Immigration Bill Passes the Senate, Includes More H-1B Visas

An anonymous reader writes "While the landmark immigration bill (full text PDF), which recently passed the U.S. Senate, is being hailed as bringing crucial reforms that will vastly improve the state of immigration in this country, there is a provision in it that is seeing relatively little discussion: section 4101, a 'market-based' increase in the amount of H-1B visas for skilled workers. 'The pitched arguments of both sides, which are likely to resurface in the House when it takes up its version of an immigration overhaul, cloud a complicated reality. There is little empirical evidence to suggest that foreign engineers displace American engineers as a whole. If anything, one recent study suggests, the growth of immigrant workers in American companies helps younger American technical workers — more of them are hired and at higher-paying jobs — but has no noticeable consequences, good or bad, on older workers.'"

Sorry, but you're wrong about discrimination.

[tlambert]

The U.S. government runs a lottery that gives out an additional 50,000 VISA's per year beyond the level playing field of normal immigration, but people from Mexico arent allowed to win any of them, and you are there claiming its not racist by any stretch of the imagination?

Really?

What fucking distortion field do you live in?

He's probably living in the distortion field perpetuated by both the CIA World Fact Book and Wikipedia, in which it is well known that Mexico isn't comprised of a single race any more than Los Angeles is comprised of a single race, thus making it impossible to discriminate against a particular, single race by discriminating against all of Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_people#Today [wikipedia.org]

Or maybe it was the one where, under NAFTA, there's already an economic agreement in place for non-professional workers, and professional workers get TN-1 visa rather than H-1B visa?

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1274.html [state.gov]

You know what? Those TN-1 visas discriminate against Europeans, who are require to return to their own countries after a period of time, whereas a TN-1 can be renewed again and again, indefinitely, without ever actually leaving the US. Those bastards! Favoring Mexico and Canada over Germany and New Zealand!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TN_status [wikipedia.org]

No it won't

[rsilvergun]

That's not what happens. It's just wishful thinking. Outsourcing isn't being brought back on shore because of communication problems, it's because a few of the outsourcing firms got greedy and cut corners a little too thin. They'll learn.

Plus code written by slaves is cheap. So Cheap I can throw out your old code and start from scratch and still come out ahead. The last piece to the puzzle is to remember that for the top 1% who are pushing these things through they own a piece of just about every major company. So if company A overcharges company B the 1% still make gobs of money.

And Managing a Mickey D's is incredibly hard. First it's brutally difficult work. 50 to 60 hours a week. Next, you're constantly jockeying to keep your employees because you don't pay them enough to have anything near a stable lifestyle (and no, they're not all kids. That workforce is graying too).

Basically, the world doesn't work the way you think it does. I'd be OK if you were only hurting yourself, but when you go and vote you hurt me too...

Re:There are three kinds of lies.

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, managing Mickey D's sounds pretty easy

That is an *awful* job. Think of people wanting 5 star service for 2 bucks. All day every day. Then you have a set of employees that you are lucky will show to work today. You dont dare fire them as you have to have *someone* to call when the previous 3 guys said they are 'sick'. You think IT guys have it bad with overtime and crazy requirements? Go work for a mc'ds for a few months as salary.

The real issue is the gov has created an artificial scarcity. Thus driving up wages for who are not H1B (yeah americans). Then stagnating the H1B guy (still wildly better pay than they get in their home country). Creating a market where only H1B can get in. The gov has moved in and said how you can hire people. It is law of unintended consequences at its best.

Also if there really is a shortage wouldnt you want to make it easy for those people to become a citizen? Thus creating a long term employee? Instead we keep upping the limits and creating a large market distortion.

Actual true immigration is better long term for our country. Instead we kick them out just as they are learning the ropes...

I can hire 4 guys for the price of 1 american. Will it be 'good' maybe, maybe not. Depends on if I get lucky on the outsourcing merry-go-round.