H-1B Visas - theory versus reality

H-1B Visas are a good idea in theory.  People around the world want to come to the United States to work and live.  Why not invite the best and brightest.  Bring top talent to the US to help our businesses, industry and military remain the top in the world.

Then there is that pesky thing called reality.  I've worked for small companies with less than 250 employees and companies with hundreds of thousands of employees, and companies in between.  I've seen the reality I'm describing.

I'm sure there are some brilliant researchers and developers who have come to the US under this program.  But they are the exception.  The norm is that companies don't bring over the best and the brightest.  They bring over cheap labor.  Companies, seeking to get a leg up on opponents by offering customers lower prices, import labor who will work at a fraction of the cost of US residents doing the same jobs.

If a person from Country X is doing the same job an American can do, at the same level of skill and efficiency as the American, then how is that individual the "best and brightest" from Country X?  Putting it another way, if the person from X has the same skill and talent as an American and that's the best and brightest from Country X, then the talent of Country X is mediocre.

The other reality is the positions being filled by people from other countries are positions entry level American workers can be trained to do.  These are positions like testing, project management, technical writing, business analysts, and marketing support - all positions that do not require the "best and brightest" and positions Americans, even individuals with liberal arts degrees who know how to use a computer, can be trained to do.  Is it any wonder some kids graduating college have trouble finding good jobs and being able to repay student loans?

But cost is not the only reason companies are importing individuals from other countries.  Control is another reason.  A person from a foreign country is here while they have a job.  If they lose that job, they have 60 days to find another job.  Unless that person had another job lined up, which is unlikely, they are going to be sent back to their home country.  

Imagine the power that gives an employer over a person from Country X here in the US on an H-1B visa.  Companies can schedule the person to work long hours, put that person under a really bad boss, doing miserable work, with a client that is rude and obnoxious.  What can the worker do if they don't like it?  They complain, next thing the person is being written up and written off and sent home.

I'm not opposed to the H-1B visa program.  Some people I've met who have come to the US to work are talented and very good people.  But senior executives in companies are abusing the programs to buff up their bottom lines and win business to impress Wall Street or venture capital investors.  The program needs to be reformed.  Here are some ideas:

• Make some positions off-limits.  It's not good enough that a company is required to advertise a position and only if they can't find a US resident to fill the position can the bring someone over from off-shore.  Companies are gaming that system. Positions that don't require a specific high level skill cannot be filled from off-shore.  Employers used to bring on college kids and train them from scratch in their approved company methodology to fill these jobs.  Accenture was famous for that.  Make them go back to that process.
• Set a time limit - a person can work in the US for say 5 years after which they have either become a US citizen or they go home.  Or the employer can apply for a special dispensation based on the highly critical skill they have and important project they are doing.
• Pay them the same - a person brought to the US to do a job gets paid the same, with similar benefits, as a US resident doing the same job.  Eliminate the financial incentive that causes investors to pressure company management to bring people on-shore.
• Shine light on what companies are doing - make companies spell out in their annual reports how many people they have imported from other countries, list the positions being filled, and data on the average and median salaries, with the highest and lowest salary levels shown.   
• Invest Government dollars in companies that hire American - Government pension and other programs should be asking questions and directing investment dollars into companies that hire Americans.
• No H-1B workers allowed for Government projects - US taxpayer dollars pay for American workers.  That is not to prohibit using off-shore workers.  Just don't let companies fill government project jobs in the US with people other than Americans.
• Americans don't train their replacements - if a company offers a bonus to employees who are being replaced by an H-1B visa person make it illegal for the company to only pay the bonus if the American trains their replacement.

If America is really importing the best and brightest and draining brains from other countries so we can leap ahead in various technologies, medicines and other industries, that's great.  Let's keep the H-1B visa program for that.  But we need to reform the program to stop allowing companies to import what are essentially indentured servants to bolster profits while keeping American kids out of good jobs.

Let's debunk a final point, that is a bit off topic.  Some argue that if illegal aliens are deported farms out west won't have employees to harvest the crops.  This is not a valid argument, either about illegal aliens or H-1B visa workers.  There are H-2A visas issued to individuals to enter the US to fill temporary Agricultural positions.  There are regulatory requirements for Agricultural firms using workers under this program and they are paid a reasonable wage.  Illegal aliens do not have any of those protections and will be paid significantly less.  Anyone who claims they care about illegal aliens should never argue in favor of those individuals being used for farm work.