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Abuse of the H-1B Program Is Widespread

H-1B should return to goal of recruiting the best and brightest from around the globe

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okay WAKJOB, what about Bernie Madoff, all the GS executives, and others on Wall Street, Wall Street bailout, Lehman collapse, Housing/Sub-Prime fiasco...you forgot to blame all these on Indians and they taking over US of A. U of A and Manchester Univ. instituting a study on performance of students from Indian Institute of Technology(IIT)...both these schools don't stand a chance against IITians. Students from IIT are a world apart, they will chew most of the US grads alive(figuratively), stop feeding on hearsay. Also, looks like the Iranians hired some Indians to down the Sentinel drone...thanks for not blaming the Indians for the shortage of fuel and high cost of food across the world, errr...Bush already did it.

Sridhar of CA 3:22AM December 29, 2011

The original purpose of the H1-b was to bring in specifically-skilled individuals for work that could not be done by Americans. I remember reading a story in the local Seattle paper when the Japanese tea house, in the UW's Arboretum burned down, and they brought in a Japanese carpenter on an H1-b visa, and the local unions made a stink until it was pointed out that Japanese carpenters do not use nails- each piece of wood is individually carved to fit into the whole such that when finished, the whole building fits together like a those wood toys, without nails or screws. That is the kind of specific skill the H1-b was originally designed for.

Other professions brought in were people like runway clothing models for a show, professional athletes for a game or a season, artists doing exhibiitions, etc.

They were brought in for a specific, time-limited duration. We still have a need for this kind of visa, and I hate to see it muddied up by converting it into a program to undercut American wages.

However, I understand why they did it. When the H1-b was expanded in the late 90s, it was in response to the realization that just training students in computer classes was not sufficient, they needed On The Job Training from experienced programmers. There were several studies, one from the University of Manchester, the other from the University of Arizona, in the early 90s, trying to understand why the students from the Indian Insitute of Technology were not doing as well as they should have been.

The generally-accepted response was that they needed to go to Europe and America and learn from experienced programmers. The H1-b visa was a natural vehicle for this, but it needs to be changed back to its original purpose, and a guest-worker visa needs to be developed, instead.

margaret Bartley of WA 6:49PM December 28, 2011

Companies ruined or almost ruined by imported Indian labor

Adaptec - Indian CEO Subramanian Sundaresh fired.

AIG (signed outsourcing deal in 2007 in Europe with Accenture Indian frauds, collapsed in 2009)

AirBus (Qantas plane plunged 650 feet injuring passengers when its computer system written by India disengaged the auto-pilot).

Apple - R&D CLOSED in India in 2006.

Australia's National Australia Bank (Outsourced jobs to India in 2007, nationwide ATM and account failure in late 2010).

Bell Labs (Arun Netravalli took over, closed, turned into a shopping mall)

Boeing Dreamliner ES software (written by HCL, banned by FAA)

Bristol-Myers-Squibb (Trade Secrets and documents stolen in U.S. by Indian national guest worker)

Caymas - Startup run by Indian CEO, French director of dev, Chinese tech lead. Closed after 5 years of sucking VC out of America.

Caterpillar misses earnings a mere 4 months after outsourcing to India, Inc.

Circuit City - Outsourced all IT to Indian-run IBM and went bankrupt shortly thereafter.

ComAir crew system run by 100% Indian IT workers caused the 12/25/05 U.S. airport shutdown when they used a short int instead of a long int

Computer Associates - Former CEO Sanjay Kumar, an Indian national, sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for accounting fraud.

Deloitte - 2010 - this Indian-packed consulting company is being sued under RICO fraud charges by Marin Country, California for a failed solution.

Dell - call center (closed in India)

Delta call centers (closed in India)

Fannie Mae - Hired large numbers of Indians, had to be bailed out. Indian logic bomb creator found guilty and sent to prison.

Goldman Sachs - Kunil Shah, VP & Managing Director - GS had to be bailed out by US taxpayers for $550 BILLION.

GM - Was booming in 2006, signed $300 million outsourcing deal with Wipro that same year, went bankrupt 3 years later

HP - Got out of the PC hardware business in 2011 and can't compete with Apple's tablets. HP was taken over by Indians and Chinese in 2001. So much for 'Asian' talent!

HSBC ATMs (software taken over by Indians, failed in 2006)

Intel Whitefield processor project (cancelled, Indian staff canned)

JetStar Airways computer failure brings down Christchurch airport on 9/17/11. JetStar is owned by Quantas - which is know to have outsourced to India, Inc.

Lehman (Spectramind software bought by Wipro, ruined, trashed by Indian programmers)

Medicare - Defrauded by Indian national doctor Arun Sharma & wife in the U.S.

Microsoft - Employs over 35,000 H-1Bs. Stock used to be $100. Today it's lucky to be over $25. Not to mention that Vista thing.

MIT Media Lab Asia (canceled)

MyNines - A startup founded and run by Indian national Apar Kothari went belly up after throwing millions of America's VC $ down the drain.

PeopleSoft (Taken over by Indians in 2000, collapsed).

PepsiCo - Slides from #1 to #3 during Indian CEO Indra Nooyi' watch.

Polycom - Former senior executive Sunil Bhalla charged with insider trading.

Qantas - See AirBus

Wakjob of CA 5:16PM December 28, 2011

I agree with your position that we should not expand the H-1b program, however I disagree with the notion that corporations should have the power to sponsor immigrants and as such I believe that the only way to "fix" the H-1b program is to abolish it.

We should focus on permanent immigration instead of the temporary staffing and indentured servant program that we have today.

What makes corporations so special that they should be able to decide who can come into this country? I don't believe they are special or that they deserve any right to sponsor immigrants.

I believe that immigration should be an agreement between immigrant and our nation, not an agreement between immigrant and a corporate middle-man.

Corporations exist to create profit. That is fine, however our nation exists for greater reasons. Or immigration program needs to support those "greater" reasons.

R. Lawson of FL 3:54PM December 28, 2011

The H-1B visa program is a cash cow for immigration lawyers, the massive industry of immigration support staff that has built up around it (document translators, etc), and employers seeking to under mine the wages of American skilled professionals. One of the most lucrative fields of law is the practice of immigration law. The H-1B visa program has harmed the hopes and dreams of tens of thousands of Americans who graduated from college to fill the mytical 'shortage' of high tech workers in America. Only to be slapped in the face that there is no shortage and never has been.

I believe that it was Allan Greenspan (former Fed Serve who was subsequently knighted by a foreign interest, Great Britain) who openly admitted that the H-1B visa program's purpose was to drive down the wages of American professionals.

I would like to challenge the legal professionals to take a look at the oath that they take as licensed attorneys to uphold the US Constitution and the professional ethics and standards that they should avoid EVEN the appearance of inappropriateness in their profession. If you want to know why the legal profession has such a shameful reputation -- take a look in the mirror. And remember that your actions have personally caused many American families to be destroyed and thousands of the hopes and dreams of your fellow Americans to be destroyed. How professional is that?

Luc of USA of NM 3:29PM December 28, 2011

The H1B program should be eliminated at once. There is not now, nor has there ever been any shortage of technical talent here. What industry wants is indentured servants who have few of the rights most of us take for granted.

Randle C. Sink of CA 3:12PM December 28, 2011

I know from 1st-hand experience working in the tech industry that the H1-B visa is often abused. In many cases, it's used to hire low-cost workers. In those cases, there hasn't even been an attempt at hiring local workers who would be equally skilled. Ironically, the H1-B visa quickly becomes a liability for the employee. They find themselves trapped in a job (it's very hard to change jobs once you have a H1-B) that's paying below the industry level. It's easy for the employer to take advantage of this situation, knowing that the employee won't readily move. It's a poor situation for both the local labor force that's being priced out of opportunities, and for the H1-B recipient who winds up with limited career options. I don't think this was the intent of the H1-B visas.

Joe of CA 12:21PM December 28, 2011

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