It was very gratifying to discover this article on the Internet. I have been rather despondent about the Obama administration’s indications that it would expand rather than contract the H-1B visa program, which has arguably decimated the information technology (IT) field in the United States. As much talk as there has been about “offshoring” IT operations to foreign-owned private firms, the practice of hiring people located in America at the time of the hiring has arguably done more damage to the field. This is what the H-1B visa program allows to happen.
This bill, the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, is bipartisan. And with the recent surge of populist sentiment on both the Left and the Right, it is my hope that enough senators will join from both sides of the aisle not just to pass this bill, but to pass it with a super-majority that could override a veto if necessary.
The H-1B visa program allows companies to “legally discriminate” against U.S. workers and displace them, said two U.S. senators who today introduced new legislation to “mend,” not end, the controversial program.
The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley, (R-Iowa), and Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.), is similar to legislation the two senators introduced last year. But while the bill may be similar, what has changed since then is the economy.
It would be very difficult to end the H-1B program altogether, and I recognize this reality. (Read more…)
