I think all H1B Visas should be stopped immediately and discontinued after the last holder heads home. I personally gave up on high tech when you could outsource for a lot less than I was making. Either do the research here or overseas or both but no one from overseas should be allowed anymore than a short visa perhaps a month at best per year. The holders of these Visas are at the mercy of the company sposoring them which is bad enough but to continually say we don't have the talent while thousands are continually let go to accommodate these people is ridiculous. Write you representatives to stop this practice. This is good for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

In a nutshell, what TechAmerica's data shows is that virtually all job growth in the U.S. tech sector is being filled by low-paid H-1b and L-1 workers. There is NO QUESTION that H-1b are taking slots that otherwise would be filled by the new U.S. grads and the tens of thousands of U.S. workers being laid off by Microsoft, HP, Sun, and the TARP-receipient financial institutions.

Under ARRA U.S. taxpayers are creating U.S. tech jobs at a cost of over $100k PER JOB, while last week Congress raffled off 85,000 U.S. jobs to foreign worker for a fee of less than $2k per job. Congress DID NOT mandate that employers first try to fill these jobs with qualified Americans. Instead DOL and Congress conspire to reserve these jobs until October for foreign workers - rather than advertising them for Americans.

Congress and DOL are traitors to U.S. workers. Congress and DOL have become puppets for multi-national and foreign corporations. (the largest user of H-1b are foreign consulting firms.)

"The tech industry paid an annual average wage of $83,300 in 2007." But the average H-1b salary in 2007 was around $60k. So either:

H-1b are 25% underpaid, or,

H-1b are 25% less skilled and less qualified than the average American tech worker.

is there any other way to look at these numbers? You admit you can't, then go on to say that it's politically unpopular to say it at this time, so it should not be said!

Fact of the matter is, international workers are an integral part of American tech workforce today. Many who are today citizens and permanent residents started on h1 visas. Come to the valley, and this reality would be so blindingly obvious to you that you wont even need bls numbers.

If the path, from F1 to H1 to Green Card to Citizen ship is disrupted in a capricious manner, American companies would be cut off from the skills they use (and NEED) to make money. What happens next is hypothetical, but its certainly not going to be something good for the American workforce.

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND STATISTICS!

I bet that the people who produced this report used to produce reports showing that cotton production increased last year and we therefore need to import more slaves from Africa. The only thing that has changed is that don't use the word "slavery" any more.

Every human being is considered vital on this earth, we should try to plant and tend trees till they bear fruits, so that every individual can taste it.
Prosperity can continue not by disowning others, but by treating others like ourselves.
We should allow more H1B visas, so that the economy can stimulate by getting more income, as more income gives more savings and spending.
In short, every downturn is cautiously handled by every individual and every prosperity is equally enjoyed by all.This is a cycle of our day to day life which should be no hazard to anyone.
BA Fernandes

The type of jobs being filled are the jobs that Americans used to be trained for like answer the telephone jobs.

Not all H1Bs are bad. Not all Americans are bad either. Canadians speak English which is necessary to communicate with an English-speaking customer base, yes. Why did the H1B mafia first tell us that English was not a required skillset to work in America? Why doesn't the Indian H1B care to communicate with English-speaking Americans other than the CEOs?!

Again, the problem is with the abuse by the Indian H1B body shops coupled with big business greed and political ignorance.

The argument goes that it is only a competitive market when the H1Bs are given the competitive edge AGAINST Americans, eh? What a crock of a philosphy that argument presents. Better not tell the “best and the brightest” or the H1B body shops that contract with the government about that because they have told Americans that we’re all too stupid to hold jobs answering the telephones! That’s why no Americans can be allowed in. The “Americans are too stupid” argument is how the H1B mafia and body shops square their discriminatory practices with the EEOC.

Currently, they don’t need to bring the best and the brightest here under the H1B. The best and the brightest come under the O visa. The H1B visa is reserved for cheap labor sold by the H1B mafia and expanded under the Bush/Cheney regime.

Now, the demand may be down because H1B fraud (which is rampant) is finally becoming punitive AND because over the last 4 years of the Bush regime, the number of H1Bs allowed surged so the jobs were exported to the Indian nations Bush and Cheney plan to escape to.

As well, who needs a visa now that the IBMs and Goldman Sachs of America have moved their jobs to India for the bribes they received from the H1B Indian mafia? See Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consulting, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Arthur Anderson and countless other Indian “body shops” that the government pays your tax money to as they double and triple bill for non-existent employees. The World Bank exposed these fraudulent billing practices last year.

With respect to the fake 65K + 20k a year being a mere less than 1% of American jobs stolen, see http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/27/698877/-H-1B,-L-1,-J-1,-TN,-E-3The-Numbers-Tell-The-Tale for details on the 7 million H1B workers in America that have forced unemployment to the current highs. Don’t listen to the 85K cap the liars like to mention in their less than 1% argument. The net effect of the H1B program has over 7 million H1Bs here in America doing work that Americans could be doing. Is it any wonder that Americans can’t pay mortgages, buy cars or buy groceries?

No other country that I know of (discounting John McCain’s comments) consider their citizens part of their nation’s GDP to be put up on eBay for the bidders to buy. People are NOT products! Humans should not be bought and sold as slaves!

Stop slavery and stop the Indian H1B mafia from human-trafficking. There was no need for foreign labor. There WAS a need for big-business to invest in America by training Americans. The taxpayer should NOT be forced to pay for training of non-Americans so that big business CEOs can fake a profit.

An examination of the books shows that the H1B program hasn’t worked out for anybody but CEOs because there is no cost savings by employing cheap, unskilled and unqualified labor from India. The Indian H1Bs have double and triple billed to make up for the proposed billing differences between the cost of Americans vs. the cost of their unskilled labor. Americans, again, end up with less but for more money — especially since the body shops contract with the Government and YOU PAY for their cheap labor and inferior products.

Americans now have no life and must train the Indians instead of ethical, qualified Americans. The bonus grabbers use the Indians to fake a cost-savings, but the ACTUAL numbers associated with cost don’t lie. There is no savings. We’re paying more! We’re losing more today, but so are the generations to come in the current replace all Americans scheme presented by the H1B mafia lords.

I think that being born in this country should not make you more eligible to serve and live in a nation funded on ideals of freedom and democracy. I know a lot of Americans that thinks that are entitled to the richness of this country without doing anything. I also know a lot of foreign people that are willing to work hard and contribute in this nation for the ideal that it represents. Not for money but to make the whole world a better place.

I fully agree with Mike Reno, Kim Berry and skj. I worked in the IT industry for 20 years and have seen U.S. IT workers gradually lose jobs to H-1b workers. Democrats, Republicans, Independents -- all politicians in Washington have undermined the American IT workforce. U.S. workers have been complaining about this for many years ... our politicians are not listening!

Not sure who is to blame. Govt? Global Consulting companies? Companies using personnel from global consulting companies? I think we could each write an article on this topic.

What makes this topic more sensitive these days is the ecomony. Cut-backs, backruptcy, loss of jobs MAGNIFIES everything.

If I understood 'skj's comment correctly, sounds like a prediction that the US workforce would sink without high-technical skills from overseas. The large volume of high-tech personnel in the US on a work visa is not helping the US economy. Key factors in the US like the job-less rate and housing market are vital to US citizens. These are two bare basics every person / family needs for security. With jobs being given to visa workers, our ecomony is going to take much longer to recover.

Our economic recovery is going to have ripple affects for at least a decade if not more. Like Kim mentioned, our college grads are going to try to hit the work force and find the jobs that were there when they entered college are no longer there. We are going to see huge issues from this is the next several years.

Racist comments posted by H-1B supporters claiming to be opposed to the H-1B.

So obvious.....

First, it's 85,000 per YEAR not 65,00 and their are many exemptions to this cap so we actually DON'T know the exact numbers!

Second, SOCIALIST programs like the H-1B american worker replacement program have one common result. By artificially lowering the price of a commodity you discourage production. (More H1-B's = lower pay = less americans entering field)

Third, the vast majority of these cheap imported workers go to a handfull of large bodyshops like Wipro, Tata, and Infosys that undercut American workers and are used to FACILITATE off-shoring through knowledge transfer(American workers train foreign workers to allow off shoring).

Fourth, H-1B program is a poster child for FRAUD, with recipients PAYING for jobs, falsifying credentials, or just plain lying to clients, and employers.

Fifth the program in inherently sexist(almost %100 Indian male under 30) racist(Indian bodyshops do not hire Europeans Africans Americans etc) and ageist(what other field are you to old to hire at 35?)

The constant barrage of falsehoods, outdated or incorrect statistic, biased studies, propaganda and lies from the corporate lobbyists and special interests who have agendas contrary to the good of the USA and its citizens is starting to show itself for what it is, TREASON.

History is repeating itself. People pushed Indian Americans and now you feel the pressure when 1% force is working which includes good and bad. So be it. There is no difference here as well. Good and bad remain everywhere.

If you are so concerned dont export anything and dont import anything. Just work and better yourself.

BA Fernandes is looking through a pretty thick pair or rose colored glasses (or is too busy tending trees to know what is going on in the US).

"Prosperity can continue not by disowning others, but by treating others like ourselves." Really? It sounds nice. But, it does not work in a depression like the US is facing now. I don't care if "others" are disowned or not. The US will NOT get out of its economic difficulties without keeping American jobs in America! First, we must hire Americans before employing individuals from other countries. If the US continues to spiral into a recession like none of us has ever seen, there is absolutely no way jobs can be given to people here on H1B. The companies will no longer exist to employee them.

"We should allow more H1B visas, so that the economy can stimulate by getting more income, as more income gives more savings and spending." When did more income equal more savings? The government, corporations and banks have done nothing but push Americans to buy, buy, buy (even if you can't afford it). They have never said to save, save, save! Spending, when we cannot afford, and the whole mindset behind the idea is why the US is in this situation. Plus, the argument that H1B visas make a better economy by stimulating spending is not logical. H1B folks come here, work our jobs and buy our stuff while Americans are living on the street. And by the way, the H1B co-worker that I advised NOT to take the mortgage where he only paid on the interest first (with a lower monthly payment) has now lost his house, all the money he used to pay that interest, has nothing to show for his efforts and has moved back to Pakistan. H1B visas stimulating the economy ... I don't think so!

"In short, every downturn is cautiously handled by every individual and every prosperity is equally enjoyed by all." This makes me think that BA Fernandes is actually not American and is probably here with an H1B visa. "...every downturn is cautiously handled..." What rock did he crawl out from under? He has no clue about American history or how this country got to the point where it is today. "...cautiously handled..." CRAZY! If you are going to come to America and take a job from an American worker on an H1B visa, get your American history correct. America has not been "cautious" about a single thing since the beginning of WWII (which was in the 1940s ... since you do not know anything about history)!

Who and what is TechAmerica? Are they a lobby group, consulting/contracting firm or some strange union for technical workers?

I'm one of those recent grads looking to start an engineering career. I think this issue is going to cut deep when the payback period for student loans kick in and we still can't find work because each tech job has hundreds of foreign applicants. Even during a recession you would expect them to cut this crap completely.

I don't see why some people say "well the H1B's are only a fraction of the workfoce" that is simply a half-truth because the majority of the H1B's are applying for IT positions, which is also a fraction of the workforce. They also try to hire on other people from their own countries once they have influence over hiring. To me that's the biggest insult you can make. This is a complete betrayal of Americans that will only spark racism and hatred of foreigners from Asia in particular.

I lost my IT job (and keep losing it on a regular basis)to foreign labor and green cards. I don't appreciate it. I spent years getting degrees and experience in this business. I have to go into a job and not only deal with them, I have mine to do as well. They can't write. They can't even speak English or communicate.

You have to spend all your time babysitting them and catering to them but they can't stand up to American labor. Then to add insult to injury, the mangement hands your job to them. They do a terrible job and I mean extremely low level.

I had to file a BK13 to cut my student loan bill and my bills. I have to apply to Target now becasue there aren't any more IT jobs unless I spend my money and move to Idaho. I don't want to move to Idaho. Make them move to Idaho. They have ruined the labor market. I know for a fact this particular company was paying them $4000 a head.

I told my attorney to send them the bill for my federal student loan and my other bills. I am looking for something else out of the IT business.

I beg to differ on most of the points. This is simply non-sensical to believe that H1 are taking the jobs away. Most of them are skilled, can speak good english, have good manners and have been helping the projects to be on track and be progressive by providing solutions and value adds.
Why would any one want to undermine that? Patriotism should not come with hate. Spreading hate is the oldest trick people have been playing and so have people like Don. Man, you really need a life!