I have written several times about visa abuse at IBM. I wish I could share everything on IBM that comes across my desk, but often the sender requests it only be used for background. When the eventual discrimination lawsuit does hit IBM, I am sure the discovery process will unearth a sewer. Read more...

If you follow an issue closely in the news, you get a clear picture of how useless the American media is. A few weeks ago I contacted the writer and editor of a wire story on H-1B visas that had a dozen clear factual errors. They responded that they were trying to tell a story. In other words, these writers were not going to let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Here is a example from ABC News. Read more...

Last week I read a number of articles documenting the rise in CEO pay, including this one at Slate.com.

The fact that other people are making money by itself does not concern me. But in combination with the decline in middle class income, we see a disturbing trend. When these CEOs use their bloated incomes to depress the wages of ordinary Americans, there is a real problem. Read more...

Thursday's Washington Post has an article on H-1B visas that addresses a red herring that H-1B supporters often throw out: Why would an employer use an H-1B for cheap labor when they have to pay several thousand dollars in fees to get the visa?

The Washington Post gives the answer: Read more...

The Gang of Eight's immigration bill has now grown from 844 pages to 867 pages.

One of the changes is to include "comprehensive immigration reform" in the title. Read more...

Thursday morning NPR had yet another lobbyist sob story on H-1B.

A small company called GYMPACT has made an H-1B application for a "highly skilled" worker and they do not know if it will be approved.

That inspired me to take a look at the H-1B disclosure data at the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center. Read more...

After spending several days reading the Gang of Eight's immigration bill, I share a number of observations:

Observation 1: The current immigration system is 120 pages long. Reform should not take 844 pages. Amnesty for illegal aliens takes up 91 pages. The other 753 pages of mischief should be of greatest concern to the public. Read more...

One of the toughest challenges for the media is to put a personal face on a story. They always want to have a subject to show how an issue affects an individual. This can be very tough for a national issue like H-1B visas. Over the years I have frequently received requests from reporters like "Do you know an American living in Peoria who has been replaced by an H-1B worker within the past three months?" This was tough even when I was working as a programmer. I saw Americans being replaced by H-1B workers first hand, but they were always in New Jersey. Read more...

In my last blog posting I pondered whether people were placing fake IBM job advertisements or whether IBM instinctively engages in visa abuse.

I have learned conclusively that it is the latter.

An intrepid reader has pointed out that the abusive behavior at IBM is even more flagrant than I had imagined. To view this firsthand, I: Read more...

When I think of visa abuse, the first company that comes to mind is IBM. Whenever I am doing research on some aspect of employment-based visa abuse, IBM always seems to pop up. Read more...

Keeping on top of the mess that is our guestworker programs keeps me so busy that I do not have enough time to devote to the rest of the immigration system.

The big news there is President Obama's "deferred action" program in which he is granting an amnesty to certain illegal aliens. Through this administrative amnesty, illegal aliens who register can avoid deportation and get a work permit. Read more...

Workers from around the country send me examples of H-1B abuse that is taking place around them. I organize this data to decipher patterns. There is usually no legal action that can be taken due to the way the law is structured and the circumstances of the information provider. Generally, I just collect. Read more...

The Brookings Institution recently released a report on the geographic distribution of workers using H-1B visas. (My colleague David North attended the press event for the report, which he discussed here.) The report itself is rather benign and presents no surprises to anyone familiar with the H-1B data. H-1B workers are highly concentrated in certain metropolitan areas. Read more...

The Washington Post ran an interesting article on July 7 that, when examined in context, illustrates just how much dysfunction there is in Congress.

The title sums up the situation well: "U.S. pushes for more scientists, but the jobs aren't there". Read more...

Tim Hernholtz has an interesting blog post on Reuters titled "The NBA has America's model migrant worker program".

Mr. Hernholtz notes the number of foreign players in the NBA and notes that allowing the best players from around the world play in America improves the sport.

To that there is little disagreement. Read more...

While examining the Labor Condition Applications for H-1B visas for my previous CIS Backgrounders "H-1B Visa Numbers: No Relationship to Economic Need", and "Low Salaries for Low Skills: Wages and Skill Levels for H-1B Computer Workers, 2005", and "The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers", it was apparent that H-1B workers are highly concentrated in a few states. At the time, unfortunately, the nature of the data made it difficult to quantify where the workers were actually going.

Recently, however, Data.gov released admission data, including the state of destination, which gives a picture of the density of H-1B workers. Read more...

In an interview with a Davenport, Iowa, TV station, this exchange occurred with Vice President Joe Biden:

Q: Are two [sic] many H1B visas given out each year? Are too many highly skilled jobs going to people outside the United States?

I have been following the H-1B issue for nearly two decades now. The most striking thing I have learned is how Congress dances to big money and has become powerless to act in the public good.

The first government H-1B audit came out in 1996. Read more...

Last week the National Academy of Engineering awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize to George H. Heilmeier, Wolfgang Helfrich, Martin Schadt, and T. Peter Brody for developing the liquid crystal display.

The Draper Prize is the most prestigious award in the world for engineering achievement.

No major mainstream media outlet covered the award. Read more...

Abuse in the H-1B program is so routine that it hardly is news. Even using the H-1B program to import teenage sex slaves sparks little outrage. When plain vanilla H-1B abuse takes place, it is really old hat. Read more...

The H-1B program has been in the news lately as a result of President Obama's nonsensical response to a woman whose husband is an unemployed engineer.

When confronted with the question of why the U.S. is importing foreign engineers when Americans are out of work, the president respond, "There is a huge demand around the country for engineers." Read more...

Those of us who went through the H-1B expansion battle in 1998 know well that industry does not have good faith when it comes to H-1B visas. Now that the H-1B visa has again come to the attention of the public, let me take this opportunity to describe how things work in Washington. Read more...

The recent incident where a woman asked president Obama why we are importing foreign workers on H-1B visas has attracted much attention to the issue...and has brought out the worst in American media. Read more...

President Obama says that "The H-1B should be reserved only for those companies who say they cannot find somebody in that particular field."

Well Mr. President, when are you and the Democrats going to propose legislation to ensure that only companies that cannot find Americans can get H-1B visas? Read more...

The Washington Post documents Rep. Tim Griffin's (R-Ark) difficultly in deciding on a name for a new bill to give green cards to aliens simply because they get graduate degrees in the U.S. He apparently started with the NERDS Act (New Employees for Research & Development and STEM) but settled on BRAIN Act (Bringing and Retaining Accomplished Innovators for the Nation). Read more...

Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General has a new report out, "H-1B Workers' Use of Social Security Numbers". The OIG found that about 18 percent of Social Security numbers issued to H-1B workers were being used to report wages from sources other than the approved employer or were reporting no wages at all.

This follows a 2008 report from USCIS that found a violation rate in the H-1B program of over 20 percent.

The most recent Department of Labor Inspector General report on H-1B is available as well.

All of these audits from government agencies provide a striking contrast to the propaganda view of the H-1B program put forth by lobbyists.



Read more...

Advocates for cheap-labor guestworker programs, like H-1B, long ago found a solution to their problem of lacking data to support their position: simply make it up.

The latest example comes in a press release from MonolithIC 3D Inc. That press release states: Read more...

Over the years industry lobbyists have come up with a number of different marketing campaigns for cheap labor in technology fields. In the past we have seen the "best and brightest" campaign and the "We educate them – why send them home?" campaign. The pitch from these used car salesmen is that all these H-1B workers are really entrepreneurs ready to start companies and build up the economy. America just needs to set these H-1B workers loose to revive the economy. Read more...

The U.S. imports about 100,000 people a year on H-1B visas. The public is constantly told that this mass of labor imports represent the "Best and Brightest" in the world.

Where are the big accomplishments from those on H-1B visas?

The citations of "H-1B" accomplishments from program supporters illustrate this problem. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that: Read more...

This week provided a wonderful example of why public funding for NPR should be cut off.

In the tech industry it has become routine for Americans to be replaced by lower-paid foreign workers on H-1B visas. The repeating pattern is for the U.S. employer to contract with an H-1B bodyshop to supply labor to replace its American workers. The U.S. employer then requires its American workers train their foreign replacements. Read more...