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This Page Will No Longer Be supported. Sign up for the "Job Destruction Newsletter" for Current Information about H-1B, L-1, and Offshoring. |
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8 June 2003
I am Rohan, an Electronics & Telecommunication Engineer from India and working in one of the most hatred organizations in your country(because of outsourcing), which is Tata Consultancy Services. I have already gained H1B Visa and will soon arrive USA for an assignment here. My question to this forum is is it a fault on our counterpart that we are born talented....that we can produce the job of coding in a much efficient and at a reduced cost way than the average Americans. As far as the recruitment is concerned it is the policy of the company stake holders. You are saying that we are eating the American Pie. Think twice before you make such comments as we Indians have contributed fruitfully in each and every aspect of American Society and Economy. In fact (whether you like it or not), you You are correct that TATA (TCS) is abhorred U.S. workers but it doesn't deserve the title of "most hated". TATA is despised because they are an Indian owned bodyshop that exploits cheap labor from India in order to replace American workers. TATA has earned their bad reputation by acting as a proxy of greedy U.S. corporations to surreptitiously discriminate against American citizens. The honor of "most hated organization" should go to the U.S. Congress, because if they were doing their job, TATA wouldn't be allowed into our country, and arrogant ilk such as yourself would never get an H-1B visa. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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15 May 2003 No Jobs for the best engineers, I doubt? I feel sorry for all people that losing their jobs. However, I believe that I need to defend those H1B worker as well. I am an international student and looking for a job at this moment. I love software development so much and I want to work here because the best software infrastructure companies are located in US. I am sure I can get jobs in my country but I can only doing some stupid application development, system administrator, consultant or support engineer. (Same for many H1B holder). I got couple offers from the best companies because of my skill set. However, I still couldn't get a job because I need H1. I believe that many companies out there are still protecting you guys and keeping the jobs for local people. I have seen so many senior developers that don't know too much about good programming. I have also seen so many certified engineers who know nothing other than their certified subjects. The skilled engineers I know are still keeping their job securely. Some of them got laid off due to the bad economy, have already gotten new jobs. 90% of them are American. On the other side, Many of my friends are getting laid off. They are not very skilled engineers and 90% of them are H1B holders. I don't feel sorry for them because they are not that good. I know many of my friends don't like me too much because I have better chance to get a good local job than them. I even scare to tell them again that I have an interview or an offer (I can never get the job anyway because no big company will get me a H1). However, my skilled American friends are still trying to refer me a job regardless I am a foreigner. I know there are still many jobs out there. These jobs require more experiences or advanced skill set. Improve your skills, don't complaint. I felt frustrated that I couldn't get a job because of the H1 issue. I don't complaint because I agree that local companies should protect the local people first. However, I felt really frustrated when I look through all the messages. I guess I should leave this country because I never think about the social impact and discrimation, until I see these messages here today. Good luck to all of you guys. gav You are probably mistaken that the H--1B issue is preventing you from finding a job. You are young, you claim your skills are good, and you are a fresh grad. Companies like fresh meat to grind so they should be standing in line to hire you. According to the DOL, 79,100 visas were issued under the cap in 2002 and probably less will be used in 2003. Employers like to convert student visas to H-1Bs because they don't even have to bother interviewing American citizens and they can pay you less while you are still a student. If companies are telling you that H1 is the issue they are lying - that is unless you are from a country that harbors terrorists. They must have some other issue with you that is holding up your job offers. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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30 April 2003 Something... terrible must have happened to you to cause your reasoning process to become misshapen. Is a market healthier if apples cost $700 a pound but no one buys them? You just don't understand the nature of business. If technical labor costs too much in the U.S., then it will physically move out of the U.S. At least keeping the labor rate low keeps the jobs located on the mainland. I guess you'll think of some angry and propagandistic to say...or you won't post this at all. But if you opened your mind even a hair you would see this. Is a market healthier if apples cost 1 cent a pound, but no one can buy them because they are jobless? [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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2 April 2003 H1B I am an Indian Computer Engineer, GC holder, working in US. I went through your web site for hours. I understand and sympathize the American Computer Engineers. I understand the plight of young programmers who have spent lots of money on education to find that there are no jobs. I am especially sympathetic to older guys who have to run the family but find themselves without job. I think yours is a just fight and I support it. The only thing I do not agree is the target some of the respondents have chosen to vent their anger. The main reason for this state of affairs is the H1B program, not the H1B workers. This must be a fight between American Engineers against the US government and Corporations, not against the H1B Workers. Since Indians garner most of H1B visas, some of the respondents have shown anger and hatred towards Indians. Please understand that if it were not Indians, it would be someone else. The Corporations would have unearthed cheap labor from some other corner of the globe. (After 9/11 you must be glad majority of H1-Bs are from a friendly country like India). What you consider as cheap labor is many fold the salaries of programmers coming from outside. The opportunity, the adventure, the chance to learn the latest technologies lure these programmers to US shores. I also read some of the racist comments made by a few Indians in your web site; I apologize on behalf of all peace loving Indians. Please do not publish such comments in future, you will be doing disservice to your web site and also to lot of Indians by publishing such comments. One angle through which you can fight the Corporations like Wall Mart, Verizon, etc is to question them when they offer goods/services at "Always low" prices. How are they doing this ? Are they hiring foreign labor? or are they shipping the jobs outside US ? I receive racist email from H-1Bs and Americans. There is plenty of anger on both sides of the argument. I don't post letters if in my judgment they don't have something worthwhile to say or they are just too hate filled. My balancing act won't please everyone. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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28 March 2003 I would be really interested to know what your response is to my question in regards to the huge influx of non-native speaking unskilled immigrants who get in on family ties or political/refugee status etc. Do you think that they are a greater threat to the economy than skilled H1B workers? Of course, I cannot speak for all H1B workers and the abuses that I am sure occur. It's just that your arguments seem very emotive, yet illogical. H1B's pay work, pay taxes, buy stuff - all this enhances the economy. These other immigrants do not work, or work low-paid jobs, pay few taxes, and do not spend much - all this is a detriment to your economy. Adam Regan The flood of illegal immigrants has had a devastating effect on our economy and environment. Jobs that used to support a middle class life style (such as construction, landscaping, and meat packing) now pay substandard wages because there are so many illegals that will work for a pittance. H-1B destroys our technology infrastructure and forces white-collar workers into unemployment. Meat packers would probably say illegal immigration is worse, and computer programmers are more likely to say H-1B is worse. I believe they are both manifestations of the same thing: a desire by global corporatists to have the cheapest labor possible. American workers will lose either way. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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18 March 2003 Swash the Racist augment… For years I’ve felt that the H-1B Visa program is sucking the live blood from our economy. I’ve worked in the Tech Sector for many years and I’ve worked with a slew of H-1B’s. One day I mentioned to a co-worker that I thought the H-1B thing had gotten out of hand. She actually called me a racist! After I counted to 20 to calm my anger at being call such an ugly name, I explained my impression this way. Most of the people that I’ve worked with are here in the US on a H-1B. They are looking to earn a nest egg of money, then return to their country of origin. They will take with them $200k-$300k. And with the power of the current exchange rates, most H-1B’s can live very comfortable for the rest of their life with this money. It’s also used to launch off shore software houses & consulting firms (these are going to put a LOT of US citizens out of jobs). When a company hires an American, that employee will, buy a house, a new car, spend money upgrading his/her life, etc. They spend money here, keeping the economy alive. The H-1B employee lives as simple as possible to save money to bring back with them. A lot of them buy the cars of others from their country as they leave. Some of them use off shore accounts to evade paying taxes on interest. They move money in amounts under the $10,000.00 limit as not to attract attention. It’s all about the numbers…. Not the race. The H-1B’s I’ve worked with were not shy about what they are doing until 9-11. Now they keep it quiet in fear of retaliation or the well of money being shut off. Last week I was told of a new thing going on. When a lay-off happens, some H-1B’s are asking their employers to keep them on the books but not pay them. This way they keep in status and not get deported & the company can “cook the books” on wages. They know it will take them more than the 3-month limit to find a new job, so they are trying to ride it out this way. This is not only wrong but also illegal! H-1B shills like to use the racist argument because they know how effective it is to appeal to people's "politically correct" brainwashing. The issue is about jobs, not race, and fortunately you see through the fog. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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12 March 2003 H-1B is the symptom The great ideas of free trade etc are the causes of this decay of American civilization. H-1B is a mere symptom and a late one at that. For all of these losers who are complaining about their IT jobs, I bet not a single person complained when they went shopping for cheap goods in Wal-Mart. Made in China, of course. It will get a lot worse. Instead of whining, do something about it, find another line of work, get out of the country, whatever. I know I am. It does suck when it's payback time. Senthil Most white-collar Americans applauded the free-traders as they moved manufacturing jobs overseas. Americans were told that the manufacturing jobs would be replaced with service jobs and everyone would be rich and happy. "Payback time" has indeed arrived. Unfortunately very few will win as the globalists pit workers of the world against each other. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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21 February 2003 Thanks! You probably send out lots of notes, and I wonder how much feedback you receive. So here's my feedback. Thanks for running the ZaZona web site, and thanks for your work. You deserve a lot more recognition than you get. Your website and emails really are a wonderful public service. Please keep up the great work. |
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5 February 2003 Why H1Bs I am a British citizen - you know Britain? that country across the ocean from which many an immigrant came once upon a time, that country that sticks by America through thick and thin. I was real offended (personally) by your website. But on a less emotional and more logical point - why pick on H1B's? If there's fraud in the system then that's wrong and I wholeheartedly agree with you that if someone is not qualified, or is not working in a speciality occupation etc then such abuse needs to be stamped on and stamped on hard. I have a graduate degree in Law from Yale (in the USA) and I am working as an international law attorney, which is as speciality as you can get. I work 55 + hours a week and I'm paid a darn good salary for it too - $145,000 a year! - good for a 28 year old with 0 years PQE. Over a third of that I pay to your government (my government for now) in taxes - approximately $50,000 a year!! Much of that money I'm sure goes to welfare and supporting illegal immigrants as well as uneducated people from south of the border who immigrate via family connections. I couldn't give a crap how many 'legal' relatives they have here in the US - if they don't speak fluent English and if they don't have marketable job skills then they shouldn't be here. I'm pretty certain that the number of family based immigrants into the US is much much greater than the number of H1B's granted each year. Many of these people receive handouts from the government and become public charges. I don't receive anything from the government - I give - $50,000 a year!!! I'm not entitled to benefits. I don't want them. Plus, I speak perfect English. Do you know how infuriating it can be for a well-educated fluent-English speaking high-earning high-tax-paying Yale graduate like me to meet up with a client who spends most of his time in jail, lives on government handouts, and speaks not a word of English, and to know that he has more a right to work and remain here than I do. You're attacking the wrong folks buddy. RETHINK! Adam Regan You probably think the USA has a desperate shortage of lawyers, don't you? [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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30 January 2003 LCA data updates and H-1 hire process question I’m a 20 year Comp Sci Manager laid-off 14 months ago. I’ve enjoyed the insight of your website and have lived many of these stories for the last 6 years. I have a question about the data in the LCA database. I noticed that there have not been many filings since last April 2002, does this imply that companies aren’t filling for new visa’s or that they aren’t being processed or that the data just isn’t being updated? Reason that I ask is that out of the 100 people that I managed and have been laid off in the last 1.5 years only the 90% of them that where h-1B’s have been re-hired (usually in about 3 weeks, unless they were unfortunate enough to be a women). I walked through Verizon this past week, walked through one floor of a building 100’s of developer’s crammed 2 each into 5X5 cubes, all through contracting companies, most are h1-B’s. I was looking around for the sewing machines. I was told that most were billed at $33-$65 per hour and sounds like some are actually being paid this. They are working about 60 to 70 hours per week and only getting paid for 40 (so ghosting and a lower effective rate). They aren’t doing this because it’s fun-BTW. Interesting that not one of these contracting companies show that they have ever filed to sponsor any H-1B’s. This is something that my prior company (also on the top of hall of shame) would do also and then after a few years tell employees that the lawyers messed up on filing. Is there anything that a company has to fill out if they hire an existing H-1B and “sponsors” them? Paul McKinney Your questions are answered on the LCA FAQs page and the H-1B FAQs. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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29 January 2003 LET US GET GLOBAL I am an Indian currently in India working for a MNC & earning a decent salary. I have been to the US a couple of times on business when I used to work for my former American employer. The thing that most impressed me when I was in the US was the attitude of Americans. Some of the things that might sound trivial but actual matter a lot. For example, just passing a smile at a fellow pedestrian even if the person is a stranger, stopping one’s car to let people on foot cross the road, keeping the door open for the person behind you, these were the things that really impressed me a lot. In fact, when people who are real fanatic back home about the US, wanted to know my experiences, these were the things that I stressed on apart from the technology that is so ahead of any other country. Believe me, these simple basics of life are not very prevalent back home, though it has started to catch up a bit off late ever since our economy was opened up. Later when I had to visit Australia on another business trip, I wasn’t too fortunate to find too many cordial people, not to hurt any Australian sentiments. I had to apprise all my folks and friends that US is still better compared to Australia in that sense because that is how it is!!! But after reading these letters where people have vented out their grief, I was glad that I didn’t take up some of the H1B offers that came up my way because I would prefer to be a third class citizen in my home land to being a first class citizen in a foreign county and at the same time was petrified the way some of you have expressed your grief/anger. I can’t believe Americans who I thought were polite, friendly and easy going could be so outrageous. Last year, there were four Americans biking on the country side near Bangalore in a village I hail from. They happened to be near my humble abode which is kind of secluded from the other houses. My mother who was just walking around saw these unusual white aliens and managed to invite them inside for a cup of coffee though she cannot utter a single word in English. My father who could speak excellent English, in fact Shakespearean English wasn’t at home either unfortunately. They were seated for over one good hour though she was alone at home and God knows how and what she communicated to them. This she did because she believes that all white foreigners are Americans and they should be treated well, as America is a great country which is of course true. This she did because her son had apprised her of his pleasant stay in the US and how nice American people were. That is the kind of admiration; common people in India have about Americans. Though I tried my best, I could never know which country they were from though. You might not be aware but Indian people have suffered for a long long time. Right from when Mongolians invaded India hundreds and thousands of times until mughals invading it again and again until the slavery under the British rule and still suffering from cross border terrorism. I am sure there are lots of other countries that have gone through the same ordeal and all they can do is to look upon some country like AMERICA. Hope I am not sounding like I am trying to get sympathy from you people but that is how it is. We have been going through the same ordeal for thousands of years as what you are going through right now and it is just a mere coincidence that we Indians are in huge number at the wrong time. But please do consider the fact that we have contributed a lot to your economy. I remember reading somewhere that 40% of the doctors and 30% of the scientists (mainly in NASA) in the USA are Indians. All in all, I would like to conclude that instead of looking at one country, let us look at the world as a whole and try and make it a better place. LET US GET GLOBAL!!!!! Thanks for printing this. We are well aware that NASA is heavily populated by H-1Bs. Our government and the media has been warned for years that a reliance on outsourcing and foreign labor, while possibly cutting short term labor costs, could lead to incidents such as the Columbia disaster. These warnings have been systematically ignored. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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25 January 2003 I am an Indian IT professional in Australia, educated both in India and
Australia . After reading some of your comments, I cannot but sympathize with your situation. I have seen, during my education in India,
exceptionally brilliant people, the likes of which would be hard to find anywhere. I am also aware of the massive fraud market running in India in
relation to H1 visa . During the mid-nineties lots of people migrated to the
US with H1 visas arming themselves with fake resumes, fake work experiences
etc. Many of them wouldn't have known anything about programming too. It is
these people, whom you have to compete with now. However the presence of exceptionally brilliant people from India in the US cannot be understated.
Most of them have gone on to become millionaires or CEO's of major American
companies. I was under the impression that for an H1 visa, the employer had to prove
that they cannot fill the post with local talents. It doesn't seem to be so
from what I read from some of the letters. I think this is gross injustice.
No country should fill up jobs with foreigners if they have local talents for that position.
This is where your war-mongering President should do more to look into the
affairs of his country instead of pretending to be solving issues elsewhere
in the globe. Employers don't have to favor US citizens over H-1Bs. Go to the FAQs page and Replacing Americans for more info. Our war-mongering president is an stalwart supporter of H-1B and wants to increase all guest worker visas. It's indeed unfortunate that Bush would rather wage war for oil and cater to greedy corporate robber barons than put unemployed Americans out of work. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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21 January 2003 My thoughts on the H1 program I don't think the H1 dream for Indian proffessionals can be summed up as easily as being able to deal with corrupt governments! First of all, it takes two to tango, it's not just the government who's corrupt in the US, the corporations are corrupt as well, BIG TIME! I don't see how a lowly employee (which most H1's are) is in any position to manipulate or deal with government no matter how corrupt they are. I don't know if stories about worker shortages and the quality of
Indian IT workers have been "planted" in the media. But just think, if they were the lousy non-talented bunch that people think
they are, would they own and run 30% of companies in silicon The US has one of the largest and most functional democracies in the world. I respect and admire the ability of the people of this country to move corporations and governments. If your movement made sound economic or strategic sense, believe me it would snowball into something massive and you'd see people stand up and take notice. I know I have nothing to fear from people like you, It just upsets me the misconceptions going around, some saying H1's are security threats and things like that. I haven't seen a convincing educated argument from anyone yet. I just see anguished, frustrated and very angry responses from people Please do print my name and e-mail address. I don't know how many hits your website receives but I think it will be interesting to receive few responses. Vivek Singh, Our "movement" is gathering momentum as the American public is learning that H-1Bs are a cheap labor subsidy for our greedy corporations. Even Indian newspapers recognize the backlash and it's even more severe in Germany and Malaysia. As for national security, there are many cases of espionage and spying by H-1Bs. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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12 December 2002 Which world are you in? Have you visited any of the job boards such as Dice, Net-Temps, ComputerJobs and the thousands of others in the past 2 years? They all say NO H1Bs - only US Citizens or Green Card holders. I visit your website once in a while and agree in principle with several of your contentions but your frustrations are just turning into ugly racist hatred. You've outlawed all H1Bs as crooks and frauds. It was hilariuos to read one of the horror stories on your website where the guy says H1Bs have never seen a computer and they pay money to get a visa. Furthermore, do you any idea how much work is being outsourced overseas (even before the downturn, the downturn has only made it more noticeable)? Even if the H1B law is abolished, most of that work will go overseas. It still won't help americans. Welcome to globalization - what happened to sneakers and clothing in the 70s and 80s is happening to software now. That is just how the world economy works. India and China are not to be blamed. If not India or China, it would've been Nigeria or Tanzania. Stop whining and focus some of this effort in looking for a job.... I was out of work last year for 3 months but was fortunate enough to have a green card. I was able to find work earlier this year. Scores and scores of H1Bs have returned to their home country in the past 2 years, unable to find someone to sponsor. Show me one job posting on Dice that says they'll take H1Bs. I'll take back whatever I've said. Ramkumar ZaZona.com sent Ramkumar some examples these H-1B Jobs Ads. He never replied so it's assumed that he took back whatever he said. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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10 December 2002 The other Side The other shoe! Step in for a moment. I fully emphasize with Americans and what they are going through. But PLEASE do look at the other side too. When I can step into your shoes and feel your soreness, please do the same and abide with me too, instead of just insulting us for taking away your jobs. Infact to my knowledge a LOT of H1Bs have lost jobs to US citizens. Most of the place I see is that they need ONLY US citizens NO H1B visas. A lot of people have gone back to their home country. A LOT. Ones out of job, they cannot stay in this country and Maximum of them head off for their country. I do agree that most of the H1Bs don't speak English language fluently but they do make an effort to learn another language. And trust me maximum people on H1B visas are bright and very intelligent. Only the ones who are smart have survived here and still they aren't treated well, take it on salary or facilities. Please don't hate us, we suffer too and its really really tough on us to be treated like shit. Brain drain that's what happened here and is still going on! I doubt your contention that H-1Bs have lost their jobs to American citizens. H-1Bs should be fired and deported whenever a qualified American can be found for the job. That will stop the brain drain from your country. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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27 November 2002 United Airlines fraud I just read where United Airlines is whining about wanting some loan guarantee in the amount of $1.8 billion. I also reviewed your employer list of H1-B and other visa requests and noticed that United has 20 pages of entries! At 25 entries per page this adds up to about 500 foreign workers at United proper. This doesn't count the number of foreign workers coming in indirectly through consulting firms. So, what United wants is for the taxpayers of the United States to pay for the foreign workers who have displaced many of them. I voted for a Republican administration because I thought they might be more concerned about the citizens of this country. But the Bush administration seems to be as solidly in favor of this nonsense as the Democrats! The situation at United is repeated at American (and Sabre). Is there any hope for some relief? John Harralson There is no short term hope for relief from the job destruction caused by H-1B. The industry lobbyists have been working since mid-summer to raise the number of visas allowed per year. Bush supports H-1B and he wants higher limits on other nonimmigrant visas. The scant opposition to H-1B will encourage Congress to give our companies access to cheap labor. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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29 October 2002 Why can't we stop this flood of H1-B? There is a severe shortage of nurses in the US. Despite that, the foreign nurse supply is extremely closely restricted in this country. There was a H1-A visa program for nurses and it expired some time in 1996. There is an organization called American Nurses Association (ANA). ANA vehmently opposed this program and it was also defeated in Congress. How can they win and we can't? Why don't senators abolish the H1-B program altogether? It amazes me. This unbelievable unemployment rate that we have among computer professionals is largely due to the enormous number of foreign H1-B workers in the US. I think we have to take the lesson from nurses. Musleh Nurses are now coming in vast numbers by using H-1B visas, so your contention that nurses somehow won against cheap foreign competition is wrong. Use the LCA Database to view H-1B nurse applications. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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2 October 2002 Training money I read that Bush plans to cancel training budget funded with H1 visa fee for American workers. They believe that it is an ineffective program. I have seen $193 Million dollars being doled out by Department of Labor really does not help American workers. I visited an IT training school and found the school was being really run indirectly by such funds. I will feel more comfortable if instead of doling out such monies to training schools tax intensives are given to employers who training and hire unemployed US workers. That will be a good return on investment. The school I visited was really bringing H1 workers to conduct training courses and really only 10% students could find job after doing courses. Do you know which senator is sponsoring this bill to cancel the training program? Bush proposes to cancel the training programs and use the money to help H-1B visa holders to get Green Cards faster. None of the money will go to unemployed workers that have been displaced by H-1Bs. See H1BNews for more information. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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16 September 2002 About H-1B and terrorism I find the feedback on H-1B and terrorism very short sighted and discriminating. You are implying that everybody else in this world are terrorists. I was born and raised in Africa, I did not asked to be born there. Maybe you should go and live there for a few years and we will see how you make it. Life isn't nearly as easy as it is here in the US. Most other people in the world has to work twice as hard as an American to get what they want. Oppurtunities are not so in abbundance, something most Americans take for granted. The only problem I see here are people who cannot maintain their standard of living anymore. If you are qualified enough and can be more productive than an H-1B worker, then you should be able to get the job instead. Like somebody else have said before, remember your ancestors also came to the US to look for better oppurtunities. Well I came here for the same reason and so my children will be Americans just like your ancestors were not Americans. Gerhard
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12 September 2002 H1B and terrorism Has anyone considered the cyber-terrorism risk? We allow these foreign temps in to buiid the software infrastructure of our nation. When the time is right, the logic bomb goes off and we're dead in the water. It's far worse than Y2K ever could have been! Chris Clement, unemployed IT worker Activists such as Dr. Gene Nelson have testified before Congress, and met with politicians and the FBI. So far these warnings have landed on deaf ears. The desire to import cheap labor is more important to them than national security. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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30 August 2002 I read in one of the letters by an "Unemployed Veteran" about his job going to 'some' Indian company like Infosys, whose 'inexperienced' staff had to be trained by him! It seems very strange, since this is a very reputable company and known as one of the world's best. It was also recently voted by KPMG as having the best industry standards (SEI CMM level 5). The recruitment process of Infosys is very stringent and only the best minds can make it into the company. Please have a look at their website 'www.infy.com' and you will see a beautiful piece of human creation, the company's head-office, work culture and the rest of it all. I think we should give credit to the people behind the company, the staff who work hard and like to work hard! You might call it a sweat shop, but for them it is not 'work', its an obsession, a dedication, a passion. I have seen many 'citizen' workers who do not share the same viewpoint. Some of them No, I am not from Infosys (I do wish I had been though!), but I have a very high opinion about highly skilled professionals who do not rip-off customers, and before you start cribbing about being 'low paid labour', let me assure you that the salary levels of companies like Infosys are comparable to those of similar job roles at 'citizen' companies. People with passion will continue with their work regardless of what some disgruntled losers have to say. The truth, is that the one who is competitive will prevail. When companies abroad will be more competitive and provide better quality, then work will go to them from India. For all the hate mails on your web-site, all I have to say, according to an old Indian saying, translated roughly, is: 'Elephants do not change their walk, because of barking stray dogs' Lets stop this cribbing and grow up. Raj Your portrayal of unemployed Americans as disgruntled losers is offensive. An ancient Vietnamese proverb says that "When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree". Infosys, that piece of human creation you so admire, is a bodyshop so you are better off without them. They have become very rich by exploiting naive foreigners like you. KPMG employs huge numbers of H-1Bs so their endorsement of this bodyshop is meaningless. Infosys probably supplies most of the H-1Bs that KPMG use so it's not surprising to see this type of corporate back scratching. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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22 August 2002 Commies go home Is this website funded by the North Koreans? Because everything you have to say is so completely against American Free Enterprise. I am sorry you dont have a job but getting yourself jobs is not the governments responsibility it is yours -- if someone else is doing your job then it is because you are overcharging and your "customer", the employer is buying elsewhere! Competition is good in all markets -- including the labor market. If you dont like the American Free Enterprise system immigrate to North Korea where the state will ensure that you have a job (You might starve but hey........you will learn that there is link between free enterprise and prosperity!) basu ZaZona.com is funded by the donations of hard working Americans that want to protect their jobs from the corporate subsidy called H-1B. Did you ever consider that corporate socialism is communism? [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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8 August 2002 How long does the LCA have to be posted in the company? Thanks 20 CFR 655.760 Subpart H says that the employer shall retain copies of the records for a period of one year beyond the last date on which any H-1B nonimmigrant is employed under the labor condition application. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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25 July 2002 Shame on US employers Fault for the H-1B situation does not lay with the immigrant workers here, they are merely striving for the 'American Dream' that has lead many other immigrant groups in the past to our country. It is irresponsible for your website to point fingers at any immigrant group that has come here seeking opportunity, to do so would be the equivalent to pointing fingers at our own ancestors who came here earlier for the very same reasons. Fault, if there is any, lies with our own American companies who encourage the existence of the immigration laws. In the ever present pressure to increase their bottom line it makes perfect sense to bring in a foreign worker who can do the job at a much smaller cost to them and their shareholders. It is our own management that does not care about American workers. You focus solely on the H-1B problem, but the fact is US companies have been taking advantage of cheaper labor overseas for years. Since the 1980s American companies, pressured to compete with foreign companies in the global marketplace, have taken thousands of manufacturing jobs away from US workers and shifted production overseas to foreign countries that not only allow a lower wage for their workers, but also do not have the stringent US laws governing labor practices, job safety, etc. The fact is these underdeveloped countries are creating a very favorable environment for US companies to encourage foreign investment, can you honestly blame US companies for taking advantage of this situation? For example, do you realize that if you buy clothing at your local Wal-Mart you are buying clothes manufactured overseas for pennies? Do you think the average American would support those manufacturing jobs coming back to American workers if it meant they now have to pay 5 times as much for the same clothing because now the manufacturer has to provide American level wages, benefits and job conditions to its workers? Would the stockholders in these American companies accept this? Would American firms remain as profitable or maintain their position in the global marketplace if they adopt this policy? In the long run, our firms would not be able to remain profitable in this scenario and will lose to foreign competition. American jobs will still be lost to foreigners, except this time American firms will also go down - to foreign firms taking advantage of the cheaper labor and manufacturing costs. Unfortunately we now live in a global marketplace. It is foolish and simple-minded to suggest that we just close our borders. Rather, we need to become more competitive in the global marketplace. In our global capitalistic society the bottom line is to increase your bottom line. While it is unfortunate that American jobs have gone to foreign workers both here and overseas, from a financial standpoint it is obvious that this is necessary to maintain profitability when competing with other companies in the global market who also engage in these practices. I sympathize with you as you fret over your personal job loss, I also worry about my future marketability and level of earnings in this industry. However, the scope of this problem is greater than our personal financial situations, and the solution is not so simple as stopping the flow of H-1Bs. Even if you succeed in stopping the issuance of H-1B visas, US companies can then just send the jobs themselves overseas directly to the foreign workers rather than bring foreign workers here! Already several US companies in the Northeast are outsourcing their customer service operations to lower paying areas of the US and even to Third World nations. With the level of telecommunications technology at our disposal today, it is not difficult for a large firm to move its IT operations overseas if it chooses to. This is already being done. I am sure you are aware of the fact that many software development projects for US firms are currently shipped overseas (eg., India) to avoid paying for high-priced American software developers. Should our American companies choose not to maximize their profits and possibly fall competitively behind other international firms because we spoiled Americans want to be guaranteed employment at a salary that can no longer be supported in a free market global economy? As a decision maker for a large financial firm in New York, and as an American concerned with my own personal finances I can appreciate both sides of the picture. By the way, your decision to link the presence of H-1B workers in this country with our current battle with terrorist forces in our midst is grossly irresponsible and I dare say borderline racist. The individuals holding these white collar jobs are highly educated foreign workers, not Muslim extremists. You are entitled to your personal views and you may feel promoting this view will further your cause, but such an irresponsible statement only plays upon the fears many Americans are dealing with right now. I work in lower Manhattan and live only a couple of miles from Ground Zero. Like many New Yorkers, I was personally affected by the attack. I lost many former coworkers in those attacks, some of whom were foreign workers, some were even H-1B holders! Terrorism and the presence of H-1B workers in our country are completely unrelated, and to suggest otherwise is not only irresponsible and unprofessional, but unfair to visitors to your website who don't know any better. I challenge you to be fairminded enough to post this message on your website. Your readers deserve to be exposed to differing viewpoints on this issue as well. Through the sharing of all of our experiences on your website can we as Americans truly develop an educated and balanced opinion on the subject. I welcome your feedback. This website focuses almost entirely on H-1B visas. I publish a free newsletter that deals with a wide range of work destruction issues such as outsourcing, Trade Promotion Authority, NAFTA, etc. To subscribe send an email to H1BNews@ZaZona.com. I know it must be painful for you to think that our government has invited terrorists into this country. The evidence has been building that a network of terrorists have used every type of visa they can to gain entry into the US - including H-1Bs. By using the LCA Database you can view the H-1Bs on the training staff of flight schools such as Embry-Riddle who trained the WTC pilots. This connection with H-1B is not a coincidence. Perhaps you ask the New York Times to start printing the facts. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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25 July 2002 Unethical common corporate IT practice, maybe illegal ? To some extent, I do agree with your and Ed Fruenhiem's view on H1B visas. Anyhow, I believe that the problem is not caused by US companies bringing in professionals through H1B program. The worst thing for US are Foreign companies i.e. Indian, Pakistani, Irish etc., "body shops" that have offices in the US, sell programmers to their clients as service (US company's IT dept.) at such low rates that even H1B holders are undersold. How do they do it? They bill $40/hr rate for senior development staff - less than equivalent salary for the position. "Consultants" are brought to US on business visa (3mo.) not even H1B. They work in US company's IT department and fly home to India every 3mo. to renew the visas. Indian company offices in the US do not pay any salaries here - only minimum living "allowance". "The businessmen/programmers" get paid in India. The US technology staff is replaced. Several Fortune 500 companies are using thousands of them right now instead of hiring. States and Federal Government are losing tax income - US companies buying the "service", Indian staffing companies nor the individuals who perform the work pay any taxes whatsoever. Is this legal? US companies' executives look great. Financials look great because it is a capital expenditure not a payroll expense. WorldCom is an example because of falsifying expense as capital expenditure. How many IT departments in large corporations are doing even worse thing without anybody asking? Without mentioning largest Indian "IT consulting" companies' names, I know of some with thousands of body's working here on this premises. I would like to know how many US companies use this "body shop" and account for it as capital expenditure? How many of "consultants" are flying back-and-forth to India every three months to renew their "business visas"? I am not a legal expert but it looks that this is a great practice to avoid taxes and hide expenses. Is anybody investigating this? Somebody should. See the FAQs and especially reference #1. The OIG has investigated bodyshopping extensively and they acknowledge almost everything you describe. This report was done in 1996 and since then nothing has happened. This report was ignored by all levels of our government. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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17 July 2002 You are providing a great service Your web site has done nothing but enrage me. Thanks for making me aware of yet another scam carried out against the People of the United States by the very officials elected to protect our interests. When a citizen attempts this sort of scam, it's called larceny. When government (and its corporate money machine) does it, it's called policy. Keep up the good work, you do have an influence (one more convert won to your cause). By the way, I'm not advocating more government. Companies need to wake up and think about it; if you strip your country bare Mr. board member/Ms. CEO, where will *you* live? In the new third-world country formerly known as the United States? LB |
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15 July 2002 More Friends fall to H-1B Today a young friend called from a Portland Oregon company and advised me he was just laid off and was quite upset as expected. I am 54 years old and was laid off earlier this year from Oracle. Oracle has created the India Development Center in India and Larry Elison has committed to move thousands of American jobs to India in the near future. I was a manager in the Oracle Learning Network and my whole team has been decimated and the jobs sent to the Oracle India Development Center or replaced with H-1B employees. I am in a position where I do not need to work but these young folks need jobs. I ask my friend if his company had H-1B employees and if any of these were laid off. He told me they had several H-1B employees but retained all of them while laying off many American workers. Is this legal? Why has not your group started a class action suite to stop this from continuing (maybe it is legal?)? The Orgonian News Paper believes the H-1B is a non issue as does our representatives Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith. I have several signatures to send in and plan to canvas for more but I appears to be a totally uphill battle. I realize that multi-national corporations have taken the US government from the American people via the current administration. This seem such a high profile issue as technology companies continue to import labor and fire Americans. What say you? The position of the Dept. of Labor is that companies are under no obligation to keep their American employees during layoffs. There are a few people that are fighting Sun over this issue based on discrimination of national origin. For more on that go to the special section called Sun Class Action. ZaZona is nothing more than a website. It is not an organization and it does not have the resources to fight legal battles or to mount lobbying campaigns. ZaZona exists to educate people on the H-1B scandal. At this time an organization dedicated to fighting H-1B doesn't exist although there are several organizations that oppose H-1B. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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12 July 2002 Companies Employing Illegal Aliens Please add Southern Company Services (Parent company of Georgia Power, Alabama Power) to your list. As a former employee of one of their "Broker Construction" companies working in Personnel., I saw illegals being hired with very questionable documentation, and was told to "let it go" only because they could pay them 2-3 dollars less an hour and no per-diem, and then made any kind of excuse to they could to lay off qualified Americans (black and white) because they could get cheaper labor. I have tried numerous times (for one month now) to contact INS regarding this, but they don't care. If you can please add them to your database. ZaZona.com doesn't add data to the LCA Database. This database is a reproduction of the same data that the Dept. of Labor uses. The first two companies you mentioned are listed in the online database. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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11 July 2002 How does the salary constitute? In the LCA salary data column, do you know what constitute the salary amount. Does it include insurance coverage, stock options and other benefits? Thanks in advance! Andy The salary column does not include benefits - it's the gross salary. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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7 July 2002 Thank you for your site! It's so good to go somewhere and hear someone talking sense on the H-1B issue. I worked at ADP in San Ramon CA for 15 years as an SE. In June 2001 they laid a large number of programmers off, including myself. I met the other laid off programmers at the "post-layoff" firm who handled helping us find other work. Like myself, they were nearly all older American citizens. I estimate that ADP employed nearly 1/3 foreign workers (I assume that most were H-1B's), yet not a single one of the laid off workers were foreigners (it's strange that when I checked the LCA DB, ADP only claims to have 6 aliens -- I know from my years working there that the number is *much* *much* higher than that.) Now here I am a year later, and greatly discouraged about my prospects of ever working in the software engineering field again (between the tech crash and H-1B workers, I guess I'm fucked) But it's good to hear someone speak out against it all. Unfortunately, most people don't see the problem at all and feel that I am a bigot for wanting to restrict the foreign workers. I'm not a bigot -- I JUST WANT MY DAMN JOB OPPORTUNITIES BACK!! I'm sure you know how I feel. Best of luck to you and your mission, P.S. I signed the petition to eliminate H-1B and posted it to many tech forums and sent the link to friends et al. There are many reasons that companies like ADP might have more H-1Bs than you see in the database. Remember, the database is a subset, it's not complete. I don't have the resources to publish the entire database. The other major factor to consider is that if a company hires from a bodyshop they will not be listed in the database. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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5 July 2002 Please subscribe me I am outraged to see a new article on CNN about the "New" even stronger efforts to recruit Technology workers enmass from India. I am an IT worker who was layed off. I watched as others that were from other countries were hired in reverse discrimination, simply because of the idea that they must be superior. Yet many did nto have strong skills or experience. They are still on the job while Americans were let go en-mass! It is an disgrace. We are in a recession and giving our best jobs to foreign workers? What a scam! Please add me to your list. I want to see how I can help to get this shameful situation changed. IT work has been one of the last/best opportunities for the middle class in America to regain lost ground and this opportunity is rapidly disintegrating. Thanks, To subscribe to the H-1B Newsletter send an email to H1BNews@ZaZona.com [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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9 June 2002 Wages on the LCA database I was laid off by Charles Schwab & Co. after the 911 incident. Browsing on the ShameH1B website, I found there are H-1B working on a position that could have been mine. The salary that posted on the LCA database did not make sense, because it is paying the same amount of wages for a U.S. worker. I know for a fact that these H-1B's are making substantially less that posted on the website (what posted was very close on what the U.S. Citizen workers are making); otherwise the company would not go though the trouble on hiring these H-1B's. I think the company could fabricate the wages. Is there anyway to verify this? If the company found fabricating these wages, I think we should alert the EDD employment agency on this situation. You can file a complaint but you must be sure you know the actual take home salary the H-1B is making and the salary stated on his/her LCA. Since LCAs don't have names attached you must get this information from the company HR department. Of course HR departments aren't likely to welcome an inquiry that will get them in trouble. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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5 June 2002
As an IT recruiter during the height of IT Shortage in the mid to late nineties - I can absolutely assure you that there were not enough American Workers entering the Information Technology Arena to service all of our clientele. I was there - working on the front lines - receiving the pages and pages of job openings from client throughout the United States. As a consulting firm we absolutely COULD NOT fill these openings. We tried offering the public a $1000.00 for referrals. We paid american workers sign on bonuses and helped them with mortgages. But, Americans were NOT going to school for IT and if they were they were only going to school to for the HIGH paying IT positions which left the Mainframe and Midrange IT positions high and dry. Presently the healthcare industry is feeling the same strain. We just had 3 hospitals SHUT THEIR DOORS - the are no longer accepting new patients because they do not have enough nurses. And guess what....Americans aren't training in this arena either...in fact enrollment in nursing schools is down to an all time low. I called a nursing school in PA just last month to see if I could attract some new graduates....they LAUGHED at me....they said that they had 15 girls graduate (and this was a huge university) and that 35 employers had already been in for open houses. In fact, our senator established a new bill in PA early last year indicating that the State would PAY - IN FULL - anyone who wanted to get their Bachelor Degree in Nursing. I will be paying my loans back for years yet people who want to get degrees in nursing can do so free....and get this....STILL NO ONE IS DOING IT.....why? I've asked...friends...co-workers...they all say it is a thankless job....too much work. Where do you suggest we get people during a shortage? And I have personally worked with foreign nationals for more than 15 years - they are loyal - extremely hard working - love to work - love to support their families and are very religous people. They are not afraid of hard work and will do whatever it takes to make their lives a success. Americans seem to want everything handed to them and it is an outrage that you would even consider posting something like this on the web...when our forefathers were ALL foreign nationals looking for work in the United States! P.S. - Your website would be more valuable to the US public if it showed facts from both sides! Your facts are slanted and misrepresented and manipulated to meet your objectives. This has become a global economy...like it or not. Unless we work together on a global basis - we will not be economically competitive. Besides how far back in time would you like to end the importing of foreign national labor...perhaps back far enough in your own ancestory that you would not be an American yourself? By the way - I have recruited both Americans and Foreign nationals for the last 10 years and I can assure you that it was because of a shortage. So unless you were a recruiter - out there facing the shortage in the mid ninties - I don't see how you can have an opinion. Christine cchiodo19403@yahoo.com The H-1B Hall of Shame is committed to respecting the anonymity of those persons who so request it. Nevertheless, the Hall does feel obliged to inform readers that the author of the letter above has refused to tell the Hall what company it is she works for, and furthermore that the author sent in an email pretending to be from a real company but which was obviously sent through an anonymous email router. Most of us unemployed engineers and programmers have very definite opinions about recruiters - we think they are sock puppets that will say anything their corporate masters tell them to. I can't judge whether you are merely a sock puppet or just plain naive, but this quote might surprise you for it's candor:
Walters message explains why you guys think there is a shortage. Corporations define what a shortage is and then their self serving message is spread by their immense media machine. Let me translate what you guys are really saying when you are shortage shouting:
I had to laugh when you said my site would be more useful if I didn't bias and slant my data so much. Corporate shills own the media and lobby Congress so that your shortage propaganda is the thing the public ever hears. Then you have the gall to tell me to expect ZaZona.com to sugar coat the damage your fellow borkers have done to American workers and their families. Read the Horror Stories from the American workers who are suffering because shortage shouting recruiters like you prefer H-1Bs. I'll make a deal with you Christine: you convince Harris Miller at the ITAA to stop bribing Congress to raise H-1B limits and to publicly admit that he lied about shortages and I'll take back everything I have ever said about bottom feeding recruiters. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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19 May 2002
Just wanted to send a thank you note for all your work in bringing the H1B issue to light ... it's an outrage what is being perpetrated on American programmers - I can't imagine any other skilled profession whereby this travesty could be carried out. Can you imagine if truck drivers were suddenly replaced with cheaper, foreign imported labor from Mexico, South America or any other country where a source of labor could be procured on a "temporary pass" and not be privileged to the rights that prevail for American citizens? I believe there would be blood in the streets. Here is a post from slashdot I made - detailing my take on things though I'll have to fetch my experience of being asked to train my H1B replacement - you may publish it if you wish ... And here is a letter I wrote in response to Harris Miller, ITAA president, who defends and justifies the practice of taking food off of the American worker's table so that lobbyists like him can secure cheap labor and fat profits for thier corporate bidders. I love the site, I wish you had some interactive forums though ... if there's any way I can help, please let me know. In the meantime, I will continue to post my takes and write letters to the ignorant reporters who follow along with the industry propaganda like the one I recently wrote to Julia King - her 4/29 "Hard Times" Computerworld article brandished the "American worker losing jobs to foreign worker" a *urban myth*. --Naum Trifanoff I have considered interactive forums but currently I just don't have the resources to handle the traffic and web space. If you want to help you can make a donation because it's donators that I must depend on to expand my web site. The ITAA can tap into it's rich corporate sponsors for new projects. I only wish I had 1/100 the money the ITAA can put into it's pro H-1B campaigns. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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19 May 2002
Question Zazona claims the database was updated in 3/11/2002. That means it already includes 1/5 of year 2002. Having checked the numbers, it looks like companies that filed hundreds of applications in 2001 have NONE in 2002, and when the do - the numbers are far below 20% of their 2001 usage. Can we conclude that there's a drastic reduction in LCA and H-1b requests in 2002 compared to 2001? Or maybe your last update could not obtain enough year 2002 data though the data does exist? When is the next time Zazona is going update the LCA database, to include March-May 2002 figures? The database update consisted of LCAs submitted up to the end of November 2001. The LCAs were a randomly selected subset of all the new data that includes start dates from 2001 and 2002. There are approximately 350,000 LCAs that I haven't put online. I cannot increase the size of the database until I can get more funding to do so. I might choose to rotate some of the older records out and replace them with newer ones since the size would remain the same. I have found that removing old data is not popular because people expect that data to remain online. It's a delicate balancing act. Be very cautious about using the LCA Database to make deductions about the number of H-1B submissions. THE DATABASE IS ONLY A SUBSET OF THE ENTIRE LCAS THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE DEPT. OF LABOR. I will attempt to retrieve the newest LCA data later this year. How much of it I put online will be determined by the funding I receive to do that. Unfortunately the cost to maintain the database is directly related to it's size. Read this FAQ for more information. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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26 April 2002
Major Unrecognized Scam There is a major unrecognized scam about H-1bs, but no one, not even your site, talks about it. Yet, every immigration lawyer, EDD, INS Officer, and the federal government knows about it. The H-1b process first requires the filing of a form ETA 9035 with the state EDD, to clear the offered H-1b job for the proper salary. The concern is to avoid deflating the wages of American workers. The form ETA 9035 has spaces towards the bottom of the first page, requiring the employer to list the offered wage and indicate the source of the wage information, as being in line with the local prevailing wage. There is an interesting box on that form marked "OTHER". All the employer has to do is mark that box and write below that the source of "Employer's Own Survey" in order to completely avoid the wage reporting requirement. The EDD never checks to see if the employer actually did a survey, nor does the INS, which only looks to see if the EDD certified the ETA 9035 when they receive it in the H-1b packet of petition materials. Therefore, the wage reporting requirement is a farce and the entire ETA 9035 is meaningless. Everyone knows this is going on, but no one is doing anything about it. Henry Quenin You are correct that the way prevailing wages can be circumvented is a scam, but you are wrong that the scam hasn't been discussed on this site or others. Read the FAQ "Are US Wages Protected" to find out more. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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23 April 2002
Section 245(i) Defeat: A Good Omen? Recently, yet another attempt by Congress to extend the rolling-amnesty known as Section 245(i) was defeated. There are signs that some elected officials have woken up to the fact that the world is a dangerous place, and always has been. Are you optimistic at all that this trend might still be underway when H1-B comes up for renewal? Russ G. Portland, ME It is indeed a blessing that 245(i) has been stalled but that didn't happen because our politicians somehow wised up to security concerns and put ethics ahead of the needs or their corporate sponsors. These politicians desperately changed their stance to protect their backsides after they received a huge deluge of angry phone calls, letters, faxes, and other forms of protest that NumbersUSA orchestrated. The only lesson we can learn from the temporary defeat of 245(i) is that politicians will listen to voters if enough of them protest in a coordinated effort. They will not change their minds based on principle. There is very little opposition to H-1B among the public so I don't think the victory against 245(i) will set a precedent. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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19 April 2002
Semi-annual meeting of Dorchester County Taxpayers Association! We the board of the Dorchester County Taxpayers Association deeply appreciate your efforts to ferret out the truth regarding H-1B immigration in South Carolina and the country as a whole. We are preparing for our semi-annual public forum on the subject of illegal immigration in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I'm following up on the leads your information relating to the BRI scandal in Charleston County has provided but I would like your input on who best to contact in our area to discuss the subject of H-1B at our meeting. As of now, we have the Sheriff of Dorchester County, Ray Nash, coming to our meeting that night to discuss his frustration in trying to deal with illegal immigrants in our county, and John Graham Altman, on of our prominent state representatives, coming to discuss a bill he's co-sponsoring in the South Carolina House of Representatives to provide new powers under state law to enforce our state's and our nation's immigration laws. We would like to have you or someone locally you think would support our efforts to come and speak to us on the subject of H-1B and how best to address this issue with our congressman and others with the power to eliminate this political and economic boondoggle! Can you help? John M. Braund Note: To understand what this letter concerns, go to H-1B News and read "Charleston County Hires Indian Owned Company to Run Computer Systems". ZaZona.com is attempting to set Braund up with some locals in the Charleston area that could help educate people on why H-1B workers can jeopardize public privacy and security. Please email this site if you can be of help. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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12 April 2002
Corruption Rules US Corporations and lawyers have used (and continue to use) Congress to enact numerous laws which are not in the best interest of the US public/tax payer, but rather in the interest of lawyers and Corporations. The H1B legislation is just another example of favors to US Corporations at the expense of US workers. Unfortunately, corruption rules in US Government, US Corporations, and the US legal profession. Perhaps we should get a large group of unemployed hitech workers to meet in Washington, DC; and march to the Capitol in protest of H1Bs. If the group is large enough, the media will be forced to cover the story. Keep up the great work, I hear a lot of talk about marching on Washington to protest H-1B. The problem is that nobody wants to spend the time to organize this. Any volunteeers? [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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11 April 2002
Clarification of data I'm considering doing an article about your data base, but I'm not clear on one thing. If a person were to look up LCA's for a certain company and find some, does that mean the person could apply for those jobs and possibly get one before the employer finds a suitable alien? Or, are those positions already filled? Thanks. Kudos to you for publicizing the data base. Nick Corcodilos There is nothing in the law that would prohibit companies from interviewing or even hiring an American citizen after the LCA is registered, however by the time a company files the LCA they usually have no intention of hiring anyone but an H-1B. In many cases the job has already been filled by someone on a student visa or some other type of temporary visa. I know of a few cases where companies refused to interview an American who used LCAs to find out who is hiring. Your question is intriguing but I haven't heard from people that have used the LCA data to apply for jobs. I would like to hear from anyone that has tried this strategy to find a job. Tell us what happened. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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7 April 2002
Revive Buy American Act One way to remedy the H1-b problem is to revive the Buy American Act;
companies that employ H1-b's would NOT be eligible to bid on government contracts. That would |
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7 April 2002 We the Corporation Should the constitution be changed to read We the Corporation in place of We the people? Hypocrisy abounds in congress and in corporate America as they work together eliminating good paying American jobs and all the while saying just the opposite. Corporations started or relocated their operations all over this country based on contractual agreements made between them and various city, county and state governments. These governmental bodies deferred or limited taxes, and in some cases allowed no taxes to be paid by these companies. In return, the companies were to supply jobs to the citizens of these areas. Americans could relocate for these jobs if talent was not available locally. These jobs were not suppose to go to H-1B. Every city, county and state who made these agreements should hold those corporations who hired H-1B, subject to penalties and back taxes for not keeping their promise to supply those jobs, all of them, to the American workforce. But then again, it's We the corporation not We the people who has the clout. This idea that America does not have a large enough work force of talented people to fill programming job requirements is bull. The true story is that corporate America doesn't want to pay American rates nor does it want to pay for any additional training for American citizens. They want people to respond to adds that say we need x,y,z for so many dollars instead of we need x,y,z talent. When Americans do respond, they are told that all of the x,y,z job requirements are mandatory, that their is no training available and that you must be a local candidate to qualify. It wasn't that way in the eighties. I have spent thirty years in the computer industry. I have three close friends all with
similar backgrounds. We are all Americans, white males, in our late forties. We are all When we interview with companies, we are being rejected for some minor thing like a need for someone in the food industry , or just the opposite, an over kill requirement to code in five different languages as well as speak in a foreign language, all for a low wages. My friends and I have all concluded that most of the recruiting companies are placing bogus adds on the internet to satisfy their requirement that they looked for programmers and engineers and the government is buying it. In 2001 and 2002 the government has increased the H-1B allowable which is now reeking havoc on American programmers and engineers. Most of the internet recruiting companies never call you back. Most all of the adds say These are all jobs that should have been American jobs but they are being filled by H-1B clones. Corporations are betraying the American programmer and engineer. They seem to have no problem relocating managers, so why not the programmers and engineers. Why hasn't the government said, if your an American and a un-employed programmer, or you were a programmer and were forced to take another job outside of programming for lack of work, we need to hear from you. Why hasn't the government asked for a body count. Why doesn't the government tell the employers, hay find yourself an American worker or do without. I don't feel my legislature is representing me as We the people. My legislature is representing We the Corporation. CAT Case in Point: Intel won huge concessions from the City of Chandler in Arizona to build a fab there. In addition to huge tax breaks they won rights to scarce desert water and waivers for the air and ground pollution the fab creates. As part of the agreement they promised the city that they would staff the fab with local people. Intel never delivered on it's promise but the city did. Almost everyone that works there was relocated from California or they are H-1Bs. Intel pulled a similar stunt in Albuquerque New Mexico. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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5 April 2002
AT&T H1B Visa Indians in Pleasanton I am an AT&T communications technician working in Frame Relay center in Pleasanton, CA. I also am a CWA 9415 Union mobilizer for this bargaining session. We have an entire floor of Indians being trained to do my job & the job of our engineering designers. We have been told that AT&T plans to send our work back to India with them upon their completion of training and concurrent w/our contract ending date. How can we positively find out if they are here on H1B visas or tell what work visas they are here on? We know they are foreign nationals and are fairly sure H1B is the visa they are here on but how do we find out for sure? Hoping for an answer, 20 CFR 655.760 Public access gives the public a right to view the Labor Condition Applications that companies use to hire their H-1Bs. In other words AT&T must let you see these records and should be posting them in a public place. SunClassAction is a website that features data that a concerned ex-employee demanded to see from Sun Microsystems. Sun complied because they risk losing their right to hire H-1Bs if they don't make the records available. They have no choice and neither does AT&T. Now I have a question for you and your union - CWA. Why aren't you refusing to train your scab replacements and why aren't you on strike? Don't you realize that AT&T will fire you as soon as they are trained? Please read what happened to Linda Kilcrease to understand that your job at AT&T is over unless your union does something - AND FAST! Unions have got to wake up to the reality that companies are using H-1B to destroy American labor. This is a direct frontal attack on labor unions and so far you guys aren't fighting back. Why? [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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1 April 2002
News Media I came across your site after I was laid off by a company that continues to hire and even employ non Americans for the same positions. I have tried to send your site to people I know and have posted a link in a few of the web sites my family and I have. I wish the subject could get national coverage. You sound like someone that is well informed and could get some media coverage. Is the interest not there because the petition only has 1500 signatures ? Maybe the local news media could cover it, and maybe after they see it, the parent companies could have some coverage if people start to call into the local news agency about additional information. It makes me sick, that they make such a big thing about being "patriotic" and doing what is best for America and the Americans, specially the veterans, and here I am, a USAF disabled veteran that has lost a job to a foreigner, and nobody wants to talk about it. What if the veterans serving today, specially the reservists, would know how they can expect to be treated by "their country" when they return. They may have a job for a week, and than let go because their company can save a few dollars hiring a foreign worker, even though the foreign worker contributed nothing to the prosperity of the USA, which in turn made it possible for that company to make money and grow in this great country of ours. Maybe you could help bring that point across, as I am sure the public, after 9/11, will be more receptive to how Americans, specially veterans are being treated by the companies. and their government. Maybe some letters to congressional supporters of eliminating the H1B visas, as I am sure they would like to cash in the publicity that would create in their favor by the sympathetic people of the USA against "Big Corporation" exploiting the American worker. Great job and great information on your site. I am getting some more signatures for the petition and will mail them soon. Regards, There have been many discussions about why more Petitions to Abolish H-1B haven't been mailed. Frankly we don't have an explanation. Huge numbers of people are affected by H-1B and yet we just get a few petitions to send to Congress every week. Hopefully more activists like yourself will pass the petition around so we can send more of them to Capitol Hill. The news media is not very interested in the subject of H-1B. Many activists have been trying to get more media coverage but so far the results have been disappointing. Perhaps we need to come up with some new ideas on how to get this subject into the mainstream media. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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19 March 2002
I think the H-1B visa program has two major problems: First, while the program provided the flexibility in easing the manpower supply bottleneck in many sectors in the US economy; particularly, the technology sector, during the economic boom, the program is rigid in adjusting to labor surplus problem when the economy goes bust. Second, technical expertise of foreign citizenship often works long hours in so-called “sweatshop” at astonishingly low wages, which in turn drives down the wages of American professionals. The situation is unacceptable to the intention of the original design of the program. I had a conversation with a staff at my congressman Frank Wolf’s office at the Capitol. This person had the nerve to argue that as long as foreign professionals willingly accepted exploitative wages and long working hours, it was a happy deal for both sides. He did not see anything wrong with this kind of labor contract. While it is quite disturbing, the message reflects that employers rather than workers have a stronger voice at the Capitol. Employers have the means to lobby at the Capitol, and their financial resources are derived partly from the profit margin generated by offering lower wages to H1-B visa holders. And it is a shame to witness that slavery revives in the U.S. in the 21st century. For American technical professional to have a competing voice at the Capitol, collecting signatures on the petition letter may not suffice. We ought to have the resources to dig into the dirt in the H-1B visa program and arouse the attention of the general public. The news media may serve as a suitable candidate to play this role. I am thinking if we could recommend theH1-B topic to several widely viewed programs of the public television channels, such as the 20/20, 48 hours, Night Line, etc. The directors of those programs may welcome our suggestion provided that there are enough scandals to talk about. Especially, we are currently having the window of opportunity to pursue along this line – unemployment is still an issue in the country; homeland security is at stake; the Immigration and Naturalization Services is currently under scrutiny, etc. I am waiting for your feedback. Caroline Jen e-mail: jiapei_jen@yahoo.com I recommend that you read Professor Norm Matloff's Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage because your statement about manpower supply bottlenecks plays into the hands of the shortage shouters that lobby for H-1B. There never a shortage of high tech workers - there was only a shortage of employers willing to pay for them. So far most of the major media coverage has consisted of sob stories when H-1Bs lose their jobs. We need more about the devastating effects it has had on US workers. Many activists have tried to convince news shows such as 60 Minutes to do a show on H-1B. They have consistently refused to discuss the issue. Perhaps if more people contact these news shows with a request for H-1B coverage they will have more interest in the subject. Please continue your efforts to remind politicians that H-1B is not a "happy deal". [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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11 March 2002
I love your website and how you are trying to protect the American Worker who is being marked for extinction. When people try to tell us what a free country we live in and what great economic advantages we have, we should remind them that these conditions were brought about by the struggle of organized labor. Indeed, the country through the stewardship of Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Dumber Bush has reverted back to being a corporate oligarchy. We have literally allowed MILLIONS of foreigners to infuse the country drive down our wages, demand their welfare and cause unbelievable congestion. Let's get damned mad! Sincerely, While you're mad be sure to sign the Petition to Abolish H-1B. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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9 March 2002
Excuse Me H1-B visas for musicians and artists? The US has a pool of musical/artistry talent. Please explain this one to me. Yolanda Weir You are correct that there are provisions in H-1B to allow musicians and artists into the US on H-1B visas. The LCA Database has plenty of listings for them. There is only one explanation for what you observe - schools, universities, and symphony orchestras have learned to use H-1B to reduce labor costs. The allure of cheap young blood is way too much for them to resist. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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3 March 2002
How about this for H1-B? I'm not saying this as if I am the first person to think of it, but I have read a lot of web pages and message boards about H1-B and have never heard any suggestion of this as a way to fight H1-B. I'm a bit surprised. How feasible would it be to launch a campaign of litigation against pro H1-B companies? I've been an opponent of excessive litigation in general in the past, but after what has happened because of H1-B, I feel like anything goes. * Litigation is costly to the defendant and you do not have to win in order to cost the defendant lots of money. This would drive up the cost of H1-B and make it less attractive * Litigation often grabs headlines in the mainstream press, something that previous discussion and debate of H1-B has generally failed to do * Although the pro H1-Bs have no shortage of their own attorneys, there should be plenty of anti H1-B attorneys willing to take such cases, especially if they have a chance to get millions out of Big Bucks Company A legal fund could be set up and many H1-B opponents could make donations to it. This abomination was possible through legal maneuvering, it can be hampered in the same fashion. Christopher Mohr There may be lawyers that are willing to represent Americans that have been denied employment or replaced by H-1Bs but they aren't going to do it for free. Don't expect a lawyer to work on a contingency basis either because the probability of winning is extremely low. The immigration lawyers that helped to design H-1B wrote enough loopholes to cover almost all legal problems. Here is a quote from Linda Kilcrease: "I had a high-powered Manhattan attorney that worked with me for free trying to sue AIG. Not getting an administrative "call" by a federal agency, he felt the probability of success in court trying to sue AIG was more difficult and then required $10k up front. I didn't have those funds and it did sound unlikely we could be successful." [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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26 February 2002
I am an H-1B from Canada (contrary to popular myth, not all H-1B's come from India). I think there is a good deal of truth to much of this site, but I don't think it tells the whole story. For one thing, the vast majority of H-1B's are honest folks who have abided by the laws of both their home countries and the USA, and are just trying to make a living in a tough economy like everyone else. More importantly, though, you neglect to mention the many opportunities which are available to U.S. citizen workers which are simply not available to foreigners on work visas. Most U.S. citizen programmers with whom I've worked tend not to remain in programming positions for more than a year or two at most. In general, they quickly advance into more lucrative positions such as management or sales. They tend to leave the technical grunt work to foreigners. These management and sales positions are not, in general, open to foreigners. Having observed so many American citizen tech workers make the leap up the corporate food chain so easily, I'm left wondering who these Americans are who are losing their tech jobs to foreigners. I'm left with the sense that if they had any real ability, they too could have advanced into management, and that the reason they are still stuck in tech jobs is because their skills are inferior. As such, it is no wonder management wants to replace them with highly skilled foreigners. Neil Armstrong Not everyone in the US can be a plantation boss so you are being way to quick to call them all losers. You do make one good point: Management wants to replace US workers with the fresh young blood of indentured laborers. That's the entire point of this website. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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28 February 2002
Caucus Time and what to do...Plus a couple of other questions. I just went to my Iowa Democratic Caucus. One of the things you can do is write up a resolution for different items to be put on the platforms. They must start with "We oppose", or "We Favor". Then just a little background of your resolution. I know that when the teachers or labor unions want something, they make up these resolutions and give them to their members to take to their caucus. And, then try to get their members into the county and state platform committees to make sure that their resolutions get added to the platform. I am not sure if this is a procedure done in just Iowa or not, but I was wondering if it would be a good idea to make available a generic resolution for everyone who opposed H-1B's to take to their caucus. I was wondering if their is anyway to tell where in the USA these H-1B's are going. When I worked at the major insurance company in Des Moines as a senior programmer/analyst consultant, many times I felt like I was in a foreign country when I got into the elevator. I know that this company has a big number of H-1B's. I feel for the population, Des Moines is getting too many H-1B's. One, last question. Is there anyway to tell what the H-1B's are working on and if it is "safe" for our country? I think I heard one time that our State's government (Iowa) IT department is using H-1B's. Which means that the web site I use to get my Unemployment benefits was programmed by a Non US Citizen and maintained by that same person. Isn't that nice of them! Thank you for your web site! I know this is an up hill battle, but I figure my Grandfather who fought in WW1, and my father who fought in WW2 in North Africa did not fight for the American dreams of the H-1B's, but for the American dreams of their son's and daughters. Craig The generic resolution you ask about can be found at the Petition to Abolish H-1B. The best way to find out where H-1Bs are living and working is to use the LCA Database, and Demographics pages. There are also some excellent academic and government studies that you can find from the Links page. H-1Bs are working for states and the federal government so your concerns over security and loss of privacy is valid. The INS even hires H-1Bs to monitor H-1B and other immigration programs! They also develop databases for all of our major corporations so the security implications are immense. H-1B workers have access to substantial portions of our computer infrastructure and that means the potential for hacking, trojan horses, backdoors, data mining, and other types of abuses is very real. See the H-1B News page for the concerns that the CWA has about our communication systems. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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26 February 2002
I recently applied for a job here locally with company called the SC Group. I was turned down cold because of the ridiculous job requirements. I was qualified except for one requirement which was the "WinnInn" experience. Apparently WinnInn is a very, very proprietary software package that is used the MS windows environment to allow different Inns and Hotels to network together. I know of very, very, very few programmers that have WinnInn experience. I have seen literally hundreds upon hundreds of job requirements for various types of jobs in the MIS industry, but never, ever have I heard of the WinnInn software package. Anyhow, long story short, I noticed on your database that SC group has hired H1-B's to fill out their technical positions here locally. I can't help but this is a shammy scam. The company is just trying to say to the department of labor that they can't find qualified applicants here in the US because they have such ridiculous job requirements, so they have to go outside the US and hire a H1-B. This whole things sounds really fishy to me. I would really like report them to the Labor department and tell them what I think is going on here. Can I report them for this? If so, how do I go about doing that? You should be more familiar with the system on how to do this than I am. Brendan If you are wondering why H-1Bs always seem to have the right skills and you don't it's because the job ads are tailored to the specific alien they want to hire. Often that alien may already working there on a student visa so he/she may have a proprietary skill that nobody else does. The game is rigged so that you will always lack a skill that the alien supposedly does. All SC Group has to say is that you, the uneducated American, can't meet their requirements. Read Where Can I Report H-1B Fraud for more information. You will have to prove to someone at the Department of Labor who may not be computer literate what WinInn is. Even if you convinced someone that this requirement is bogus, the employer can say that they need someone that can "hit the ground running". Unfortunately it will come down to your word against the SC group. The employer always wins these battles. Remember that the H-1B law was designed to protect employers, not workers. The odds are against you getting satisfaction by filing a complaint to the EEOC but I would still encourage you to do it. If they get deluged with complaints maybe someone will start demanding a change. Write back on what happens and your follow up letter will be printed on this site. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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25 February 2002
h1-b Another way of protesting to cut down the h1-b sponsoring is to protest/strike infront of big companies/labor deptartment/attorney offices /immigration offices / staff agencies/ congressman offices day after day. I am afraid it wont be a one day thing. It is a good cause to save the jobs now before it is too late. You can also start massive email lists or yahoo groups. Mario RK "America can only rise up and live the true level of its creed as a country of freedom and democracy so long as each and every succeeding generation of Americans is willing to stand up and fight for what it believes in, willing to stand up and fight against what is wrong, and willing to stand up and fight for what is right. Because if a man doesn't have a worthy and noble cause that he is willing to fight and die for, then he has no reason to go on living." ---- Martin Luther King, spoken just a few days before he died. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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25 February 2002
Illegal Immigration activity I need to report on illegal immigration activity near boston. This
person has applied for green card based on non-existant work experience. please let me know how i can email INS about this person. I need
to remain anonymous for personal reasons. This is an urgent issue because his green
card is in last stages and there are couple of americans about to be laid off to keep him hired. The INS is will not respond to anonymous messages and they don't take email. You call them and request to remain anonymous. Read Where Can I Report H-1B Fraud for more information. [H-1B Hall of Shame] |
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IS IT A CRIME TO BE TALENTED???
