Corporate US wants H-1B visa, green card rules eased

[OhioChick]

Source: Rediff News-India

April 13, 2007 12:24 IST

The US Chamber of Commerce -- 'the world's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses and organisations of every size, sector and region' -- has fired off a missive to all lawmakers in the US House and Senate calling for expeditious reform of employment-based Green Card and H-1B visa programmes.

In a letter to the legislators, R Bruce Josten, the Chamber's vice president for governmental affairs, argued that the lack of reform in both of these programmes was clearly the prime reason American companies have to resort to the much maligned outsourcing phenomenon.

Josten, while noting that the chamber represents numerous companies and organisations that need to bring thousands of foreign workers and students into the United States each year, said, "The inability of these companies to bring highly educated workers and students into the United States severely hurts their competitiveness in the global market and often leads to companies moving operations overseas."

Thus, he wrote, 'It is imperative that any comprehensive immigration reform includes changes that would allow employers in the United States to recruit and retain highly educated foreign talent and guarantee our continued global economic competitiveness and success.'



Read more: http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/13visa.htm

[wakeme2008]

1. If they had all the H1B they wanted there would still be

outsourcing because it is cheaper. OTOH, jobs that need ppl to ppl meetings (ie NURSES) could be imported

:grr:

[NormanYorkstein]

47. Why not cancel H1B altogether?

I don't see any legitimate reason for it?

[barb162]

49. There are none other than for RNs

as far as I am concerned

[treestar]

57. RNs cannot come as H-1Bs.

A few years ago they could come as H-1Cs but that program has not been extended. They can only come as permanent residents, and the quota is backed up now. We only take so many workers per year, even if we proved to the Department of Labor that we needed them.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

2. DU is a funny place

few bat an eye when visas to help those illegally here are proposed, but for those who are here legally or who can come here legally it's nothing but opposition. Considering that obtaining a green card through a legal channel, such as sponsorship by a U.S. employer, takes nearly a decade, something needs to be done to the backlog of green cards and, yes, the H-1B cap needs to be raised. First, fix the legal immigration process and then help out the illegal immigrants.

(disclosure: I am a legal immigrant and a business immigration professional).

[OhioChick]

3. No.......The H-1B Cap Does Not Need to be Raised....

Study: There Is No Shortage of U.S. Engineers
April 4, 2007


A commonly heard defense in the arguments that surround U.S. companies that offshore high-tech and engineering jobs is that the U.S. math and science education system is not producing a sufficient number of engineers to fill a corporation's needs.

However, a new study from Duke University calls this argument bunk, stating that there is no shortage of engineers in the United States, and that offshoring is all about cost savings.

This report, entitled "Issues in Science and Technology" and published in the latest National Academy of Sciences magazine further explores the topic of engineering graduation rates of India, China and the United States, the subject of a 2005 Duke study.

In the report, concerns are raised that China is racing ahead of both the United States and India in its ability to perform basic research. It also asserts that the United States is risking losing its global edge by outsourcing critical R&D and India is falling behind by playing politics with education. Meanwhile, it considers China well-positioned for the future.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2111347,00.asp

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

8. H-1Bs are not only for engineers

they are also for scientists, physicians, teachers, architects, designers, veterinarians, etc. Practically, for any job that requires at least a bachelor's or above, and including fashion models (yes, they are in the same pool of visas).

[OhioChick]

10. I'm Very Well Aware of That. n/t

[atreides1]

14. Is it your contention then

That these positions cannot be filled by Americans, or that Americans cannot meet the educational requirements?

And why would there be a need to bring in foreign students? Workers in some fields I can understand, but why not put the effort into giving our own schools the assets needed to provide American students
with the education they need to be more competitive?


What effect would keeping the number of H-1B visas at the current numbers, have on your area of expertise?

[treestar]

58. So what if there are no Americans to do that job?

That is not an insult to Americans, just a fact. Americans go abroad and do jobs no one there can do.

Other Americans will have that person in their market to buy what they are selling too. This argument that each alien takes exactly one job from some American is so amazingly ignorant - the economy is dynamic i.e. there were no computer engineers in 1920.

But from reading these arguments, it would appear people actually think that each time an American is born, some company out there picks out a place for him/her, and then, perversely, tries to avoid giving that place to the American 22 years later by paying huge fees to the U.S. government and filling out tons of paperwork to get someone else in there, just out of sheer prejudice against Americans.

[fasttense]

5. You realize that once those "illegal" immigrants become

legal, they will want the going wage rate and will not stand for getting half of what US citizens get.

[acmavm]

13. NO, we don Not need to raise the cap on anyone coming into

this country.

Sorry if this offends you, but we have too damn many Americans out of work. Skilled, trained Americans. We don't have a shortage of workers or people willing to work. That is one of the biggest loads of bullshit ever put out by this government, American corporations, the Chamber of Commerce, anybody and everybody who ever sputtered this lying bullshit.

Tell me, why aren't you in your native country working? Did not your government give a shit about you and your survival? Did they not do anything to protect the workers jobs? Did they not give a shit about whether you earned a working wage?

Not that people shouldn't be able to immigrate. That would be stupid. But this is a fucking game to shit on the American people, keep them either unemployed or underemployed.

And as far as those here illegally, I am totally against their being rewarded for breaking the law. I am totally against amnesty.

Why is it that there is all this sympathy and understanding for the shitty economic conditions in other countries, and the poverty caused by those conditions. Apparently the right thing (according to the Utopians and people like you) is that we are supposed to bite the bullet and take it, not get upset because OUR citizens can't find work or make enough money. Nope, first consideration is for those who apparently want to put our professional class out of work (they've already done it to the blue collar guys and gals) by letting more in on the HB-1 visas, or hells bells better yet, let the illegal immigrants take all the jobs that 'Americans wouldn't do' (but always did until the cheap labor flooded the country).

[area51]

15. Great post.

It always interests me to see people vote for republinazis, as they ship American jobs out of this country even faster than the democrats. We need to end all H1B, L1, etc. programs, and put Americans back to work. We have a severe job shortage in this country.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

18. a few answers

firstly, I came to the US as the daughter of a foreign executive working for a US subsidiary of a foreign company. I was 15. Then, I went to school here and eventually got married. Italy has never done anything against me and I'm sure I would have a decent life there, but life didn't turn out that way. I didn't seek to come in the US. Rather, it was a result of decisions beyond me (as in, decisions performed by my father's then employer).

Again, H-1Bs are well educated professionals from all sorts of countries. I don't see how the poverty argument works with H-1Bs.

As a legal immigrant, I am very much against amnesty for those who entered illegally, more so because I know how hard it is, how expensive it is and how long it takes to get a green card or a visa to be in the US lawfully.

[OhioChick]

21. Let's Be Fair With H-1B's Then, Shall We?

Less number of US students coming to India for studies

Chalsa (WB), Dec 18: Less number of American students were coming to India for studies because of the "inordinate delay" in getting Indian visas, US embassy public affairs minister counsellor Larry Schwartz claimed here today.

"For some reason or the other, may be bureaucratic process, American students are not getting Indian visas while Indian students are getting US visas and all help to study in America," Schwartz said, addressing a three-day conference for Fulbright scholars in South Asia. "This year 30 American students could not avail Indian visas as they were issued very late," he said.

Another reason for less students coming here was the "interference" by Indian authorities in the choice of subjects of US students, Schwartz said.

He said delays in issuing Indian visas was "unfortunate", especially when indo-us ties were getting stronger. The Fulbright, would shortly open a centre at R.E.C at Silchar in Assam soon to cover more areas in the north-eastern region to help more students get opportunities to study in America, he added.
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=342876&sid=NAT&ssid=

[Deja Q]

41. OMG, reality. So I WILL ask, WTF is India's problem? Hubris?

Or, far more likely, do they have too many of their own countrymen to improve before they take in people from the outside? :think:

And why is the Indian government doing for for all 1.5 billion of its people what the US can't seem to be bothered to do for 1/5th THAT population! (too busy helping India, it seems...)

[acmavm]

26. So, do you consider yourself a citizen of this country or are you

going back to Italy at some time in the future. And do you feel that you're qualified to tell the American people people why you are so much more qualified than they are to work. And your post is/was deceptive. You didn't come here on an HB-1 visa. You came here with your family.

Nope, this is just as whacked out as an illegal alien telling me how I should feel about telling all the UNEMPLOYED AMERICAN CITIZENS who come through this door asking me (very hopefully I might add) if we're hiring and I have to tell them no.

What's Italy's policy on foreign workers. Does Italy encourage immigration both legal and illegal? Does Italy do everything in its power to impoverish its own citizens?

[Deja Q]

40. Bravo! You hit it right on the head.

:applause:

And the entire H1B issue is multifaceted, but YOURS is the POV most often ignored when not spat on by the naive...

I see both points of view on the issue, but when it comes to "globaliaztion", it becomes all too easy to recognize theoretical ulterior motives (aka 'hyperbole') when you disassemble your own country to help build up somebody else's.

Especially the excuses corporate-america comes up with to spit on Americans during this process; something just seems wrong. :shrug:

I don't mind our government helping other people. But not at the cost of our own lives and livelihoods. That isn't globalization. That's abandonment. And maybe I am a tad bit paranoid, but that's how I feel right now. And I also know there's an upside to all this...

[EnviroBat]

32. Apparently not difficult enough...

As a legal immigrant, I am very much against amnesty for those who entered illegally, more so because I know how hard it is, how expensive it is and how long it takes to get a green card or a visa to be in the US lawfully.

Let us know how you feel when your employer tells you that in 2 weeks your out on the street, and in the mean-time please train your replacement from India, China, Pakistan...

It takes great privilege, and the rose colored glasses that rich daddy bought you to make any valid arguments for this bullshit. It's people being forced out of their jobs, and by those who lack the skills necessary to do the job. I think the trend may be starting to slow, as a number of recruitment firms have told me lately that they are seeking a U.S. Citizen for the position to avoid the hassles associated with H-1B's Hassles like, oh I don't know, padded resumes, lack of experience, language barriers. And before you play that old "discrimination card", examine the simple corporate greed that has gotten us where we are now, and how shitty decisions are coming back to bite them on the ass.

I calling my representatives today and demanding tougher restrictions for H-1B's!

[OhioChick]

22. Good Post, Acmavm.

You might be interested in this gem:

No stemming the tide of good U.S. jobs going overseas

Apr 13,2007

On the first day that H-1B visas became available, corporations snapped up all that are allowed. Our government received 150,000 applications for the 85,000 slots set aside to bring in foreign skilled workers.

Corporations whine that H-1Bs are needed because of a shortage of Americans with skills, but major studies at the University of California Davis and Duke University conclusively prove we have thousands of unemployed or underemployed Americans with all the needed technical skills. Nobel economist Milton Friedman accurately labeled H-1Bs a government "subsidy" to enable employers to get workers at a lower wage.

The best way to deal with the demand for a limited number of H-1Bs would be to auction them off, so then we would find out if they are really needed and how much they are worth. An auction would enable taxpayers to get some return on the H-1B subsidy instead of the current system that allows corporations to influence congressmen with campaign contributions and pay high-priced lobbyists to get legislation to increase the number.

Contrary to corporate propaganda, H-1Bs are not an alternative to outsourcing skilled jobs but a vehicle to promote outsourcing. H-1Bs enable corporations to bring in foreigners, train them in American ways, and then send them back to guide outsourced plants in Asia.

For years we've been told that it's OK for our manufacturing jobs to be outsourced overseas because the United States will always keep the technology, engineering, innovative, service-industry and white-collar jobs. Even when service-industry jobs began to be outsourced, we were told, those are just low-skill tasks like answering customer inquiries.

It turns out that was all a lie. The high-skill and technical jobs are also rapidly moving overseas, especially to India.

http://www.bendweekly.com/Opinion/4670.html

"Most Democrats who won in November 2006 talked a lot about the issue of jobs, while Republicans who lost kept mouthing the tired old mantra that globalism is both good and inevitable. Republicans can't win the White House in 2008 without Pennsylvania, Ohio or Wisconsin, all of which have lost thousands of jobs to outsourcing."

[EnviroBat]

33. Agreed 100% n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

38. Rock on. It's a pity one can't recommend responses for the greatest page. n/t

[NormanYorkstein]

48. agreed, you are correct

We have plenty here now.

[AlphaCentauri]

54. Sorry, but the best way to end "illegal" immigration is amnesty

Many thinks we should treat the Mexicans in the US the way the Jews were treated by Hitler.

[Red1]

25. I say B.S.

The visa work cards need to be eliminated, completely. No foreign tech workers in America, and no I don't have a problem with these people. Hell I work with em, great, smart guys and gals.

It's all a scam to stuff the CEOs pockets,

The whole business, from the company's that bring these guys in, to the company's they work for is rife with corruption, from the huge fees they charge the immigrants, to the money that changes hands from lobbiest to the govt.

JOBS FOR AMERICANS FIRST!!

[Deja Q]

44. Ask the individual. I sure as ***l am NOT for supporting illegal immigrants.

Nor do I care about the lamentable "We all came from immigrants ourselves" argument. Too many historical events kinda make America's history tame by comparison.

Besides, we need to learn from the past and move forward. In all things; but those who work to better themselves sure as hell deserve opportunities.

Those who illegally flee to go somewhere else not only prove they're wasting the time of the country they are illegally entering, but their own country's as well. A double insult.

And it seems only America has these struggles. Every other country seems to have solid, proper emigration procedures and don't seem to have troubles with 'illegal aliens'.

It's all about the money; maybe it's more than mere cynicism.

[barb162]

50. H1B is a way to get American citizens

out of jobs and drive down wages

[fasttense]

4. If US worker visas were any easier, we would be in India. n/t

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

9. Actually, obtaining an H-1B is not easy.

It is expensive and requires a copious amount of paperwork. Now, the L visas are easy and less expensive. Other types of non-immigrant visas are more complicated. The notion that immigrating to the U.S. is 'easy' is bunk.

If it were, I'd be out of a job.

[barb162]

51. We're about there already

[papau]

6. 500,000 unemployed college grad computer people (programers etc) who make $12,000 more on ave than

Indians brought over on HI visas -

Perhaps offering the American's the lower salary they might accept?

Gates and US Chamber of Commerce are liars.

[Deja Q]

43. Don't forget, Gates helped build our middle class...

and I recall the phrase everybody loved to say: "Nobody lost a job by working with Microsoft products."

How times have changed.

[papau]

46. My sisters business went bankrupt when M$ stole the software concept she wrote/sold -

actually her husbands, but a many employee business went bust and closed offices around the world, ending up worth nothing, after a visit from M$ folks to "promote" ideas to use with M$ software. No one can afford the lawyers for the 10 to 15 year fight to get a judgment and then get paid - indeed stealing public domain C code from AT&T's Unix 1975 version (v.6) - and stealing it's design - was all Bill did for the first 10 years of his business - until he stole the Xerox Parc/Apple computer graphic interface concept as "Windows".

The fellow that stole Lotus 123 and wrote Excel for M$ is now a Billionaire and just spent $20 million to visit the Space Station.

The IT play it safe game that IBM ran so well was copied by Bill "Nobody lost a job by working with Microsoft products."

And all this started because his mother was a high priced corporate lawyer that sat on the United Way board with the head of IBM and made small talk with him, and got him to look to her son for the operating system for the new IBM PC - and he told IBM he had such an operating system when he did not - and the n ran to Seattle Computing (a few guys with a poor version of the CP/M operating system for the 8086 chip) and bought their system for the 8086 chip for $20,000.

And then his mother made him reject the $90,000 offer for the rights to the Seattle CP/M system and to instead sign a contract for royalty based payments, the royalty rate to be reset every few years. And the rest is history as a clone of CP/M was issued as MSDOS 1.0.

Bill is a marketing genius - and a thief - and not a very smart or talented technical computer person - and has $60 billion after giving $20 billion to his foundation.

[ProudDad]

59. WHAT????

Gates had NOTHING to do with "building our middle class".

It was FDR and the NEW DEAL followed by the GI Bill and a highly progressive income tax and high tariffs that built the middle class.

Bill Gates' and m$ crappy software have tormented the "middle class" if anything.

[Thor_MN]

7. What we REALLY need is an H-1CEO visa

The wage pressures on executives are a far bigger problem. Just look at wealth distribution numbers to see what companies are apparently having to pay to get qualified execs. There must be too few of them in the country.

Screw relaxing the visa rules. There are plenty enough American workers for technical jobs, corporations just don't want to pay them what they are worth, so they seek methods to artificially increase supply.

[patrick404]

20. Re: H-1CEO visas - isn't that what the L-1 was supposed to be?

I get the impression that in practice the definition of executive has been interpreted very loosely. Is this the case?

[Strelnikov_]

11. "and guarantee our continued global economic competitiveness and success"

I don't think the average working joe is included in Mr. Jostens 'our' continued success.

If there is a shortage, train citizens and naturalized immigrants.

The current program is more than adequate to address the need to 'recruit and retain highly educated foreign talent' where required if it was not overwhelmed by corporations using it to hire lower priced labor.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Yeah, 85,000 H-1B visas aren't nearly enough. Why would they want any American

professional to have a job?

[AnneD]

16. The HB 1 caps do NOT need to be raised....

It amounts to outsourcing on our own soil. This has acted as an artificial cap on Nurse wages and Nursing schools. Don't believe me?. The exportation of Nurses is a major business in the Philippines, and the majority of them come to the USA. And yet, here in the US, where there are many openings-Nursing schools are closing and Nurse instructors are paid less that comparable instructors and can make so much more in industry. And just ask a Nursing student how long the waiting list is to get into Nursing school. Ask how many applied to school and how many slots were open. Supply and demand seems to not work here.

And let's talk wages. Nurses wages were flat for most of the 90's. They went up in the very late 90's and early 2000's but are now flat. Yet there is still unfilled positions. Where is the invisible hand of the market? Is Nursing the one exception to supply and demand. I think not. Corporate CEOs are inadequately staffing while at the same time hiring overseas Nurses to keep wages low. THEY ARE USING HB1 VISAS TO OUTSOURCE ON OUR OWN SOIL.

Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's rain!:mad:

[acmavm]

17. Outsourcing on our own soil. That's the best way I've ever seen

it phrased. That's what it is exactly.

[raccoon]

19. Thanks for your post.

Especially this was interesting, "Nurses wages were flat for most of the 90's. "

[AnneD]

29. They were....

when everyone was getting wage hikes, we were told to be thankful to get 1-2 percent. That was when HMO's and insurance co. were slashing costs by slashing labour costs and further tightening their control. It was the era of the drive through births (in and out in 1 day) and Nurses patient loads began to increase to the current unsafe levels. Nurses were laid off. This whole shortage has been engineered.

I graduated in 91 and found a job, but for several years afterward new graduates had a hard time finding work and many left the field entirely. Medical training for Docs are subsidized but very little is done for the persons that cares for the sick patient for the remainder of the recovery. Folks come to hospital for a procedure that in truth does not take long. They STAY in the hospital for the skilled care they cannot do for themselves. Hospitals seem hell bent on outsourcing the one thing that is their selling point. Talk about poor management.

Nursing IS an essential industry and needs to be maintained. HB1 visa's for Nurses is not the way.

[ramapo]

23. Exactly right!

The nursing profession has suffered the same fate as the computer profession. The only difference being nobody has figured out how to offshore nursing. Programming and system support has been outsourced here in the US since the mid-90s. This led to offshoring. The combo has displaced tens of thousands of American workers.

Technology workers have been pissed on for years. Most just soaked it up and moved on. Many young people decided it to not be such a great career choice and went in a different direction. Of course this was just a perfect excuse for the corporate masters as it "required" the H1B limits be raised and raised again.

It is truly disgusting what has happened to workers in this country over the past 15 to 25 years. What is amazing is how the middle class has been so complacent about it.

[AnneD]

28. AHHH

but they have found a way to off shore Nurses (Nursing care). It is called medical tourism. They can only do elective surgeries now. They just can't figure out how to outsource emergency care. I know for a fact that some hospitals have radiologist in foreign countries read xrays from ER's rather than have a radiologist on call. OK, you think, it's just an xray. So, what if it is misread, and a mistake happens. How do you find out that a foreign doc read you xray. How can you sue him for malpractice. And more importantly-it is illegal to practice medicine in this country without a license. How does THAT fit in this screwed up picture. There are just something a country has to do for itself like: grow food, have a manufacturing infrastructure, defense, education, and health care. To outsource is to risk independence, and isn't that what got this country started in the first place?.

[ramapo]

30. I forgot about the radiologists

I thought about mentioning the medical tourism but perhaps mistakenly believe it is pretty rare currently although I've read a few articles about it.

The radiology situation is different. I understand that is almost SOP in many hospitals. Pretty outrageous.

A country should do be able to exist on its own. It is questionable if the US could today. We have gutted our manufacturing, our steel production, and much of our technology resources. The friggin Army is being privatized. We import an awful lot of food. Seems to me like we're getting to the point where we depend upon the rest of world rather than the reverse. I think it is only our huge military advantage that keeps others at bay.

[NormanYorkstein]

53. "A country should be able to exist on its own"

You have no idea how controversial that opinion is. Among the establishment of the USA, including both political parties, that's outright heresy.

[Zorra]

24. They want cheap labor. Corporations have already sold Americans

out through outsourcing. Now they want to sell us into indentured servitude/wage slavery by creating a desperate labor force willing to work for the lowest wages imaginable.

Corporations need to be placed under strict control, and must be prevented from having any legislative influence whatsoever.

[Deja Q]

42. Since corportions have 'individual' status, when will they be treated like individuals when

they commit crimes?

[barb162]

52. Ditto!!!!!

I am sick of what's happening; I better hear the Dem candidates address these issues for 2008

[CountAllVotes]

27. give 'em a Green card and

draft 'em next. Next: Overturn Dunn v. the United States Army and mission is accomplished! :(

:kick:

[sutz12]

31. Here's a thought....

Require a $10,000 scholarship grant to a US college or university for every H1-b visa they hire.

[varun]

35. $1500 of the H1-B fees goes towards Education and Training

http://www.usavisanow.com/12-08-04.html


"...$1,500 for H-1B "Education and Training Fee" for each H-1B petition filed for a new employer, change of employer, and first extension for an existing employer..."

[blues90]

34. Just what we need

There are hundred of thousands of americans looking for work and have the talent and experience but can't find jobs other than a low pay service job and that's if their lucky since they are ove qualified and thought of as someone who will move on as soon as they find a job in their old career . Good luck when these old careers all broken down to low pay or out sourced .

Anyone with a brain knows full well that americans are being screwed over and this is not a racial issue but a fair issue .

Why not then open the doors fully and end all hope of americans getting anything other than shit jobs and let the rest of the globe have the rights to do whatever they desire .

Just kill the american worker and let it all fall down and get this the hell over with , then perhaps americans will take to the streets and fight this unfair trade deal .

We all know it's for cheaper labor and higher profits by the few who make all the rules so who is kidding who .

This entire subject just burns my ass .

[youngdem]

36. FUCK THAT. How about you do something about stagnant wages and unemployment here first

Then, if you can't find employees, THEN you can get an H1-B increase. Train some Americans FIRST.

I am SICK of American companies saying there are no Americans that want or can do job A or B. If you can't find an American who wants to do your job, it is for ONE reason only - your pay is not competitive. So, instead of seeking slave labor from abroad, how's about you offer a fair wage and training?

Ah, I see....You don't have a resource problem...you have a GREED problem.

[Deja Q]

45. You are too right! Especially when corporations seem mroe eager to pigeonhole people to one task

Which makes some sense, but if a person has shown to be dependable and interested, why not INVEST in the employee, which in turn can only help the company doing the investing?

[MasonJar]

37. The Chamber Of Commerce now blames outsourcing on someone else--

true Pug through and through.

[meldroc]

39. Gotta force those wages down.

That's how the corporations do it - force us to compete with workers from impoverished nations, be it via outsourcing, H1-B for more skilled work or through use of illegal migrant labor.

[truedelphi]

55. Althugh I am no fan of Phyllis Schlafly, she says it all about the visa

Situation.

http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2007/apr07/07-04-18.html

[treestar]

56. More divide and conquer strategy

We have to unionize across international boundaries rather than letting the capitalists go where they want while we can only work in the countries we were born in.

The jobs available in America are not always exactly equal to the skills, education and desires of Americans and that goes for every other country also.

The naivete is amazing. We would have to have a totally managed Soviet Style economy to give a job to every American and force some Americans into jobs they aren't interested in. And prohibit Americans from going abroad if they wanted to.

See the H-1B regulations for the facts. The media never reports them. If an H-1B is really being paid below the prevailing wage, call the damn Dept. of Labor and report it. There are a zillion "protections" to the American worker in the H-1B system.

L-1s are intracompany transferrees. You can only do that if you are a professional or manager and there is a branch of your company abroad, IOW, rich. The rich can come to the U.S. whenever they want, believe me. (And rich Americans can do business in places other than the U.S.)