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"Master of Business"
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Bill Gates
News:
H-1B Visa Debate Warms Up
(Again)
This month, Bill Gates urged lawmakers to increase the number of H-1B
(guest worker) visas; two bills were introduced in Congress seeking to
raise the visa cap; and a study was released indicating that increased
employment of guest workers is, in fact, beneficial to domestic (US)
employment. Meanwhile, opponents of the guest worker program are
sharpening their own knives at this onslaught of pro-immigration
lobbying. In other words, it's open season on the H-1B program once
again.
As we approach the fateful date of April 1, when the US Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) begins accepting H-1B applications for the
next year — which for some reason begins on October 1
— the controversy is reigniting yet again.
Recently, the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) released a
study based on a survey of technology companies in the S&P 500,
indicating that hiring H-1B visa holders is associated with increases
— not reduction — in employment at U.S. technology
companies; more specifically, it states that for every H-1B position
requested, U.S. technology companies increase their employment by no
less than five workers. And no, hiring a US worker instead of the H-1B
worker would not increase domestic employment by six workers. Opponents
of the H-1B program (at least as it stands currently) discount the
report on grounds that the NFAP is a pro-immigration group, and as such
is biased; they have their own take and statistics on the down side of
the guest worker program.
There are some clearly valid arguments on both sides of the H-1B issue.
For example, companies would certainly like the flexibility of hiring
whom and where it suits them best, and training foreign students in our
excellent universities yet not getting access to them after graduation
makes no sense. Yet there is no doubt that if my job is moving overseas
and I am asked to train my replacement, that's going to feel like a
slap in the face.
Something tells me that there is a viable middle ground, but that's a
(controversial) write-up for another day. In the meanwhile I, for one,
do not expect the tempest over the H-1B program to die down any time
soon, not for another year at least, more possibly two years. What with
the plight of the economy (at the macro level); employment, income and
wealth erosion (which is now beginning to get really personal); the
ongoing global war on terrorism; the complex and confusing broader
immigration debate; and the looming presidential elections, there is no
reason to expect that the nation is in any hurry to settle this
particular issue.
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