If H-1b were reformed to only be issued when no qualified American is available and they were paid at least what average Americans earn, the current cap would not be reached. But these corporations lobby against such reforms as "additional administrative hassle." Running a classified ad for job openings is not too much of a burden?

The H-1b prevailing wage for "reporter" in San Francisco is $34,000 per year. Would you object to a virtual cap being placed on your wage due to unlimited supply at that level? (Most H-1b prevailing wages are Level One.)

The national leaders of the American Civil Rights Institute signed an open letter to Congress: http://www.acri.org/pr_060707.html

Notice the word "Merit." Merit = Education Level + Experience.

Now, remember that so called "Merit System" point in the Senate Immigration Bill? That so called Merit System awards points for age less than 40. Well, that is not a "Merit System," that is Institutionalized age discrimination.

Regardless how Congress acts, there's little doubt that IT industry leaders will continue their campaign to increase visas for foreign

Of course, Korporate Amerika won't stop! It needs it fill of cheap labor to maximize profits.

But for the real story go to http://www.eng-i.com/E-Newsletters.htm

Bob
check the following: www.eng-i.com/EGG.html

In my opinion, H-1B visa is a scam. It is a construed attempt to lure in cheap workers to take up Americans jobs, afterall, Americans were there before. There is no job in America that you cannot find applicants given equal playing fields. The problem is nothing, but greed.

Microsoft Corp. and alike can afford to retrain in exchange for reduced wages millions of Americans that their IT training has become somewhat obsolete. Millions of American are existing the IT industry because of lack of support from the industry players.

H-1B is not the solution, rather retraining American IT/IS workforce in exchange for reduced wage is.

Yes, the tech executives don't much like the idea of a merit system, either, because it eliminates the "indentured guest-worker" situation in which the guest-worker is bound to a particular employer.

The auction of 83 H-1B visas per month to the highest bidders would do much to bring back economic sanity and help ensure they're used for only the best and brightest. But in light of Allan Alter's comment, perhaps there should be a limit of 2 H-1B visas per firm.

In either case, some limits also need to be reduced and enforced on family immigration, and visa over-stays, and just plain old illegal border crossing. The high proportion of 1st generation non-English-speaking immigrants has been one of the big factors in driving down average education outcomes and driving several hospitals out of business.

http://www.kermitrose.com/econ.html#Summary

The awarding of a point for an age below 40 may be justified by the changes in generations per their education, work experiences, and personal use patterns in networks and the internet. However, it is institutionalized age discrimination which defies law and established practice. It is not necessarily true that an engineer or IT spec above the age of 40 is limited in his or her abilities to improvise, create, and to network. Perhaps the social patterns of usage in group work defy including a person above the age of 40? Should this personal set of practices be institutionalized?

We need to call the responsible Senate offices and present our views and their summaries to the staffers.

The H-1B visa is a way to get an inflow of cheap foreign labor. This is all in the cause for profits.

I have worked in IT for 10 years and this year I moved over to a business management position so that i can move up the ladder. Overall, most IT systems are Franken-ware created in India, or other countries, support, fixing, and additions are done in the United Stated. The software and for that matter hardware systems are almost always breaking down or not quite working as it was supposed to. As a direct result, most IT employees are on a constant firefighting mode, we can never be proactive. IT is always on a re-active role repairing systems, software. There is always an emergency to attend to; this results in high stress, high pressure this creates a hostile work environment that is no longer any fun.

Fun is the whole reason why most IT workers got into the industry; it was a place so self actuation and self expression of wearing shorts and a t-shirt to work getting out of the so-called monkey suit.

Another industry plague is project managers or senior management or for that fact employees. Due to the lack of planning or foresight of management, IT employees are constantly in the position of resolving emergencies or putting out fires they did not create.

The IT field is stagnant in wages, opportunities, and it is only getting more restrictive. How is it in the 1990s working in IT was the in thing? An example of this: Working in California you could go to lunch, network with other IT guys and be offered a job starting the next day. Why is it that there was enough movement, talent then?

The IT shortage is due to corporate America after the dot bombs. As a result there was the over crowding of qualified IT workers, but not enough jobs. Needless to say, many qualified IT workers moved into other industries.

Another fad plaguing IT is the fact that IT is no longer viewed a way to grow a company but rather a necessity that is an overhead kind of job; we are no longer a core competency. This has created the rollercoaster affect IT workers are experiencing. Not to mention the outsourcing/offshore outsourcing that is prevalent. There are plenty of qualified IT workers but they are not willing to get on the rollercoaster again. We have a standard of living, families to support, no thank you to the contract work that pays $10 to $15 per hour.