H-1B Visas; Why isn't This a Bigger Issue With Engineers

The consulting biz is way slow... don't know how much of that is due to H-1B visas... or just Obama's debilitating regulations... and the ripple-down effects of ObamaCare.

But such visas do improve the number of voters for the Democrats, which is Obama's object. Though not legal, don't be surprised if he finagles a third term in his quest forward toward being "elected" Glorious Leader for Life. ...Jim Thompson

H-1B is necessary because there is talent we simply cannot find enough of in the US (such as analog design). Also transducer engineers and so on. But it's abused, no question about it, and we all know the kind of companies that abuse it.

The solution is _not_ abolishing H-1B. The solution is to enforce the prevailing wage which is law. It's as simple as that and would cost next to nothing because one lone PC can do this job. I have suggested that many times but nobody listens.

Fixing H-1B is as easy as fixing an oscillating opamp by adding a few hundred pF of capacitance from OUT to IN-. This is why I cannot understand why some engineers advocate ditching the whole program (which isn't going to happen anyhow). That's like saying "Oh, it oscillates, so let's scrap this whole product line, it's no good".

The slowdown is definitely Obama's doing. Everything was ticking along fine before he came along.

Your duckwittedness exceeds all my expectations.

Check this out.

How to multiply GDP by a factor of 6.

Of course the first step is getting rid of teachers' unions.

Those unions that Obama created, right?

Have you any idea how much they spent to get him in, or how many tens of billions he's sent them since? Do you know even the tiniest bit of how and why they're all tied at the hip?

Why comment on U.S. politics when you live so far away and know nothing of it?

Why should American employers be forced to hire a problematic, overpaid, ingrate and personality disordered [read narcissist] U.S. citizen with an entitlement complex when they can hire the same or better level of competence from overseas? American engineers aren't the only game in town, those days are over, and good riddance to them.

I have voiced my opinion to my Congress man and my Senators. But my opinion is that we are stupid to not offer green cards to all the foreigners that get advanced technical degrees at U.S. colleges. Do not screw around with H-1B visa's. Give them a green card so they can count on staying here as long as they want and change employers as they desire.

Dan

Without a couple of milli> H-1B is necessary because there is talent we simply cannot find enough

Well, that is the oft-repeated claim. Every time I've scratched the surface of "an engineer shortage" it appears to be a shortage of engineers who like to work for peanuts while the apes at the top of the tree or over in the bull-crap-polishing department take home millions. "We can't find workers" is a sign of a very simple economic principle, "you are not offering enough in money, benefits, working conditions etc." to get workers. Rather than offer more, they want indentured servants that cannot leave for a better offer - so, H1-B.

Still, I'd agree that it's not going away and also not going to be fixed, based on my first point - it's the way it is because it was bought and paid for, and suits the "people" that own it just fine.

I can attest to the contrary. We hired a small team of British engineers at my last employer. Definitely folks you can either not find in the US or have to pry out of the competition. Upon which the projects at the competitor would have croaked. These people were paid top Dollar.

This and other such efforts have created countless well-paying jobs for Americans, right here in California. Without H-1B the alternative would have been very clear, we would have set up the whole place in the Netherlands where we already had a subsidiary.

As I outlined, fixing H-1B and preventing abuse is absolutely easy. But nobody listens. Or nobody wants to listen.

yep, the problem with engineers, is they are too involved with doing their job well to worry about being treated fairly..

there is a lot of truth in these jokes

google: ENGINEERS & GUILLOTINES

Mark

Indeed. The difference between engineers and doctors is just a matter of being organized. Doctors work together to improve their conditions to the point that they manage their own profession to the exclusion of even the government. Engineers think they need to be independent and as a result end up a commodity. I believe the term for an engineer among management is "tool".

That is why I gave up on a regular job and became a consultant. I don't have clients beating a path to my door like Joerg, but I do very well at times. This is one of them. I think I would have gone crazy if I was still working 9 to 5.

But not all is true. I have personally seen an H-1B engineer bail and start working for a new employer in the US. Simple:

"The new regulations permit the H1B employee to begin working for the new employer upon the filing of the transfer H1B petition with the USCIS. H1B applicants who currently have a transfer petition pending with the USCIS can begin working for the new employer immediately".

That pretty much debunks the myth of indentured servitude.

yep, "stealing" talent from other countries should be a good thing

making sure that it isn't just a way for companies to save on pay, would be one of the good thing unions could do, but that is probably a swear word around here :P

-Lasse

T'is good healthy competition, way it should be. In the US many people lament such competition in the workplace, they do not see that it's the same in other countries. When I worked in Germany all our bosses were Americans and inside the building we generally spoke English. There was never one bad word said about all those work visas. On the contrary, we tried to help the folks settle in and feel at home in a country that was foreign to them and far away from all their relatives.

Competition is the only way to really excel in business.

We don't need unions for that. This is already in the law but unfortunately nobody really cares about it.

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Here there's an option to only pay half tax for the first five years for foreign "highly paid employees and researchers", they have to be approved and paid more than ~12K$ a month

sure you don't need them, but they are the ones that should care probably they only ones with the resources

-Lasse

That's one of the things I've often advocated. Set the minimum salary really high for H-1B. If companies are not willing to pay that then obviously they do not need the engineers all that urgently.

What resources? Propaganda material? :-)

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you could call it that :p

The big companies have a bunch of highly paid lobbyist pulling in one direction, if the other side doesn't have something similar they have no chance

-Lasse

But the companies are in charge of getting the H-1B visa program and they pretty much self administer. So unless people talk to their representatives, no changes are going to be made and the existing rules won't be enforced.

Uh, resources to help police the rules. Right now the foxes are in charge of the hen house.