There is a lot of incorrect info on your site which makes it tough to understand your argument. Congress changed the H1B law last year to provide job portability, so a lot of the 'indentured servant' and 'slave labor' arguments no longer hold water. 

There is no reason for an H1B worker to accept a substandard wage the moment they arrive in the US. They can simply move elsewhere. If they want a green card, they delay filing until they get a job they will be happy with for 3-4 years. As long as the green card petition is filed within 5 years, the H1B worker is guaranteed to get a green card now. This changes the dynamics of H1B quite radically.

You don't mention anything about L1 workers - there is no cap on these workers, so I thought it was a little strange! Why don't you raise this as a critical issue? 
Todd

I originally intended to restrict this website to the discussion of H-1B. I have recently decided that all work based visas should be discussed. As time permits, I will broaden the subject material on this site to include L1 and whatever other visa congress invents to bring in foreign workers. I am even considering changing the name of the site so that the focus can broaden.

I sometimes think too much attention is focused on the indentured nature of the H-1B visa. Ridding H-1B of it's indentured aspects would make H-1Bs slightly less desirable for US companies who lust for cheap labor. If this were to happen, and it hasn't, H-1B and other work visas would still used by companies to flood the American labor market with cheap labor.

There is a broad misconception that congress now allows H-1B workers to have job mobility. Under the new law, the H-1Bs can only escape the de facto indentured servitude at the very last stage of the green card process. They will still undergo a period of indentured servitude of about 3 to 4 years.

As for wages, there are plenty of reasons for an H-1B to accept substandard wages. They will gladly work for lower wages because their main purpose in coming here is to get permanent residency with a green card. For a programmer earning $300 a month in India, substandard salaries in the U.S. are very enticing.

You are correct that the dynamics of H-1B have been changed. H-1B is beginning to look much more like a permanent visa. The new law, for example, allows for the renewal of an employee's H-1B visa in one-year increments beyond six years if his green card application for permanent residency has been pending for more than a year.  It also allows annual, per-country allocations of green cards that go unused to be allocated to green card applicants from India and China. The two nations habitually use up their allocation of green cards while other nations' allocations go unused. 
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Response to "Don't Make H-1Bs Villians"

I take issue with this individual who wishes to vilify American workers who have proof that in their own country they are unemployed because of the H-1B  Visa program.   The H-1B who posted that he is a human being who has feelings seems to forget that unemployed US technical workers are human beings as well who have feelings.    We have paid our taxes to support our educational programs,  road ways,  water purification systems,  etc etc. There are reports that H-1Bs have  knowingly  taken  jobs that their peer professionals held.

This person stated that ". . . you can't imagine what an Indian with family values have to go through to do that [to live in the USA for two years and not see their family members]".  Yes,  we can imagine what is like not to see family members for years on end because we are too poor because of unemployment to visit our  family members.  One American peer professional that I know of hasn't seen his elderly parents in over five years because he can't afford to travel across country to visit them. 

Why are you (the H-1B Visa holder)  allowing your own countrymen to exploit you through this H-1B program?  Why don't you protest to the Indian government that these foreign jobs are so bad that the conditions are unacceptable?    The US MIGHT just start to demand that employers treat all professionals as human beings and not mere objects to be exploited. 

How dare you call or hint of Nazism among American peer professionals who are unemployed because of the H-1B Visa program designed to steal their jobs!   Before you start throwing such ugly labels around perhaps one should look at one's own countrymen's treatment of their folks.    Why are your countrymen  willing to place you in such terrible employment conditions?  Why do they have you forge documents?   Why do they take such unfair cuts of your salary ?   These are slave labor camp conditions which your own countrymen have supported!    Why do allow the professional societies to allow their professionals to be so exploited by employers?   Find a voice and demand that all technical professionals be treated with professionalism!  [It is my understanding that in part that is what this web site is about.  To expose this ugly abuse of ALL high skilled technical workers and to get decent professional treatment for all workers!]

About the health care problems in rural America.  

I LIVE in a rural state and I have health care provider friends and relatives.  I therefore have background to address this issue of Montana's so-called lack of health care providers.   The problem with my  state -- as in most rural states --  is its unwillingness to pay physicians NOT high salaries but merely  living wages in rural America.  I know dozens of health care providers who would far prefer a country life to the smog,  crime,  and high cost of living of metropolitan communities.  But you providers in rural communities don't make such working arrangements possible.  American physicians are often burdened with $300,000 medical school tuition loans  to repay --- foreign workers don't have this stone around their neck.  No one can repay these loans,  provide  living funds for themselves and their family,  and put money aside for retirement on $50,000/year incomes or less that is often offered to rural working physicians.     The physicians I know who are working in large cities are counting the days until they can retire to the country to avoid the traffic,  the crime,  and other "amenities" that these blighted urban communities provide.    If  rural providers would simply look at what they are offering these highly skilled,  articulate,  talented US professionals you would see most of the salaries offered to these professionals  is nothing but an effort to rob from them their professional skills.   Americans  who live in rural America  deserve the best medical treatment available.  For this you have to pay a living wage to American health care professionals.

One highly trained mid-wife nurse I know was offered a job in rural America.  She was thrilled to come.  She was told that her $70,000 student loans would be repaid over time as she worked at this remote hospital in which the largest town is over a three hour drive from this location.  Her husband gave up his law job so that his wife could work in rural America.  HIS skills were marketable and he landed a job in a community a few miles away.  The day before this family was going to drive 1,000 miles across country for this job,  they were completely packed,  he was no longer employed --- the rural health care provider called this mid-wife and told her that they couldn't hire her after all.  She could come work for them as a contracted employee meaning she would have NO benefits at all --- no health insurance,  no life insurance,  no retirement,  and worst of all no repayment of her student loans.  She has worked as a contract health care provider for almost two years now.  [When you consider that many min. wage earns get benefits her college education doesn't really seem of much value to the rural health care system when they can't even provide health insurance for health care providers!]   Husband has a job that DOES provide decent wages,  health insurance,  life insurance,  family leave,  and  an outstanding retirement plan.  Is it any wonder that US health care providers are less than excited to work for such unreliable health care systems as this?

Your narrow focus [health care system folks in rural America] on the bottom line is that you endanger American lives  of the people who live in rural America and are only given H-1B/J physicians instead of a fairly compensated US American health care provider.  You have a  moral duty to demand that your state legislature provide adequate funds to hire highly skilled,  talented,  dedicated,  American professionals who would be thrilled to live in rural America.   Shame on you for not demanding that American professionals be paid for their talent,  education,  skills, and devotion to their profession so that rural  America receives the BEST medical treatment and not the treatment that your stingy state is only willing to grudgingly pay.

Don't label American workers with negative labels (Nazis or "narrow minded/focused") when we have simply discovered how it is that we don't have jobs or jobs that don't compensate us fairly for our education,  talent,  and professionalism.  Instead,  why not join in the fight for fair working conditions and wages for American professionals.  

And if you don't know what to do or where to begin --- contact the webmaster or any of the pro-worker groups listed at this web site.

A rural American

Don't blame H1b(s) blame the System

Before U.S. I've been to so many other countries and when I came to U.S. it was like, fine I like this place and that majorly was because I felt that nobody raises a finger on you, nobody raises a brow, and you can live in peace ,it was like wow! now this is how the biggest democracy in world should be like. You are pathetic, The worst part of your site is you never ever on the homepage say that no hard feelings H1b(s). You simply talk about them as trash. Every h1b is a human too lets remember that. Your site gives a feel like fine throw them all in pacific and let us see if they can swim back or better why don't you set up a nazi camp for them. Your problem is with government so highlight that GOVERNMENT part. Do have feelings for H1B(s). To tell you the truth nobody wants to leave the land where they were born. Most of people who come from Asia don't have many relatives here and see their families in like 2 years or sometimes more. You really can't imagine what an Indian with family values have to go through to do that. Don't make them villains.

Ragini Pandey

I have been very consistent that H-1Bs are not villains, they are welcomed here by our corrupt government and greedy corporations. Please read more of the letters on this page and you will see that I don't hold a grudge against H-1B visa holders, but I do hate the H-1B visa law. With that in mind, don't expect US workers to hold love fests for you guys because you are taking our jobs and destroying our livelihoods, and don't expect me to say on the homepage that H-1Bs are saints in disguise.

[H-1B Hall of Shame]

Living in a place like Montana, you gain a much different perspective on these issues. we have so many frontier counties - more rural than most can imagine - less than 6 people per square mile - and American health care providers have NO INTEREST whatsoever in living in these communities and serving the health care needs of these populations. I have lived in many states in this country, and most people have little comprehension of exactly how isolated and underserved these communities are. most U.S. health professionals nowadays are trained in urban areas in urban-focused curriculum and complete their residencies with no desire to live in these areas. there are communities that don't have the money or amenities to lure ANY U.S.-trained practitioners except temporary NHSC workers and foreign medical graduates using H-1B/J-1 visa waivers. it is regrettable that your perspective on this matter is so narrow; these H-1Bs and J-1s are truly the only alternative for rural areas that are completely shunned by American practitioners, and that's a fact. have you ever been to Jordan, Montana? Culbertson, Montana?

Kerry J.C. Muntz, M.P.A.
Research Associate
MT Office of Rural Health/
MT Area Health Education Center

I have been in Montana and I understand how isolated certain areas are. You advocate H-1B medical workers because they are cheaper, and I have always said that one of the main reasons employers like H-1Bs is because they are a lower wage labor source. HMOs in big cities like H-1B medical workers for the same reason you do. 

The one alternative you don't consider is to pay for real doctors. I am sure Montana residents will enjoy knowing that their health care providers are affordable H-1Bs.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

I feel sorry for the Americans losing jobs in US. One bad thing about this for countries like India is that it has increased the gap between the rich and the poor.

The rich are becoming richer in dollars and the poor are becoming poorer. I think that soon there are going to be many poor Americans too.

wylde zakk

H-1B will tend to lower salaries until we are in parity with India.. 
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

it is all about caliber

Be it the Pentium chip or be it the IT advisor to the president, it is the immigrants who have done it. They have helped the country to benefit and companies have reached such high valuations .

So your site is just an outlet of frustrations of people of low calibre .... no real truths. Each American (other than the natives ) is an immigrant. Let none of you forget that !!

Close your site and relearn your skills.. maybe you will find a job

Sriram Prasad 

Please take a deep breath of air, now hold it until I close this website down. 
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

H-1B Does Take American Jobs

I read some letters here that say the: "H1b Program does not take jobs from Americans, instead it pumps in lots of money in US economy and makes sure that the companies are not relocated. 

First, you clearly have not read the messages of individuals who have been posting here. These are individuals who have in many instances hard facts to prove that they were replaced by imported labor. Others are reporting documented cases in which they have been denied the right to even compete for jobs in their homeland. It might make you feel better to fool yourself into thinking that you have not stolen a job from one of your peer professionals who happens to be a highly skilled, well educated, and creative American professional but you have.

Second, Americans don't need any more government training programs. IF American programmers and other professionals were allowed to remain employed they would be in the very companies developing the cutting edge computer software, etc etc. Training courses through colleges and universities almost always lag the real working world. Keeping American professionals employed is what will allow American professionals to keep their skills fresh and current. I find your suggestion that our experienced American professionals are less up to date in their skills than imported workers who come from Third World Nations highly insulting and shows a complete lack of understanding of the crisis in American employment. American workers need the right to work in their own country in which they have been paying taxes to maintain its roads, waterways, bridges, public schools, etc. American workers have the right to have access to the American job market in which American lives have been lost providing freedom for other people throughout the world. It's about time the imported workers show some basic respect for Americans whom they have displaced and thrown into unemployment. Next time think about the American educated professional who now has no means to provide for his or her family because you have their job. 

Third, you actually might be right that the imported H-1B worker does ". . . pump in lots of money into US economy. . ." but those monies only go into the hands of the holders of major corporations and political leaders. This economic growth is not benefiting the unemployed US professional --- your technical peer professional whom you have displaced because you are taking his/her job at cheap wages with the help of politicians who have been induced to vote for legislation because of mega dollar contributions to their re-election campaigns. The headhunters, the immigration lawyers, the CEOs, and the politicians are reaping the ". . . lots of money. . " because they are still charging huge sums for their products but using cheap laborers to produce their products. 

1) The H-1B program was NOT designed to fill a "labor shortage"
2) The H-1B program was NOT designed to fill an IT labor shortage
3) The H-1B program was NOT designed to meet the needs of a lack of
highly educated Americans
     [Congress has already spent tens of thousands of taxpayers' dollars declaring no such proof exists]

So WHAT was it designed for?

1) The H-1B program WAS designed by lobbyists for major corporations to help their clients reduce their labor costs
2) The H-1B program WAS passed BECAUSE of massive campaign contributions by these lobbyists
3) The H-1B program WAS acknowledged by a US Congressman that IT WOULD displace currently working Americans
4) The H-1B program WAS supported by special interest groups who benefit by false claims that US workers are under-educated, lack cutting edge skills, etc etc.
5) The H-1B program WAS designed such that NO harmed American worker can be protected from being replaced by a cheap imported worker;
6) The H-1B program WAS designed to have no significant safe guards to protect the H-1B from abuse under the program from being "benched" to low pay to working over time, etc etc.

You may want to feel warm and good about the fact that YOU have a good American job and hence are willing to look down upon your unemployed and displaced American peer professionals just keep in mind that YOU have the job you do because laws were "bought" such that YOU would be favored over your VERY qualified American peer professionals. YOU are NOT more qualified for that job than the American technical professional. You simply have the job because you can be exploited even if you don't know it because THAT is what the laws were designed to do.

By the way ----- if you feel you are such a terrific professional -- how about volunteering your time to mentor some of these Americans technical professional peers whom you think are so unqualified to work in their homeland? How about GIVING something to America instead of simply taking jobs from her citizens? How about giving something back to your peer professionals and SHARING the name of your headhunter firm with your peer American professionals in the hopes that they can get a job as well? I contacted a headhunter that placed thousands of imported H-1B professionals throughout the USA in hopes that they could help me get a job too. You know what they told me? They don't accept resumes from American citizens! Yes, this firm had offices throughout the United States but they wouldn't accept my resume BECAUSE I am American.

Finally --- I am not worried that these companies would leave America for Third World Nations if they couldn't import cheap labor. Why? Because many of these companies that have done so have realized that it is not like doing business in America. The quality controls don't exist, some firms need environmentally clean communities to work in and to have to clean up these countries first in order to work simply is not cost effective, the political instability of these countries interrupt work, the lag time between communications with these Third World Nation sites to the headquarters in the USA makes for undesirable working hours, and the language skills problems is a major problem. So, if these companies want to move out of the USA it would be fine with me if they have no loyalty to the USA let them move off shore. We certainly don't need to have these companies making false accusations about the so-called unskilled American workforce just so they can get cheap labor. They ought to be honest that they want cheap labor while the salaries of CEOs have increased over 650% in the past half decade. Companies want cheap labor and they will get the kind of product that they pay for. They want quality goods and services then they need to be willing to provide fair, honest, and decent compensation to their employees. If these companies move overseas then good ole American know-how which created these firms in the first place will develop new firms and hopefully staff them with managers who know how to manage better then the current batch.

Let's give American workers the right to compete for work in America. It is time to repeal the H-1B Visa program. American programmers, engineers, scientists, faculty members need to get politically involved and take appropriate legal means to have this law repealed. Contact the webmaster here if you don't know where to begin nor who to contact. Information is but a mouse click away.

Signed,
American technical professional whom Congress sold my job to the highest paying lobbyists.