought over at near third world wages to not only fill jobs that should be reserved for Americans, but to replace native workers in existing jobs. The exploited worker has no recourse. After all, the employer can send them back home anytime. They hold the visa.

To give you an idea of the scale of visa abuse, Microsoft laid off 5,800 American workers in the last two years. During that same time period they also received 2,355 H-1B visas. They no doubt saved a bundle. Microsoft is not alone. They are just an example.

The high-tech industry in the United States “lost” 245,000 jobs last year. At the same time, more than 100,000 H-1B visas were issued. The same government that issued these visas are the same ones that cannot find money for a Tier 5 extension. They borrowed nearly $900 billion to “stimulate” an economy. The economy remains in shambles. This is the same government that champions amnesty, with accompanying chain migration. This is the same government that despite the aforementioned failures, continue to issue foreign work visas hand over fist.

So America is being hit from all sides. High skilled labor is shipped in, and low skill labor just walks in. Caught in the middle is the American worker, not wanted by American companies (or those posing as American companies), or the American government for that matter.