Save our high tech jobs

Our jobs have been put on the world auction block. This has been facilitated through the H1-B visa. If you read the H1-B visa laws, you will see that these were written with absolutely no regard for the American IT worker or engineer. It's as if these H1-B laws were written by corporate lawyers for corporations -not "by the people for the people". 

If I were an employer whose only interest was to maximize my profit, I would love to have an endless supply of skilled foreign workers. This way, if my current employees were costing me too much, I could just get some new ones. Then I'll lay off my costly employees. It doesn't matter that they are American Citizens. It's not my concern if they can't feed their families. I don't care if they paid taxes to the US government all their lives. I don't care if they put they put their lives on the line to defend our nation. All I know, is I got this new guy from some far away nation who will work for $10,000 less. That's the bottom line.

So to my American worker I say: "Your job has been eliminated". You can collect $230 a week in unemployment. It's really not my concern if your rent is $1300.  Maybe you can live in South Dakota with $230 a week. And one more thing... I'll give you some money if you sign this release waiver. It basically says, "I'll sell my Civil Rights for cash". Would you please sign it before you go? We don't want you to sue us if you finally realize how badly we screwed you. Unfortunately I'm not the employer in this scenario. I'm the guy trying to feed his family in the Silicon Valley with $230 a week.

Can they really do that? Is that really legal? 

You bet it is. I've talked to people in the US department of labor and they assured me, "Yes, you are screwed".(Not in those exact words) There is very little in the H1-B visa laws that prevents an employer from replacing you with a foreign worker. In some rare cases the law might protect your job. But, I've never heard of this happening. Three people at the DOL told me I could sue my employer for discrimination based on ethnic origin. This is most likely your only option and may be the truth. People at the DOL can only enforce the laws that we have. This puts the icing on the cake; the INS is authorized to issue 195,000 more H1-B visas in 2002. Do we really need that many in this economy?

How could they pass laws that hurt us like that? I thought they only passed laws that protect us. Well, who do you think has more influence in Washington? Corporations like Sun Microsystems or a group of unorganized American workers who don't pay much attention to politics. Do you now see why there is no protection for American workers built in to the H1-B laws? We let it happen. 

Remember, this is a nation of immigrants. We can't blame people for wanting to come to this country. I'm sure countless millions more would come if they had the chance. If the laws allowed, I bet we could replace all American workers with foreign workers. Issue the visas and they will come. They obviously can't replace us all. But, they can replace hundreds of thousands of high tech workers who don't complain. 

It is not my intent to start a flame on this mailing list. I have neither the time nor desire for a debate. I am concerned with the welfare of American Citizens. My intent is to gather others who wish to protect the jobs of Americans. I know there are others who agree with me. If you are one of them, send me an email. I'll contact you to discuss what we can do to defend our jobs. If you are not concerned with this issue, perhaps you are prepared to voluntarily give up your job and lower your standard of living. As for myself -I am a generous man, but not that generous.

Sincerely,
Joe BSD  joebsd1@yahoo.com

We need more people like Joe that want to take the initiative to fight H-1B.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Efforts to try to get awareness of the crisis of high tech unemployment in the USA

Efforts to try to get awareness of the crisis of high tech unemployment in the USA

I have been involved in trying to stop the H-1B visa program since 1990. The program of course has expanded and destroyed the dreams, hopes, careers, and families of many thousands of untold Americans whose life plans involved working in high tech (science, engineering, and/or computer science).

It is not in the federal nor state governments' interest to inform the public (current workers, parents of college students, college students, nor the media) the facts about the kinds of federal laws that work against the US workforce. The government sources --- Congress, White House, US Dept of Labor, US Dept of Education, US State Department, INS --- all have a shared agenda. They are all influenced by highly paid lobbying organizations who in effect can buy the votes of the US House of Representatives, US Senate, and the White House. All one needs to do to verify this conclusion is to look at the number of special interest groups that meet in private meetings with these groups, note the legislation that these special interest groups are proposing that will further their own agendas, note the voting records of these elected public officials, and note the campaign contributions that these elected officials have received. 

For example: take a look at the agenda of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.  Not only is their lobbying organization's agenda presented, they provide a list of INS and DOL officials who have lectured at their lobbying / training functions for immigration lawyers [All the while INS officials claim they are too over worked to pursue documented claims by harmed US workers of job losses through inappropriate hiring and/or retention practices. If they don't have time to investigate how is it that these paid federal officials have time to provide training to immigration attorneys? Certainly this smacks of gross inappropriate contact between a paid federal employee and a registered lobbying entity in their capacity as a federal employee.] If you want to take action, I would like to see concerned individuals write to their US Congressmen/Senators and the US Dept of Justice and demand that an investigation be conducted immediately as to how it is that federal employees have been permitted to associate in such a manner with a private lobbying organization whose agenda is in part to influence immigration law and its application. 

Since the government refuses to inform the public about the reality of the labor market for high tech workers, I believe that the only means of getting this out to others is for the American worker to take it upon themselves to do so. Contacting the media about such problems during the past decade has had no positive impact upon this national crisis. In part I believe this is because the major media outlets benefit from imported cheap foreign labor themselves. It is a bit like the fox guarding the hen house.

My next suggestion has not been tried to any great extent. I suggest that harmed US workers should offer to meet at their area college campuses and expose this problem directly to students in high tech majors (physics, engineering, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science). This can be done through the standard IEEE student chapters etc, the minority student groups for these fields [women and minorities are being targeted to enter these fields by the government even though the government knows that the jobs for American workers are disappearing], and please don't forget to offer to meet with students in classrooms in other fields such as: social workers [these will be professionals who will be encountered unemployed high tech workers and they need to know what kind of problems they will encounter in the real world], physicians/nurses [these professionals need to be able to recognize that high tech workers will be facing health problems from stress, anxiety, and depression as they no longer are able to have the career that they dreamed of in college], communication majors [you want to get these journalists and future tv anchors familiar with the plight of unemployed high tech workers]; and the business majors [you want future managers so see what massive layoffs and anti-American hiring practices do to real human beings --- it is time to humanize the outcome of such impact upon these people so that they comprehend that laying off individuals can't be handled is a "professional manor" without very real social consequences to society.] 

Just trying to save the American dream that if you work hard you can have a career in your own country

AILA wines and dines our politicians and members of governmental agencies at posh conventions. You are correct in pointing out this conflict of interest.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

i have some questions. 

I know someone who is in USA since June'1994 with H-1B visa. And after 6 yrs he got his visa extended for 3 more years uptil  2003. Is this legal to stay and work with the H-1 visa like this. I think INS just missed to investigate his I-94 and didn't notice the status properly and gave him extension for 3 yrs again. Please let me know whether it is legal or illegal to deceive INS like this. And if i inform to INS about this matter will they take any action on him or not. And that person is working with multiple companies with H-1B visa. Is this legal ? Please 
let me know in details.

Thnak You.z
Rough

H-1B Visas are for 3 years with a 3 year extension. It is possible that the person you are referring to got sponsored for a new visa. If the H-1B visa holder is working for multiple companies he could be sponsored by a body shop that contracts to multiple companies. If you are convinced there is some kind of fraud involved refer to the page How Do I Report Suspected Illegal Aliens or Suspected Illegal Immigration Activity?
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

9 February 2002

What you need is a publicist!

What we anti-H1Bs folks need is a damn publicist!

We ain't got no catchy phrases to catch the eyes and ears of the public.

My suggestion is that we hitch a ride on the anti-globalist agenda.

(I'm an unemployed computer programmer who used to work for a large telecom firm; after a huge period of unemployment, I went back to school and took Depaul University's Computer Career Program. Got a 97% GPA with the Certificate issued "with distinction." Net result? ZERO job interviews for months. I asked my DB2 instructor about this an hour ago, and he said it wasn't a surprise...)

Anyway, for illegal aliens I suggest the term "Fraudulently Documented Aliens" or "Faux-documented aliens."

I was amused when I read about how some anti-globalist Indians were complaining about how U.S. steel restrictions were preventing India from exporting MORE steel to the U.S. Well, that got me thinking.

What exactly IS the H1B program than an explicit plot to DESTROY the technical professions in the U.S.???

What has been going on is the STEALTH GLOBALISATION of the programming and engineering professions.

This has been accomplished throught the CORPORATE IMPORT OF SALARY SLASHERS.

We should start using these type of phrases: STEALTH GLOBALISATION, SALARY SLASHERS, FOREIGN PROGRAMMER SCABS.

We need catchy stuff. Ask your web site folks for other phrases.

Anyway, just a thought from a K-Mart shopper. :-(

ATTENTION K-MART SHOPPERS, IS THERE A PUBLICIST IN THE STORE?

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

7 February 2002

LCA Question

When a company files a permanent alien LCA, what exactly does that mean? Does it mean an H-1B will get a green card provided an American is not found for the job? I saw a notice posted in the coffee room which we share with LinCom Wireless (it was their notice)

Mark Mendlovitz

A permanent alien LCA means that the company is sponsoring an alien to work for them by getting them a Green Card for permanent residency. This is a prime recruiting tool to attract H-1Bs since most of them want to become permanent residents.

As part of the LCA process companies have to prove that no American can fill the job (this is no longer required for H-1B visas). This is called a "labor market test". Unfotunately the regulations on these tests are filled with loopholes that companies exploit.

 Many times the H-1B already has the job so the company is merely converting the visa to a Green Card. In other words, the H-1B already has the job even before the LCA has been submitted. You will often see companies post job advertisements that say something like: "requires 2 years experience in the position to be filled".

Of course the only one with two years experience in the position to be filled is the H-1B that is already working in that position. This procedure is all for show so that companies can avoid accusations of favoring foreign workers over American citizens.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

7 February 2002

You will not believe this!

I just talked to the Graduate Admission department at the University of Chicago and at the University of Texas, the respective officer has stated to me that applications for graduate school is up 20-27 percent most of which are from Indian H1-B's the others, unemployed American Programmers!

Fucking unbelievable!!!

Rick Fenn

This is not hard to believe at all because, Dr. Norman Matloff and many others have been warning of this for a long time. Universities were the ones that started H-1B and they have consistently used this visa in very large numbers. Most of those H-1Bs you are seeing are Non-Caps that exempted from the yearly limit. This allows universities to bring import them in unlimited numbers.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

29 January 2002

Wage rates

To get some publicity about how bad the H1B program is, it may help to have some stats on low wage rates OUTSIDE the IT industry. Recently, I searched on cities including VIEJO, and hit upon Pizza Hut. They've 2 LCAs for H1Bs at wage rates of $11.55 an hour. Amazing.

But that isn't the LOWEST wage rate. By searching on PIZZA HUT, I saw where H1B LCAs have been requested in Pittsburg - for $7.50 an hour.

Perhaps if you do a search from your end, you can find EVEN LOWER hourly rates. I suggest that such info be fed to anyone who will take it: newspaper reporters, letters to the editors, and phone conversations to Congressmen. I personally reported it to the GAO, since to me, using the H1B program to hire a worker at $7.50 an hour is fraud.

Joy

Salary minimums are not mandated by H-1B. Salaries are determined when the employer tells the Dept. of Labor what they feel the "prevailing salary" is for a given job. Therefore if making pizzas is a $7.50 an hour job, there is nothing fraudulent that the GAO would be interested in. What's going on may be unethical but that doesn't translate into fraud.

The larger question is why H-1B is being used for pizza makers and other low paid jobs. It's very tough to convince reporters what is going on because they don't believe it even when presented with the data. We must persist in publicizing the dark secrets of the H-1B scandal and I encourage you to educate whomever may be interested.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

24 January 2002

National effort

Dude,
We have tried to create awareness in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Twin Cities area; but need greater number of people behind us to make it noticed.

I read thru your site today and saw that we have covered many of the same points and reached the same conclusions. Any thoughts on how to get this national attention and immediate action?

Steve
Minneapolis

I don't think there are many easy answers. Our opponents are rich and they are very good at controlling the media debate on H-1B. Our challenge is to educate the public about the dangers of H-1B and what it means for them. Any effort to get the word out should ultimately help our cause. I think organizing a protest might be a good idea to get some attention. It's very unlikely we will get immediate action on H-1B since George Bush and the majority of our Congress enthusiastically supports it.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

18 January 2002

website

I am very glad to have found your web site. I have been on a personal campaign, gradually increasing in urgency over the last couple years, to do something about the abuses of this system. While the employers generally go to great lengths to keep pay rates a secret, for obvious reasons, I have personally seen billing rates as low as 25% of what an American would be getting for the same job. It used to be a minor irritation, as there was so much demand it only took me a week or two to get a new job. 2001 was an ever-worsening year, though, and the situation of American layoffs and H1Bs is quite an annoying situation for me.

I have written to my (Republican) Congressman and Senators repeatedly about this, but all I get back from them is the usual BS excuses. I have also contacted everyone I know, including several unrelated mail list groups, to try to increase awareness of this situation.

Best wishes and MANY THANKS to you in what you are doing. A couple questions regarding the harassment by the lawyers association; if their case was that weak, and all you had were short excerpts, why didn’t you tell them to shove it; too much hassle? Also, why don’t you put up textual excerpts of the juiciest parts. You can probably make them sound even worse that way. After all, creative editing is what makes shows like 60 Minutes bias a story greatly one way or the other, depending on how it is edited and presented.

Some people, as suggested by the Brazilian engineer on your feedback page, think this is an anti-immigration position. You didn’t mention it in your response, but I always try to counter that argument by clearly stressing up front that this is not about immigration. As you know, H1Bs are not immigrants, they are temp workers under a special program, so I think it is important for us to make that clear to everyone we contact about this.

BTW, it took awhile to find your mailto link. The text on the main page doesn’t have a hyperlink.

Brian M.

I have discussed various aspects of the AILA tapes on the Feedback page. I don't think written transcripts could ever convey the cynical tone of voice that these lawyers convey. Their casual disregard for our laws and American workers has to be heard to be believed. In theory they could harass me for making transcripts so I dare not tread that again unless I can get some good legal help.

Since H-1B is supposed to be a non-immigrant temporary visa, that Brazilian is making quite a stretch. There are many good sites dealing with the subject of immigration so I feel no need to repeat what they have already done.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

17 January 2002

No Shame

I really appreciate the information on this site. And, I will be sending a donation soon to support the LCA database.

But, really, let's not Shame the H-1B program. Read 20 CFR 655 very carefully. The idea is to make sure that US workers get preference on really great jobs. That's not a shame. Let's just use it, and make sure that we have access guaranteed to timely LCA info.

If you are an experienced and qualified US CS/IT worker with up-to-date skills, the LCA is your license for cherry-picking. You must have a Bachelor's or a Master's in CS/IT and at least 5 years working experience in the field. (Just my estimations here.)

Now visit every H-1B employer in your area. Find these employers from the database at this site. At the employer's office demand to see the Public Access File for this company's LCA filings. Take an hour to go through this file quietly and carefully. Keep yourself under control. Start from the oldest LCAs and visas and work forward. Visa about 3 years old will come up for extension, and this is an opportunity to apply for the job.

In Public Access File for LCAs you will see the current salary and the job description of each H-1B worker currently employed by this company. Pick the best jobs for which you are reasonably qualified and submit your cover letter and resume to the company . Request that you be notified when the H-1B is to be extended or re-applied. Request to notified when a new LCA is filed. Do this in writing. Make sure you get a dated receipt for your requests and applications.

Do not be deterred by the word "exempt." The exemption (for certain H-1B jobs) only relieves the employer of extra paperwork. The employer must still receive and give preference to US workers with similar qualifications when the visa comes up for renewal. Go for it.

Re-visit the companies having the best jobs at least every 30 days, just to spot check for postings on new LCAs.

If you are denied access to the Public File or if you are not offered access to the legal postings, file a WH-4 complaint with the DOL.

If you don't get an offer at least as good as the deal the H-1B has, submit a WH-4 complaint to the DOJ. Of course. in the end, you do not have to take any offer that you absolutely do not want.

There is "whistle-blower" protection, so if you currently work for an H-1B employer make sure to check his Public Access File at a minimum. You may find that you can advance you pay level by applying within the company. Anyway, its nice to be able to review the salaries for all of your H-1B coworkers.

Form WH-4 is available on the Department of Labor (DOL) website.

Dan Connelly

I decided to let a guest respond to your letter who has much more experience with your efforts. The LCA data talked about in the reply below was obtained in 1992 by the author and was donated to this site. Since then I have used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain more recent records. That 1992 data is not presently online but I am working to once again make it available. Considerable work needs to be done to make it compatible with the new data formats.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

My spouse used the LCA database to find out where the alleged shortage of workers existed. We thought that since these companies were unable to find skilled, willing, educated US workers that maybe we could find out where the H-1Bs were getting work and apply to those companies. My spouse applied to a dozen of these companies who were so desperate for workers that they had to import cheap foreign workers. We even contacted Wal-Mart which back in the early 1990s had these wonderful ads that they bought their goods in America whenever possible to give jobs and give back to the USA. The HR woman at Wal-Mart provided me with skills needed to compete for a Wal-Mart programming job in Arkansas then she slipped and started to say "COBOL" but only got as far as "CO...." and cut herself off. It was then that I learned there were really were hidden job qualifications that good faith job seekers are not being told about. We also contacted a headhunter firm in Virginia to see if they could place my spouse. That firm which was from India and staffed by Indians flat out told us that THEY do not place Americans in any jobs.

We never tried that route that this poster suggests. It might be an interesting game to play. I say a game because in a letter from Bill Belt, regional administrator at the DOL, 3/18/1994, he stated that: "nothing in the H-1B provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act which requires an employer to make any effort to hire domestic workers or US citizens before they can be authorized to employ nonimmigrant aliens under the act. "

Spouse of an unemployed US scientist.

8 January 2002

Great job on the web page.

One suggestion, it would be helpful if you returned a count of the number of actual records found even if you do not want to return all of the records (although I don't see any harm in returning all of the records say 100 at a time)

Adding a charge will be counter productive to the cause since most user will be casual. And you don't want to restrict the information from those that will really use it!

I have been asked many times to return the total count. I used to do that when my database was much smaller. Now I have to reduce the bandwidth because there are more people using it and it's many times larger.

A better database requires a more robust server, and that costs money. I am trying to allow the best public access of the data that my budget will allow. See the letter below for more on that subject.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

8 January 2002

LCA Database pages have strange print-out

Printing pages from your LCA database HTML display is not satisfactory at all.

The printer driver in IE6 is confused by the color shifts. Also, there is no menu bar, so I cannot send the printing to a landscape printer easily.

Daniel Connelly
South Burlington, VT

It's no accident that the data is tough to copy or print because it's designed that way. I have disabled right clicks and the menu bar, inserted random characters into the background, and used odd colors to make it difficult to copy large amounts of data. This won't be a barrier for people copying small amounts of data.

In the future I would like to have complete and unrestricted use of this data. For this to happen I need an organization that would be willing to help me with the costs of running this database. They have very little incentive to help me if I offer everything for free. Recently I have contacted several labor friendly organizations that oppose H-1B but they have not agreed to help me at the time of this writing.

My ability to keep this database online depends on me keeping financially solvent. So far I'm losing that battle. I encourage everyone to help me by clicking on the banner ads that I'm placing on my site - and please read my Donations Page for more information.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

21 December 2001

H1B Visas

One has to wonder what the "real" unemployment rate for native US citizens would be if we didn't count people working with visas would be reported as.

I have to believe it is much higher than we think, with a disproportionate rate among technology workers.

Mark Stutsrim

According to Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, 624,411 jobs have been cut since September 11 and 1.8 million through November of 2001. There now may be as many as 890,000 H-1Bs employed in the US while citizens were losing jobs. If the H-1B program were eliminated the unemployment rate would surely improve by a significant percentage.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Funding

You may want to consider publishing the hard costs you have to bear and the detailed contributions received. Many/some of the people that would tend to support your efforts might offer financial support if it was clearly of a non-profit nature and could see their part of the pool. Frankly, this data needs to be broadcast via mass media to maximize its affect. Perhaps via chain emailing?

I too am an unemployed contract programmer. Most recently I was asked to bid against a project that was initially bid by an offshore group in India at $30/hour; quite high actually, someone in the middle is making a handsome profit. This software project is needed by Pacific Bell and this company has been gradually phasing out American programmers and replacing them with ..... guess who?

Obviously the only way we can affect our government is by refusing to support companies that support using non-American labor. Unfortunetly, this is a difficult problem b/c as consumers the worst offenders are several layers up the food chain; the main exception being Microsoft and perhaps Sun. At a recent Java-One developers conference I was dumbfounded at the ratio of Indians at the Sun Technology booth; this a company I had been supporting.

What about the idea of starting a grass-roots effort to get first level consumer companies to take a stand on this issue? Publish the names of the companies supporting only comapnies that hire American and American residents. Perhaps then we could roll up the food chain and bring pressure to bear by voting with our pocket books; the only real power left to the consumer.

Thanks for your service and I hope you are able to continue publishing this data.

ps. Is it not foolish to blame the H1Bs for this issue? Are they not looking out for themselves and their families; just like you and I. If you knew of a country where you could move and make five or ten times your normal hourly rate would you not take it up? (This pertains not only the Indian H1B workers, but to the other main source of cheaper than American labor: Mexico and S.A.) Naturally, this problem lies clearly in the corrupt nature of our government the hand of which are deeply in the pockets of our companies.

TAA

I will try to continue to publish the latest data I can get for the LCA Database. That will require me to get more funding because more data means more expense and time spent by myself. Currently I'm barely getting enough money to keep this site alive. I haven't made any money for myself and that cannot continue forever.

I may in the future post a list of donors, but only if they wish to be on the list. I am not ready to make this into a non-profit organization but may reconsider that option if I can get more support in the future.

Please click on the banner ads I will be putting on my site because you support me just by clicking the ads.

Your idea of making a list of US companies that don't hire H-1Bs would be a great way of saying something positive. Unfortunately there is no known way of making such a list and as you will see by using the LCA Database, most companies do use them. Companies that aren't listed may still be hiring H-1Bs by using bodyshops and that is why nobody has the data to make the list you suggest.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Great Web Site....

I just wanted to tell you thanks a lot for what you are doing.

I have been lurking around the net researching the H1B crisis for some time now. Somebody should put a book together, if I got my act together, I would try to write one.

Please do not print my name because I have a 'respected' spot in the computer industry. I am also unemployed and looking for consulting work again. 

Enron - A big user of H1Bs

Enron, whose stock was recently at 61 cent per share and is on the brink of bankruptcy has 4,080 LCAs on the database. Although each LCA may not be active, that number would be about 19% of Enron's workforce of 21000 employees.

Dynegy, its cross town rival, who pulled out if the merger deal, has 37 LCAs on the database. They employ about 2463, so the LCAs would be 1.5% of its workforce.

Perhaps in the words of Mies van der Rohe,"Less is more," especially in terms of H1Bs.

Frank R. Parth

Dynegy could be hiring more H-1Bs than you think. If they hire them through a bodyshop like TATA or COMSYS they won't show up in the database. 

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

About prejudice

I would like to express a deep concern on some remarks I read in your feedback session. Throughout you website, two different arguments are clearly noticeable:

The very honorable one, that the misuse of H1-B greatly undermines the power of employees, as sheer blackmail prevails in relations between companies and H1-B holders, that therefore accept lower wages.

The part of your reasoning that scares me to death is that immigrants are inherently harmful to American society, and letting them perform critical functions in companies there will lead to a prejudicious relation with other workers who are US citizens. Such arguments assume that immigrants are people of evil, vicious nature.

Let me tell you about my experience with America. I've been there plenty of times, as a tourist and attending meetings or corporate congresses. Never have I really worked there, or stayed longer than 3 weeks. 

America is the current centre of the World, the capital of the global community that has been being created since the end of World War II. It is the single place which gave immigrants the greatest opportunities and, much like other countries in the Americas, but way more successfully, used the resource of recurrent waves of immigrants to create a brand new society. Not surprisingly, this process is still in course.

I live in Brazil. My family flew from Europe during the war and moved in here. Like other immigrants, they found means to get a living from services the local community needed and, unlike one could suppose, their influence was very benefical to local economy.

There is no reason to fear immigrants in general. They usually are highly motivated people, eager to join a community and make new friends. Many of them knowing that whoever and whatever they left behind is lost forever to them.

Americans should be very proud that PhDs and Master Degree holders are moving to America. Very skilled workers necessary in new industries can only increase the productivity of American economy and, in extension, everyone's quality of life.

I agree that your cause, though, is a valid one, as the government should guarantee your right to be able to pursue your ideals and also a fair working environment, equal rights to compete with corporations, always looking to minimize their costs and, many times, at any (others') cost.

So, I can only wish you good luck and pray that good provides us all a clear vision of the World in such troubled times.

Tiago Amaral.
Automation Engineer.
Brazilian citizen, living in Sao Paulo, and a firm
believer that people should fight the right battles.

Companies will always want to minimize their cost. The problem is that the US government is actively helping them by allowing cheap labor in the form of H-1Bs to replace white collar workers. To make matters worse they look the other way as illegal aliens cross our borders so that businesses can exploit cheap blue collar labor. American workers of all types are losing their jobs to imported labor, and the wealthy multi-national corporations continue to get richer. There would be no need for this website if the US government represented the good of the people instead of the $$$ of the rich lobbyists. If you read as many of these letters as you claim you would understand that this website blames our corrupt government and greedy corporations for this mess, not the foreigners that are being exploited.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

I thought you might find this interesting

When I called the INS to find out the latest statistics a bureaucrat told me "when employers need a worker and cannot find one they may apply for, etc, etc". I said, "Have you ever looked at the Labor Condition Report data base? I recently saw a "everything for less than a dollar store" got a manager under that program". Then there was dead silence on the other end of the phone.

Also:
When I did a search in my home town I found an ex-client had imported someone to do the work I used to do contractually Is there anything we can do about this?

I think with the recession on every unemployed American should check out your website to see who is doing their old jobs. 
James Lane

I don't think there is much that can be done about the H-1B worker that is now doing your contractual work. As I have explained on Legality of Replacing American Workers employers can legally replace you and the fact that you are a contract worker makes it even easier for them. As you have found out, the LCA Database is an excellent tool to find out what companies are really up to.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Question about the website

Thank you for taking the time and effort to put together such an interesting, useful, and eye-opening Website!! I really appreciate your time and effort!!!!!!!!!

I do have one question. I did a search under the public utility "Enron", just for the Portland, Oregon area. It came back with a total of 251 people employed at Enron with H1-B. I called Enron and they said that couldn't be possible for the Portland, Oregon location, because they only have somewhere between 50 and 100 people working in their Portland office.

The person in human resources thought that it was possibly company-wide. I did the search several times again on your website and I came up with the same answer.

I know that Enron is also owned by PGE (Portland Gas and Electric). Could it be possible some H1-B's are being counted twice, and/or that they actually do have that many H1-B people on staff, but that they are being"billed" to PGE? The HR person said that she was only aware one Green Card that was employed in their group, and that he had been there so long, that they were going to probably offer him something (meaning a regular full-time position) anyway.

Brian

I looked at the data and came up with the same results as you did. Assuming that the HR person you were talking with was truthful, then I would have to assume that those H-1Bs listed for Portland must have been moved to other company locations within Enron. Enron has LCAs listed for many states, so that is the most likely scenario. The H-1B law doesn't restrict companies from doing this, and there is no tracking of the visas once they are in the US. 

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Fight back

I was just laid-off my job. I was the only American engineer in my group and was the only one that got the axe. I plan to fight as I have DECLINED to sign the release, which would take my rights away. I will NOT receive the severance package but have filed a complaint with the EEOC. I was discriminated against due to my national origin being an "American". I have noticed whenever a non-American becomes a manager they discriminate against Americans and their groups become little China or India towns which is shame on US. Hope to win this in court and hope to have support from jury that can see what's going on.

Hopeless2002

You need expert advice and soon! You don't have to sacrifice your severance package if you can prove that you signed the anti-lawsuit agreement under duress. In addition to the EEOC, be sure to contact the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices. They usually are concerned about protecting foreign workers in the US, perhaps they should protect US workers from immigration related discrimination. 

You should also get a good employment lawyer if you can afford one.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Wake up congress!!!

Whats going on? I work with a major IT company in Virginia. Many of the workers are getting green cards and getting laid off too, many times before they get green cards. All they do is not report to INS they lost their jobs... I always belived that green card is for a future job. How does it fit into these cases when they lost jobs and still get green cards from their companies where they are no more on payroll. Have all checks gone from the system. Congress is looking at Student visas to curtail terrorist attacks. Do you know it is very very simple to get any one on H1 visas here. Once the petition is approved even consulate can not refuse H1 visas. I know on guy who got 10 people on H1 visas operating from his apartment ....

Wake up!!
Yenol Machado

Congress will probably refuse to discuss the security risks of H-1B as long as they can get away with it. Their bottom line is that huge corporate campaign donations depend on keeping H-1B visas easy to get. 

It's still unknown if anything meaningful will be done about student visas. Sen. Dianne Feinstein proposed a six-month moratorium on all student visas. Feinstein quickly dropped the idea when university presidents put the heat on her. Student visas are a cash cow for universities that want to keep enrollment high and they use H-1Bs to lower the costs of instructors.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Stats question

Since I was just laid off, I've had a little time on my hands. I've started researching the H1B visa issue. I saw your site. It has some good info. Something I'm wondering though. In the table of top 100 H1B employers, shouldn't you quote the ratio of H1Bs to total number of employees as well?

In fact, I'd think that would be the determining factor. In general I'd want to know the ratio of H1Bs in a given category to the number of American workers in that category. This info may be on your site and if so, I apologize for speaking out of turn. If not it seems relevant.

Steve Espuivel

The Top 100 Table was compiled from a study done by the INS. They don't track the H-1Bs once they are in the U.S. They only list H-1Bs that got visas and entered our country, but they don't know what happened to them once they are here. The INS doesn't even know how many H-1Bs have left the country or stayed.

The Dept. of Labor could probably come up with these percentages if the INS tracked nonimmigrant visas. Unfortunately this calculation is not possible since the INS would not be capable of supplying them with accurate data. Both agencies are very frustrated that they don't have the tools to oversee the H-1B program.

The other problem is that there is disagreement on what constitutes a given job category. The DOL considers a grocery store clerk as a high-tech worker if they use a bar code scanner. Any calculation of percentages would have to have more realistic job categories. 

The WTC attack has put more pressure on Congress to give the INS the resources to track all nonimmigrant visas. Let's hope that INS receives funding instead of rhetoric and empty political mandates.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Amazing!

Keep it up whoever you are! You have no idea how encouraging it is to see this site! Susan Davidson

We've linked you from our site ... hope that's OK ... let me know, OK?

Your I Program For Food Website has great potential. Keep up the good work and keep combining humor with angst. And most importantly, keep linking to this site!

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Updated database?

When is your database going to get updated? It may help me in the complaint I intend to file to have more timely information.

Thanks.

I, among others, would be delighted to sign your petition. Unfortunately, seeking 'redress of grievances' would likely result in, how can I say it, even more grief.

The Department of Labor likes to get their new data compiled in October. Having said that they were 6 months late last year. I hope the WTC attack doesn't hold them back but I expect delays. 

Assuming I get the data sometime this month, and assuming that I can continue to program for free (see letter above) I could get this data online by December. Of course if I am forced to work at our local supermarket check out counter to earn a living, I may just have to abandon this effort altogether. I will devote my computer expertise to use of UPC scanners.

I am not responsible for the Petition. Here is a comment by the creator of the Petition:

Email the Petition Contact and Creator

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

recruiting on college campuses

I am a graduating senior in the Electrical Engineering department at the University of Texas, actively seeking employment through the on-campus career center. Interestingly, many of the companies recruiting EEs are still hiring international students who have only a student visa. In light of recent events and yesterday's stock market downturn, companies should be reevaluating their hiring policies and should consider hiring only US citizens. 

Last year, our career center claimed 90% placement for graduating engineering students. This year, since so many companies are not even coming to college campuses, the percentage will likely be much lower. Some of the companies still recruiting international students are: Microsoft, Novellus, Dell, Applied Materials, Motorola, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Sabre, Deloitte Consulting, National Instruments, Analog Devices.

Kim Yennerell 

The hiring practices you have observed are very typical in US companies. They hire graduates on student visas and then sponsor those students for H-1B visas. When this happens, companies have decided that they won't consider an American for the job. 

Companies don't consider you and your fellow graduates to be as desirable as H-1Bs because you may leave after a year for a better job. H-1Bs are indentured to their employer so that gives the company a guarantee that their new hire won't leave. In addition the H-1B offers more value to the company because they have lower salary expectations than US students and they will tolerate longer working hours under worse conditions.

One of these days American students will realize that they must lower their expectations to compete with H-1Bs. In India a new engineering grad expects to make $300 a month. Perhaps  labor laws will be changed to allow American workers to sign indenture contracts. With these changes H-1B workers will have no advantage in the US labor market. Until these things happen, your career opportunities will be limited.

So far there is no evidence that our government will make it more difficult to obtain these visas, even though the security risk to our country is obvious after the WTC attack. The allure of cheap labor is more important to the companies that give the politicians their campaign money.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Concerned

I briefly read through some of the emails and it appears most were directed to the immigration of foreign professionals hired by American companies. Has any one looked into American companies contracting with foreign companies to work on projects off shore? I'm currently employed by a software development company that has recently entered into a contract with a company in India for this purpose and frankly it does not set well with me given the fact we just experience major cutbacks and layoffs. Is there any recourse or legal action taking place on behalf of American software engineers?

Faye M Hawkins

Outsourcing seems to be the latest fad among US companies. President Clinton even agreed to help India to put in a high speed optical network that will make it easier to port code back to the US. In addition to that MIT is building a billion dollar multi-media lab . All major US companies have set up plants in China and India so that they can develop cheap software 24 hours a day.

I am not aware of any legal action being taken against this practice because it is actively being encouraged by our government.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Cyber Attack Next?

Can you imagine what would happen to our country if suddenly all computers went down? Airliners and trains would crash, banks would be shutdown, police departments and hospitals would in chaos. National defense computers could also become infected. We would probably be forced to surrender our country fairly quickly.

Do you know that our politicians and corporate leaders have quietly brought in hundreds of thousands of foreign computer technicians with nary a background check? I've seen them working on government projects and at our defense contractors. They weren't given the usual background checks because they were classified as "temporary contractors". The US employees were quietly miffed about it. This same contractor classification is what allowed the same companies to legally layoff US union workers and older employees. It was really about cheaper labor - not any IT shortage or Y2K bug. 

The new fad for large corporations is to simply hire offshore programmers. These foreign programmers are not only free from background checks - they are also free from US laws. Have our leaders sold us out? It would only take a handful of militant hackers to wreak more havoc than this attack. And, we gave them intimate access to our critical computer networks. They wouldn't even have to hack in!

We seriously need to rethink these high tech (H-1B) visas before it's too late. We've become so complacent (and greedy) in the US that we forgot about national security issues.
K Smith

Unfortunately it is too late. Uncontrolled immigration has let in untold numbers of spies and terrorists, and we have no way to find them until they attack. The WTC attack may be the first of many more tragic incidents.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

This is a load of crap

I am an asian-indian graduate student in america and I feel that without the H1-B workers America would go to the dogs. American youth today is good for nothing. They stop studying after high school or maybe get a college degree is some useless field like psychology and history.  Who do you think is coming up with all the latest software,inventions,publications and ideas? Americans?? Hell no!

Just to prove my point,that computer you are using to read this email...If it has a Pentium processor,you might be interested to know that the father of the Pentium processor is an Indian H1-B worker.That operating system you are using is most likely written by about a majority of indian H1-B workers.

Have you ever heard of Bose audio systems? Same story.

Have you heard of SUN microsystems? Run by indians.

What you dont realize is that you americans are incapable of meeting the demands of your industry. While this doesnt hold for the few extremely intelligent grad students,most americans are plain stupid and dont have he rigorous academic training
that people in China and India go through.

Think a little before you set out on some silly crusade.

Senna is God

I normally wouldn't print a letter with such an idiotic racist diatribe. I won't print racist replies to this letter either because I prefer letters that ask intelligent questions or ones that have something worthwhile in them. I changed my mind in this case because you are a perfect example of the H-1B racists that are infiltrating our country that radio commentator Tony Brown just wrote about.

It's very telling that you extol buggy Windows software as one of the crowning achievements of the Bill Gates H-1B sweatshop.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Questions

How long has the LCA form been around? Does it predate the H1-b? Was it revised recently? Who designed it or contributed to its design?

Is the $60,000 earnings or ? still in effect? If so, the H1-b's making $19 per hour must have one hell of a benefit program, about $22,000 per year!

Thanks,
Tom

The Immigration Nursing Relief Act of 1989 introduced the idea of employer attestation for the first time. The attestations required to hire H-1A nurses (a program that has since expired) are spelled out in the Immigration and Nationality Act, Sec. 212 (m)(2)(A). They're different from the LCA attestations because the law required different things of employers hiring H-1A nurses. However, this format gave rise to the LCA. 

Since the underlying requirements were set out in law, it's accurate to say that Congress authored the concept and the actual form was designed by DOL. 

See the letter below for your other questions.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

h1-b salary exemption?

Are employers exempt from adhering or attesting the Labor Conditions Applications if an applicant's salary is over 60,000? Is it different if the applicant is changing employers and is already in the US? I read about this change, but I do not know when it is effective.

Thanks
Allen

You are probably referring to the Lofgren proposal for the T Visa. Fortunately this perversion of H-1B hasn't become law yet. Dr. Norman Matloff had a great newsletter on the T Visa that's worth reading.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Hi Folks!!

I really don't understand what the euphoria about H1B is all about! I went and saw the LCA database which shows number of people hired by companies and was not very surprised to find  salaries exceeding 100K and most were above 50K. Tell me frankly how many "Americans" can dream of getting this salary?? Are these skills really available in this country?? How many of these drug abusing graduates capable  of doing the work which these talented engineers from abroad are doing?? What are the ethics and values (apart from shooting your school mates) being taught in the American schools?? and last but not the least... who is not an immigrant in America except for the Red Indians?? Please look at yourself before pointing at others.
Regards,
Sridhar

I have no doubt that you found some salaries that were above $100,000 in the database. Your credibility fell a notch when you said that most LCAs were above $50,000. I have almost 1 million LCAs so I don't believe you compiled data from over half of them. Native American Indians are immigrants and you would know that if you studied history. Don't expect them to sympathize with your views on H-1B, here is a letter by an American Indian. 

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Suggestion

If indeed the Dept. of Labor is giving H1-b's more that the (lawful?) 10 days to find another position or leave the county, how about a Writ of Mandamus, to force them to obey the law? The ACLU may even be interested. Go for it!

Tom

The INS, not the DOL is mandated with enforcing the 10 day rule to deport H-1Bs that have been unemployed for 10 days. Unfortunately the INS has stated they won't enforce this law. Your suggestion to invoke the Writ of Mandamus to compel a government agency to perform it's duties mandated by law is an interesting one. As with most legal problems there is the question of who will pay for a team of lawyers to take this to a Federal court. The ACLU has consistently supported immigration and soft pedaled the H-1B issue so it's unlikely they would help on this. 

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

INS denying LCAs for companies laying off?

Would you have a minute for a few questions?

I've heard rumor that the INS is starting to deny requests for employer sponsored green cards from companies holding large layoffs. Do you know if this is true?

I keep reading to write congressmen, senators, etc. Personally, I've not found them receptive nor what I expecting them to be. I'd rather start something more direct. Do you have a list of competitor companies that don't replace workers with H-1Bs so we can effectly boycott the ones that do?

re: number of H-1B applications submitted this year I'm told a lot are being applied for by companies just in case things pick up. Giving a false count of actual "need"/use. Is there any record of the number actually used that are applied for? As in the applicant is making use of the visa here?

When I look over all the information on the web and what I see at work, I'm getting a feel for the underlying cause.
1) The companies don't want cheaper labor, they can get that by making lower offers to our new grads. which isn't happening. What they want is control over the hire. And they have a lot of control over an H-1B.
2) Once an H-1B is in a position of authority, whether officially in management, a lead or an interviewer, their hiring recommendations are only for the same. Gone is the search for the most qualified.

Thanks,
Denise

You are correct that what you heard is a rumor. There is no law that restricts  companies that have layoffs from filing LCAs for H-1Bs or Green Cards. Some companies that are having mass terminations like Cisco and Motorola continue to hire H-1Bs is record numbers and it their legal right to do so. 

As for boycotting companies that replace American workers you will have to move to a remote island in the Pacific. Use the LCA Database and see for yourself how small your list of companies will be.

I have to disagree that companies could meet all their needs for cheap labor just by using college grads. Corporations want to flood the labor market and there aren't enough graduates every year to do that. One of the primary motives for replacing American workers with H-1B is to save money. They also want younger male employees and H-1Bs are typically men between the ages of 22-30. 

Your last observation is probably one of the most disturbing but least talked about aspects of H-1B. We are replacing management and HR people with H-1Bs and they cannot be expected to give American workers a fair chance at getting those scarce good jobs.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Air Force letter to Pharmacists

I couldn't help but notice you addressing the Air Force's letter to pharmacists on your website. You couldn't be further from the truth.

As a proud American and former Air Force Recruiter, let me correct your assumption about H-1B. All pharmacists who serve proudly with the world's premier aerospace force are bona-fide US citizens with top credentials and who do not hold dual citizenship or allegiances with any other country. We make absolutely no exceptions when it comes to qualifications for our high-tech force and like the letter says, we only accept and select those who prove themselves to be exceptionally qualified, regardless of their sex, race, color, religion and yes, national origin. Why, because they earn the previledge to serve as commissioned officers and as such, by law, they have to be US citizens first and foremost. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Air Force Recruiting Service for clarification or go to www.airforce.com

Montes Jaime MSgt 91 SW/CCCA 

I will remove the Air Force Pharmacist Recruitment letter because it's out of context on my website since I prefer not to directly take on the issue of age discrimination. The letter says that the Air Force is only interested in pharmacists under the age of 40 but they never directly mentioned H-1B. I noticed that you said the Air Force doesn't discriminate based on "sex, race, color, religion and yes, national origin" but you never mentioned age. Unfortunately all of our corporations and governmental agencies have declared open season on older workers. They wouldn't be able to fire so many of them if H-1B wasn't flooding the labor market.

As far as H-1B in the Air Force, things have changed since you were a recruiter. The Air Force most definitely does hire H-1Bs. Use the advanced search on the
 LCA Database and use the key phrases below:
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
US AIR FORCE ACADEMY
The United States Air Force Academy

These LCAs could be the tip of the iceberg if the Air Force hires from bodyshops. Since the Air Force and our government are now exempted from the H-1B yearly limit, I would expect to see more of this happening.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Another thought

About a year ago I called a couple of my local newspapers and asked if they would report on the H-1B issue. I don't know if they ever did, but at least they knew someone was out there who cared about it.

Project Censored (www.projectcensored.org) is a group based at Sonoma State University in California that tracks the most important stories that received little or no attention in the U.S. media. Number ten on this year's list was the H-1B issue I plan to cite this fact when I call my local newspapers again in the near future.

I would recommend to other people concerned about this issue that they call their local newspapers and ask why it is not being covered.

I believe that calls and letters to our political representatives helps, but spreading the word about H-1B abuse through the media is probably more effective. I don't think people will be amused when they read that while companies are laying off programmers by the hundreds of thousands, the U.S. is bringing in replacement programmers from abroad by the hundreds of thousands.

- Parland

You are correct that we must educate the American public about the H-1B scandal.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

H-1B: Social Security Siphon

We need to start fighting fire with fire. The IT lobby tries to label us as xenophobes - yet they are the ones importing hundreds of thousands of H-1Bs from India. They treat me like a second class citizen in the work place - probably because I'm Hispanic - even my coworker noticed it.

And now they want to raid our Social Security system. Darn if this isn't the one issue that will get ALL American citizens motivated:

Before our fearless leaders pull another fast one on us and raid our Social Security fund even further I'm going to let the cat out of the bag. High Tech (H-1B) workers from India are pushing for a Social Security reciprocity agreement with the US. This would give full retirement benefits to the nearly 500,000 foreign tech workers here, chiefly from India.

The problem is that India doesn't have a true retirement system, like Canada or France for instance. However, such an agreement would give full benefits to tech workers from India - based largely on their years of work in India. This would siphon even more billions from our nearly broke Social Security fund. 

Our fearless leaders have already rolled out the red carpets for these upper caste guests (ironically most of them view themselves as racially superior). These pro-apartheid guests have usually gotten what they ask for: higher quotas, education dollars, visa extensions, etc. - it's likely they'll get this Social Security cookie too. It's not enough that our fearless leaders gave them half a million of our best paying jobs.

This mass importation of cheap labor is going to cost US taxpayers dearly in the long run. Already a half million of us have lost our higher paying tech jobs to foreign workers who are paid half as much - thus contributing half as much, or less, in federal and state taxes. We highly educated tech workers will now be forced to take jobs in other fields, thus driving down wages for all US workers. The steady erosion of US per capita earnings, and the corporate use of foreign labor, will seriously overburden the Social Security fund in another twenty years when the baby boomers are drawing maximum benefits. But, our fearless leaders don’t care about raiding the Social Security fund or burdening the next generation.

Ramon Echevaria
Unemployed older tech worker and US citizen

The Immigrant Support Network is actively lobbying for a Totalization agreement with India. For information on what this means go to Do Non-Immigrant Workers Pay FICA?

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Why not a class action against U.S. Govt/corporations?'

Has anyone ever considered a class action suit against the false claims by the gov't for projected job needs in Engineering,COmputer Science, etc.

I am 42 and owe the U.S. direct loans dept 23,000 for Student Loans and have not able to find work in my degree field since 1994. I feel there are millions in the same category so why not file a class action suit against the Government to recover our loan interest paid, as well as damages for not finding work as a direct result of thier actions?

I work in the painting field so I can afford to pay this off but after reading a lot of this stuff, I think legal action is necessary. Also it appears that if this trend continues the U.S. is going to be in another civil war, or class war, one of these days.

I am appled by the facts on this site , but not surprised. Please continue to expose our gov't and corporations for what they really are, slime. I am afraid we need a new form of Government to protect the people from the government!

THere is one simple solution I heard on the radio the other day to all of Mankinds problems: Mass extinction of the human race!

The government doesn't claim that there is a shortage of engineers or computer specialists. Go to Links to read the GAO report that says that there isn't sufficient information to conclude that there is a shortage of workers. Unfortunately our politicians conveniently ignore these studies that were paid for by taxpayers in favor of corporate funded studies done by pro H-1B lobby groups such as the ITAA.

I have never heard of a lawsuit such as the one you are suggesting. The employees of  AIG were able to get a settlement for age discrimination but not because they were replaced by H-1Bs. Replacing American workers with H-1Bs is legal so it would be tough to sue on that basis. 

I asked John Miano of the Programmer's Guild if they have considered a class action lawsuit. He said they haven't discussed the possibility but they have filed various complaints with the government. 

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Let's Unite against the H1-B visa problem

Brian Williams of NBC nightly news just reported tonight that since the  beginning of the year, over 400,000 jobs have been lost in the technology sector of the US economy which amounts out to an absolutely staggering 1/3 of all hi-tech jobs in America. Added to that number today came an addition 40,000 more jobs being lost with the planned layoffs at companies like Lucent, JDS Uniphase, and Hewlett Packard. 

This is an absolute slaughter and a massacre of the worst kind imaginable. This is unprecedented in the history of the technology sector of the United States. Yet according to your web site they still keep bringing in massive amounts of H1-B's on technical visas. This is just unconscienable, dispicable and totally disgraceful. This is an absolute outrage and an injustice that needs to be stopped at all costs. How in the world, can corporate America continue to justify the H1-B program in the face of these absolutely massive layoffs in the technology sector of the US economy? 

Just a reminder to all my fellow Texas laid off techies who went out and voted Republican in the last election, Phil Graham our dorky, duffus US senator, is an absolute ardent supporter of the H1-B technical visa program. As a matter of fact he supports the idea that there should be no limit on H1-B's technical visas. So remember that the next time it comes to vote. If you are a techie and think it is cool to vote Republican, well guess again --- because your job and your way of life is at stake! 

All political comments aside, I as a laid off tech worker just have to say it is now come the time for us Techies to unite as one solid voice and demand that our government abolish this sham of a program called the H1-B technical visa program, especially in the face of all these massive and unprecedented layoffs in the technology sector of the US economy. We should not stand for this total and outrage and injustice any longer. 

I can't urge you enough to take the time out to sign the the petition that is on this web site to abolish the H1-B program once for and all. Because in reality what this is coming down to is that our American way of life and our standard of living are at stake and are threatened with this outrage and injustice. How many more American workers are going to be permanently displaced before the American Tech workers wake up and do something about this? Where do we draw the line? Will it take another 100,000 tech workers getting laid off and losing their jobs before we all raise up in arms and do something about this? How about another 200,000 tech workers getting laid off? How about another 300,000? How about half of all tech workers in America losing all their jobs within the next year? Because that is what we are looking straight in the teeth at right now! 

What is it going to take to get the Tech workers of this country to stand up and demand our rights as US citizens and demand our birth right to live in a country where we are not all enslaved and live in a country where only the large corporations rule the society and tell us what to do? Because in the end, what we are really fighting for in regards to this matter, is one another. I therefore urge and emplore and beg you on my knees (if need be) to write your congressman and US Senator asking them to abolish the H1-B program and, to the sign the petition on this web site to abolish the H1-B program. And to all Texas Techies: please whatever you do don't vote for that sorry dorky, duffus Phil Graham in the next election. His idea of an America where tech workers are nothing more than disposable commodities just absolutely sickens me and turns my stomach. 

Brendan Boyd
El Paso, Texas 

Your statement that H-1B is "unprecedented in the history of the technology sector of the United States" is quite true. Do consider that indentured servitude has been used in the U.S. since the days of the Coolies and the Braceros. The precedent for H-1B was set in 1976 when the Eilberg amendment allowed universities to get cheap foreign labor to reduce their costs.  See my Visa History page to find out more about how H-1B was born.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

info about new visas this year

Do you have any info about new H-1B visas this year?  I have been out of a job for about 4 months now and wonder if all of the 195,000 visa tech/other workers are here yet or if more are on the way.  If more are coming, what month will the new wave of foreign workers start?
  --------  Kenneth

The LCAs in the database were the latest the Dept. of Labor had as of March of 2001. You will see start dates up to the year 2004. I recently talked to the DOL in Washington D.C. to see if the LCAs they are receiving have leveled off because of the massive layoffs in 2001. They told me that there has been no slowdown and in fact they are being overwhelmed by 12,000 new ones everyday. American companies are clearly planning to continue hiring as many H-1Bs as they can get visas for.

 It will take 3-6 months to process the visas in order for an H-1B to report to work.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Minnesota resources 

I applaud your site--it's the most comprehensive resource I've found yet on the issue of H1B visas. I'm writing an article on this issue for a local business magazine and am wondering--can you put me in touch with anyone from Minnesota (I'm in Minneapolis, but anywhere in the state would do) who can talk to me about H1B visas? I'm having a lot of trouble finding regional information. I'm looking for real tech workers who have first-hand experience--they've been replaced, or it has affected their company in some way, or they are an H1B visa worker. Any help you can find time to give is *greatly* appreciated. Thanks again for all the time, energy and effort at your site.

Journalist seeks comment from Minnesota tech employees affected by H1B:

please contact: sara_ aase@hotmail.com

The Dell Layoff question 

Recently here in the Austin area, DELL computer corporation layed off nearly 6,000 workers. I was told(by someone very much in the know about these things) that of those 6000 people Michael Dell layed off nearly 1500 to 2000 of those people were software developers who had such skills as Visual Basic, Java, C++, ASP, XML etc.

This is just mind-boggeling and absolutely staggering and this type of business practice is in the process of just permanently wrecking the Austin,Texas economy totally and compeletely once and for and all for good!!! We are in a permanet destructive never-ending spiral here. I fear the unemployment rate here in Austin, Texas will get over the 5 or 6 percentage rate before the end of the year. I was just wondering how is Michael Dell going to continue to be competitive in the market place if he just waxes out and destroys his entire IT staff? I was wondering if there is any way of finding out if DELL has layed off any H1-B's out of that 6000 people that were recently let go here in the Austin, Texas area? Is there any evidence to suggest that DELL is laying off his IT staff and replacing them with cheaper H1-B's from foreign countries? I looked on your database to find information and it really wasn't too helpful in answering any of these quesitons posed here. Do you know anything that is going on here? Do you have any information on this? Or do you have any suspicions on this?

Brendan Boyd
Austin, Texas

You asked the question that all of us in the anti H-1B movement want to know and can't find out, and that is, of the vast numbers of people losing their jobs, who is faring worse, H-1Bs or American workers. Unfortunately you are correct that the LCA Database  cannot answer that question. In fact nobody really knows, especially our government. Refer to "How Well Does the Government Track What H-1Bs are Doing?" for further enlightenment. The Dept. of Labor does acknowledge that the number of LCAs hasn't slowed down and is now about 12,000 a month. This entire scenario is very suspicions and looks like American workers are being permanently displaced.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Well Although I do agree with you guys that H1B program is flawed in many ways. Its a program with lawyers in mind rather than American or Alien programmers.

However being an H1B programmer my self I do not beleive that H1B program has not benifitted USA Consider This 

• An Indian or Chinese programmer comes to US fully educated (Indian or Chinese tax payer money is spend on his education not USA's) 
• He pays tax to USA and even Social Security although he is not eligible for any Social Security benifits. Thousands of such H1b's are filling up the coffers of s.s.funds. 
• Had there been no H1B program most of the IT firms would have shifted most of the work to India and China Thus leading to more unemployment in USA Because corporate guys do not work for any country They WORK FOR MONEY!! 
• In fact already lot of big firms have offloaded good amount of work to Indian offices (MIcrosoft Oracle and Cisco are few examples) 
• And Howsoever bitter it may sound cost factor is a crucial part in any corporations scheme of things and if the cost of producing software doesnot come down in USA companies will have to move cheaper locations. 

Kachra Singh 

H-1B has probably fattened the profits of American companies that hope to reduce labor costs, but there is no way it has benefited the American worker. H-1B is causing Americans to lose jobs and forcing the others to take lower salaries. The reason these corporations are moving to India is because our government is letting them do it without penalty. This selling out of the American worker will haunt this nation for generations.

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Fighting H-1B program

Yes, we need to organize to fight this problem. I have organized a group of about 50 people by sending out emails to people that I know who were interested in the issue and they have sent it on to others. We have formed\ the Minnesota Chapter of the Programmers Guild and are trying to get the information in front of the public and sending letters to our congressmen. Computer programmers are being hit the hardest from this program, because India has such a huge number of people in the field that can't get jobs in their own country and jump at the chance to come here.

Linda Nesheim
h1bbytes@aol.com

I love that email address. Keep up the battle and I hope all of you send in a Petition to Abolish H-1B.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Just Another Thought

I noticed one letter on your site bemoans how few people have signed the petition to get rid of the H-1B program. I think it is safe to say the more than a few programmers don't want to be blacklisted from getting a job (especially at a big company) by being a signatory on a petition that most employers probably don't like.

- Parland

I am not the person who manages the Petition To Abolish H-1B. That email address is petitioncontact@hotmail.com. Recently a surge of petitions have been coming in. I would like to see way more of them. 

Let me assure you the petitions are not publicized so to prevent people from being blacklisted. We are understand the dirty tricks companies will use to purge "troublemakers". All Petitions are collected in Washington D.C. and personally handed over to Congress. Companies have no way to know who sent in Petitions because they are not publicly reported.   

The signatory list on the Petition website is not necessarily a list of people who signed the Petition.  To be on that list you are required to send a signed notice to us by mail that you want your name to be viewed online. Sending in a petition is much more important than being listed on the Signatory page, but I would like to see more people do both.

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Just a thought...

I just thought of another argument you can make for ending the H-1B program. Employer are giving the H-1B visa holders a benefit that costs the employer almost nothing, but which is VERY valuable to the H-1B holder - the right to live and work legally in the United States. As you know, people from other countries pay vast amounts of money (I've heard as much as $30,000) to just be brought to the U.S. illegally. Imagine how much they would pay to work here legally.

This benefit cannot be given to the citizen employees who are being replaced. I think that employers should have to pay the market value (let's say $20,000 to be fair) for the right to live and work in the U.S., and pay that money to the Federal Government in order to sponsor an H-1B visa. Only then would citizens be even close to parity with H-1B holders.

Just a thought...  - Parland

The fee for importing an H-1B into the US has been a political football since the inception of H-1B in 1990 when a $110 filing fee was charged by INS. In 1998 an additional $500 fee was imposed and in 2000 the fee was doubled to $1000. Exemptions were given to some of the largest employers of H-1Bs -  educational institutions of higher education, nonprofit entities, and governmental research organizations. Fees have been proposed in Congress as high as $20,000 but in every case the high-tech lobbies have been able to get a reduction in the fee. It is unlikely that the big money lobbyists will allow the filing fee to rise to the point that an H-1B would cost as much as an American worker. Cheap labor is the main reason companies want H-1B.

Congress officially admitted that American workers will be replaced by H-1Bs when they imposed this fee because the money is supposed to be used to train American workers that were displaced. Very little of this money is actually going to the workers that have had their careers ruined by this cheap labor bill.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Political issues need political solutions

Your web site wonderfully describes problems with H1 program.

More important question is how to fight the program. Political issues need political solutions.

Proponents of H1 program are well organized and well funded. In order to make a difference in H1 debate, opponents of the program MUST ORGANIZE AS WELL.

The petition you have a link to has received less than 700 signatures (one of them was mine). There surely are many more people whose lives and careers were affected by this program.

I believe that your web site would be much more helpful if, in addition to sharing frustrations over H1s, it would provide simple and clear instructions on how to oppose it.

Perhaps writing in big letters something like "CALL YOUR CONGRESS AND SENATE REPRESENTATIVE TODAY", with detailed instructions on finding phone numbers, etc. would be good. Perhaps buying ad space in professional magazines advertising the petition would be good - and taking collection of money to pay for that.

It is important to turn this from intellectual issue into political issue; unless H1 is presented as something that will matter in the next elections, no politician will pay attention. Can you blame them?

I am glad you sent in a Petition to Abolish H-1B because each and every one of those is hand delivered to congress. Of course we would like to see more people send in Petitions. We should have 10,000 signatures in a month, not 700 in a year. 

Your observation that H-1B advocates are well funded is because companies and even foreign countries such as India are willing to spend generously to lobby congress for H-1B. Unfortunately the opposition is fragmented and is done mostly voluntarily. I have considered soliciting donations but so far this site is my underfunded baby. I don't have the money or resources to advertise but fortunately there a few organizations that are helping to battle H-1B and they are spending money to do it. NumbersUSA has many of the resources you asked for and believe me, this organization is making H-1B very political. 

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Immigration

I have seen your "interesting" site.. and one question arises... what do you think about immigration to US? would you allow "strangers" to come in the US? what would be your "Law" if you could make one?

Respectfully,
Antonio

You may be getting the issues of immigration and nonimmigrant work visas confused. This site doesn't take up immigration issues with the exception of Green Cards since that is used as a work visa. ShameH1B strongly endorses the views of NumbersUSA and the Center for Immigration Studies. These organizations want legal immigration to be limited to more sane limits, about 225,000 per year with no amnesties allowed for illegals. 

This site is dedicated to the abolishment of H-1B because it is a corrupt cheap labor program. Sometimes it is in the national interest to allow scientists or people of exceptional talent or expertise into our nation. There should be a temporary visa that allows no more than 1,000 of them in a year. Surely 1,000 should cover the number of Einsteins we have in the world.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

great resource - thank you

I am a recently layed-off consultant in the NYC area and found out about your site searching the internet for info on H1B-VISAS. I used your database to conduct a search on my consulting company who just let go many of its consultants (US-CITIZEN). What a surprise - this blood sucking corporation has brought in close to 1000 computer-analysts under this bastardized immigration program over the past year alone.

The real question is what is the most effective way to use this information. I guess contacting the EXEC is a possibility. - I would appreciate any alternate advice from your members.

Thanks again - bruno_vitro@attglobal.net

I think one of the best ways to help in the fight against H-1B is to publicize the  LCA Database Search Engine to everyone you know. The data speaks for itself, and once people see what is going really going on, they will be new foes of H-1B. The tough part is to motivate people to use the database and that is where you could help. Seeing the data on your former employer convinced you about the dangers of the H-1B visa program better than I ever could. I often have been told by skeptics, "My company doesn't hire H-1Bs or I would know". They are usually shocked to see how wrong they are. 

The mass media supports open border labor movement so the only way we can get the word out is on the internet. Not enough people are aware of H-1B or it's implications. We need to convince more people that this visa program is a threat to all American workers.
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