Re: And now a word from our sponsor
The simple fact is work visas like H-1B are a necessity because American companies would otherwise be unable to find enough high-skilled workers to fill their roles, in which case the only other alternative would be to shift the work to a country where the skills exist. And this is exacerbated by the US being so large, because many Americans, even if sufficiently qualified, are often simply unwilling to relocate to a different State.
However, H-1B in its current form is prone to abuse and not fit for purpose. Why else is it that in the last years more than 75%(!) of all H-1B visas go to people born in the world's largest 3rd world country which has an education system that ranks somewhere at the bottom of the global scale (India). A country which has perfected a system of "degree factories" where its people can get worthless paper degrees so they can paper-match qualifications for H-1B jobs in the US.
H-1B visas are supposed to be for high-skilled workers to fill jobs for which a suitably qualified American worker can not be found. And while many Indians are clever people, India's education system and the level of education of its general population (of which many are even unable to read) hardly justify getting three times as many visas than the other 194 countries on Earth.
The simple fact is that India gets >75% of H-1B visas is because the big outsourcers like Tata (an Indian company) snatch up large amounts of H-1B visas every year so they can bring under-qualified and lowly-paid Indian workers to the US to undercut American workers. Which is against H-1B rules (also workers need to be paid at least the same as Americans) but they game the system and abuse the immigrant worker. And it helps that enforcement of the rules is pretty much non-existent. And Congress has been well aware of what's going on but decided to turn a blind eye because the same outsourcers contribute graciously to political campaigns.
And because Tata & Co snap up so many visas for their cheap labor, many US businesses with legitimate need for an H-1B worker (because they really need someone qualified for a role they can't find a suitably qualified American for) often find that the annual H-1B contingency has been depleted.
There needs to be a serious crackdown on companies which abuse H-1B, but also H-1B itself must be reformed so that it's made harder for outsourcers to skim large amounts of visas, and there must be measures in place to prevent one country hogging up three-quarters of all H-1B visas for years in a row.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
