NJ company fined for violating H1-B visa program

[OhioChick]

September 18, 2008
TRENTON, N.J. - An Iselin computer consulting firm has been fined more than $80,000 for allegedly violating federal immigration rules that allow companies to hire foreign workers under a special visa program.

The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered the Iselin-based Data Group Inc. to pay the money to 11 foreign-born workers after an investigation found the company violated the program.

The Immigration and Nationality Act's H-1B visa program allows companies to temporarily hire foreign-born workers with special skills when they can't locally recruit to fill a position.

Federal labor officials say the company failed to pay required wages for one year to computer experts hired under the program.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--visaprogram-fines0918sep18,0,4802679.story

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. Here we go again.

Just waiting for the cheap labor apologists to explain how this program is not being used to suppress wages.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. visa fraud is hardly exclusive to H1B visas

the issue is visa fraud, prosecute visa fraud and leave the individual programs out of it. K1's are the most abused visas of all, but I don't hear anyone talking about those. Hell I doubt anyone here could tell me what a K1 visa is for without google.

We hire lots of people from overseas and only usually to fill extremely specific roles and we pay them a fortune.

[OhioChick]

7. "we pay them a fortune"

Maybe "you" pay them a fortune, but all they are to most U.S. companies is cheap labor.

Out of curiosity's sake.....ever look for a U.S. citizen to fill those "extremely specific roles?"

Where I work we do.....ads and all. We get thousands of resumes and they all get thrown in the trash.....so we can hire H-1B's as they're cheaper.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. we hire lots of Americans

The companies abusing H1B and other visas and guilty of visa fraud and should be nailed to the wall for it.

We have 70 more people today than we did this time last year, most of them Americans we will hire 30 more before the end of the year, also mostly Americans - but there are not many Americans who can practice law in Russia, were ASEAN negotiators or know how to make sure your facilities get more than a couple of hours of electricity a day in Africa. Our primary business is representing American companies overseas and foreign companies in the United States. To this end we have scattered Americans, including myself all over the world - perhaps I am screwing a Canadian out of their job...

The typical foreigner we recruit was educated in the west, speaks perfect english and knows how to get shit done overseas. The only Americans who really have this level of knowledge are professors of law and public administration who study foreign legal and regulatory processes.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

8. Oddly enough, I didn't mention any specific programs.

You answered the post you wanted to answer, not the one I actually wrote.

And if we're paying these people a fortune, why don't we invest at least as much in educating people here to be able to do those jobs? For the record, I'm not opposed to immigration, at all. What I am opposed to is exploitation and allowing corporations to engage in labor arbitrage that puts all workers at a disadvantage, everywhere.

As for K-1 visas, I didn't need to look it up because a good friend of mine is here on one. Personally, I'm a single woman who thinks the entire institution of marriage is a crock of shit, and quite frankly, getting a visa is one of the more legitimate reasons for entering into one. :shrug:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. education and experience are not the same thing

I'm sorry if I jumped to conclusions,

No amount of training will turn an unemployed factory worker from Detroit into an experienced German tax accountant.

Hiring highly experienced people for specific roles is quite legitimate, staffing your IT department with Indian guys fresh out of school isn't.

[babylonsister]

2. Rec'd. So pay a little fine and get away with it? This is peanuts to them. nt

[ihavenobias]

3. Give *me* the 80 grand, I'll whip em into shape! n/t

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. These motherfuckers.

They have been advertising jobs in the local job places for years. You apply and never get a response from them. Nothing. I know these fuckers well, and I figured they were nothing but an H1-B scam.

Note: The same sort of thing is being run out of Schering-Plough.

[antigop]

6. So with a slap on the wrist, it's cheaper to keep hiring h1-b's and just pay the fine.

Swell. Just swell.