BW - Still Wanted: Foreign Talent-and Visas

From my archive of press clippings:

Business Week

Still Wanted: Foreign Talent-and Visas

December 10, 2009, 5:00PM EST


By Moira Herbst

Even as job losses in the U.S. mount, employers have stepped up the hiring of skilled workers from abroad, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. The acceleration in recent weeks has put companies close to exhausting the 65,000 visas allotted each year for foreign hires under what's known as the H-1B program. Some 61,500 visas had been used as of Dec. 8, and the last visas are likely to be claimed within weeks. Once that happens, companies won't be able to use the program to bring in additional workers until October, the start of the government's fiscal year.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The H-1B program allows employers to sponsor skilled workers from overseas for up to three years, with the possibility of extending for additional years."

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"Of the top 200 recipients in 2009, American businesses accounted for 49% of the visas, up from 43% in 2008. Microsoft (MSFT) was No. 2 on the list with 1,318 approvals, while Intel (INTC) ranked No. 3 with 723. The chip giant says it's using the visas to recruit for high-skill posts in software and component design."

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Herbst is a reporter for BusinessWeek.

IW - The H-1B visa has got to go

From my archive of press clippings:

InfoWorld

The H-1B visa has got to go.

With more than 200,000 tech workers on the unemployment line, there's no longer any reason to look abroad for employees.

February 12, 2009


Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, and more recently Panasonic and IBM -- the flood of technology-related layoffs and firings isn't slowing and, sadly, is likely to continue for some time. Given that reality, isn't it time that the IT community speaks with one voice and demands that the government suspend -- or at least greatly reduce and reshape -- the H-1B visa program for the duration of the economic emergency?

Read the whole article here.

Boomberg - Microsoft, Intel Firings Stir Resentment Over Visas

Bloomberg



Microsoft, Intel Firings Stir Resentment Over Visas

By Dina Bass

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp.’s plan to eliminate U.S. workers after lobbying for more foreigner visas is stirring resentment among lawmakers and employees.

As many as 5,000 employees are being shown the door at Microsoft, which uses more H1-B guest-worker visas than any other U.S. company. Some employees and politicians say Microsoft should get rid of foreigners first.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Across the technology industry, some of the biggest users of H1-B visas are cutting jobs, including Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. The firings at Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, came less than a year after Chairman Bill Gates lobbied Congress for an expansion of the visa program.

Even before Microsoft announced the cuts, its first-ever companywide layoffs, comments on a blog run by an anonymous Microsoft worker angrily debated getting rid of guest workers first. The author of the Mini-Microsoft blog eventually had to censor and then completely block all arguments about visas, after the conversation “got downright nasty.” "