Which companies received H-1B visas in '08?

Just running the numbers in my head that is roughly 85,000 folks in the tech sector that could be working instead of filing for un-employment? I wonder how many foreclosures that balances out to?

If we export all our jobs that take more than a high school education why would anyone bother going to college? I guess one argument is you can manage people in the service industry or you can work in the service industry.

I suppose we can try making a living off Chinese mid-eastern tourism.

I don't have a problem with the issue of H-1b visa being issued to fill job in the US where a shortage of skilled US workers exist. However in this economy I'd like to know where there is a skills shortage here. Truth is H-1b visas are just a way for companies to reduce labor costs and the fact that the majority of them are issued to Indian firms that pay their employee working in the US far less than the average US workers proves this is the motive. It not a lack of skills its greed.

The problem is, it has never been a physical shortage the H-1b has been used (or ABused) for, but a monetary shortage. Companies want highly skilled techies to keep their systems running, but are unwilling to pay what they are worth.

Those same companies were directly responsible for the Y2K "problem," because they were unwilling to first pay for sufficient computing horsepower to address a 4-digit date, and then 20+ years later, had still not forked out the cash necessary to upgrade those systems, even though they had been fully depreciated. It was only the Y2K problem that forced them to address the issue, and pay the techies what they were worth (remember the demand for COBOL programmers in the mid-late 90's, some commanding 6-figure salaries?).

Until companies get their priorities straight, and pay those who enable them to use technology what they are worth (and readdressing how much money they are plowing into an ineffectual or criminal executive management), the abuse of H-1b will not go away.

Previous quote:

"Companies want highly skilled techies to keep their systems running, but are unwilling to pay what they are worth."

Look at the Internet culture where everything is free! A startup company can not hire $50K for a fresh graduate in the US just to be server admin. Why? Because the company gives everything free on the net. So, how much they are really worth? Not as much as if they send the job to outside the US. Honestly.

Question: what do companies that hire H-1B Visa'd employees do with those employees?

Answer: Pay them lower wages, use the threat of canceling their visas to keep them in slave wages and charge an arm and a leg to clients for their services.

Good for the company, bad for the immigrant employees.

Of course, if the American University System could graduate a higher caliber of American students we wouldn't have this problem in the first place.

I came to this country as an H-1B Visa holder. And I came here because of the lack of telecomm specialist in the US. Every year fewer engineers are graduated in the US Universities. I felt that I made a little contribution to this great country, helping to get new business, sharing my experiences and knowledge with all my colleagues and co-workers. You can’t generalize that H1B Visas are evil and that employers exploit the immigrants..that’s not true.

The NIH employed more than 300 H-1B workers during the federal government's 2006 fiscal year, prompting Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to ask in a letter to NIH officials why a federal agency is hiring foreign workers with temporary visas.

Grassley, a member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and a leading critic of the H-1B visa program, today also fired off a letter with a similar set of questions to the Federal National Mortgage Association, also known as Fannie Mae. The Washington-based lender began as a government agency before becoming a private business that operates under a congressional charter.

During fiscal 2006, which ended in September of last year, the NIH "hired or otherwise employed" 322 people through the H-1B visa program, according to Grassley. Fannie Mae had 141 H-1B workers during the same period, he wrote. Grassley said in a statement that the NIH and Fannie Mae were the only federal or government-chartered entities among the top 200 users of H-1B visas in fiscal 2006, with the NIH making the top 100.

But ... if we shut down NAFTA what do you propose we do with the 30,000 Americans working in Canada on NAFTA visas? If Canada takes its queue from America -- they will be summarily fired and sent home to America. Good then .. that opens up the approximately same number of Canadians working in US on NAFTA Visas ... How about we fire one for one? lol Given Canada's population of 30 million the percentage of Americans using the Free Trade Agreement Visa ... FAR exceeds the number of us there. So America wins! not exactly sure what ... but hey ... we're number one.

Well hundreds of the folks I work with were laid off and replaced with h1b's. I was hired on with the outsourcing company at my current position. They treat the h1b's like trash work them very long hours frankly have not seen anything past head count that the outsourcing company brings to the table. Examples of some of the foolishness is having 10:30 pm meetings mon-fri for shift hand over. We are not talking about 2nd shift but 1st shift dialing up at 10:30 every night. They frequently call people on vacation for work related items...for those americans that work for them the object is to suck them dry information wise then replace them with another h1b. Its an economic war against americans and due to the greed of those companies americans will be displaced and eventually will lose those skill sets. Innovation is a source of all kinds of wealth..if hib's scientists were that much smarter there would be no reason for them to relocate here and they could turn their own country into an economic powerhouse instead of coming here and leaching off the fat of the land.