CIR reintroduced - but nobody looks excited..
CIR was reintroduced in the Senate today. Couldn’t have been timed any worse - with unemployment at 9.1%, talks about a slowing recovery from recession and jobs getting added at a paltry rate of ~50k jobs per month, it’ll be a miracle if it even gets discussed on the floors. Morover, with Republicans controlling the senate, and 2012 elections around the corner, there’s practically no way this will go through this year. The content of the bill is the same as last year
- Securing borders
- Path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
- Legal immigration process improvements
We’ll watch for progress anyway….hope is all we have had for years 
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July 9th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
H1B Visa Red Tape and US Unemployment
How H1B immigrants contributes towards US economy ?
1) H1B employees need a place to live, so they rent apartments. Average Rent paid per year – $12,000.
2) H1B employees need food, water, electricity and other utilities to sustain their families. Money spent on such services per year – $6000.
3) Many H1B employees typically go to school in US for MS. Average tuition fee paid + living expenses – $40,000.
4) H1B employees typically travel back to their home country once every year on vacation – $2000.
5) Average taxes paid to US government – $20,000.
Total Contribution in 6 years = $12,000X6 + $6,000X6 + $40,000 + $2,000X6 + $20,000X6 = $280,000
How Red Tape is hampering H1B program ?
Stringent rules and regulations coupled with increasing costs are preventing more and more companies from hiring H1B employees. Here are some examples -
1) For H1B employees in consulting, Visa is being tied to a project.
2) If an employee moves to a different location an amendment needs to be filed.
3) Increased H1B filing fees.
Due to all these added complexities companies are avoiding hiring H1B employees. This is evident from the fact that for fiscal year 2012 only 18,400/65,000 (general quota) and 11,900/20,000 (Masters quota) have been consumed as of 07/01/2011.
How poorly managed H1B program is adding to US unemployment woes?
1) H1B employees after being denied Visa or due to increased red tape are choosing to go back home.
2) Positions that H1B employees used to occupy are being outsourced or are being left vacant.
3) H1B employees who used to contribute $280,000 to US economy are not there to sustain it.
How is this creating a lose lose situation for H1B employees and US ?
1) H1B employees who have spent several years in US, have to return back to their home countries.(Loss to H1B employee)
2) Corruption is rampant in their home countries so they will have to learn to deal with it. (Loss to H1B employee)
3) The money that H1B employees used to generate towards the US economy is gone and gone with it are any jobs related to services that H1B employees used to consume. (Loss to US)
4) Many of these H1B employees if given permanent residency in US would have started their own companies and created so many more jobs. That will not happen. (Loss to US)
How much more ironic can anything get ? Sad but True.
July 10th, 2011 at 12:52 am
An H1-b visa holder is not an immigrant!
H1-b is only a temporary visa which allows the holder to work for the company who sponsored the employee for up to 3 years, and renewable once for up to 3 more years if that company wants to keep that particular worker.
What is the percentage of H1b visa holders that become U.S. citizens, relative to the whole group of H1b visa holders?
What is the percentage of H1b visa holders that have the intention of becoming a U.S citizen prior to leaving their homeland, relative to the whole group of H1b visa holders?
I have met and worked with over 60 H1b visa holders and not one of them, when asked, has ever had any intention of becoming a U.S. citizen. They all have the bizarre notion that the entire planet should be open to them as a workplace and carry with them an inflated sense of entitlement. They seem to be stuck on the fact that having taxes witheld from them is unfair. They are particularly stuck on the notion that having Social Security (retirement pension) tax witheld from their pay is unfair. My contention is that it is the price to pay for the priviledge of working in the USA. Yes, I said priviledge. It is NOT a right! Only U.S. citizens have the right to work in the USA. All others are merely granted the privilege.
The sum total of monetary contribution by H1b visa holders to the U.S. economy is ostensibly meaningless in a $14 trillion dollar economy. The rants and raves and justifications of these people , when psychoanalyzed, is beset with self-entitlement and self-aggrandizement as though they are doing a favour to the USA by working there (note the repeated use of the phrase “Loss to the US” by the above respondant). They view the USA as an entity, as a thing, an object. The vast majority of Indian H1b visa holders are nothing more than economic mercenaries motivated solely by a desire for monetary or material gain.
The USA is not a “thing”. The United States of America IS it’s citizens.
— this message brought to you by a lawfully born citizen of The United Kingdom of Great Britain. –