Valleywag
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Posts Tagged “
H1-B
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labor
Want to learn how lawyers bounce U.S. workers from H1-B jobs? So do the Feds
Lori Melton is an attorney at the Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy law firm, a specialist in "corporate immigration" — that is, obtaining H1-B visas for workers. She's scheduled to share her expertise today on the "Evaluation & Disqualification of U.S. Workers," a $199 seminar led by a liaison to the Dept. of Homeland Security. Think she'll show? On Monday, the U.S. Dept. of Labor announced it has begun auditing all permanent labor certification applications filed by attorneys at Fragomen, the "Corporate Immigration Law Firm of the Year," for improper attorney involvement in the consideration of U.S. worker applicants. More »
politics
Are Google's H1-B hires 20 percent overpaid?
Google salary figures are hard to come by, but the search giant does have to report proposed wages to the government for its H-1B hires — workers granted visa for supposedly special talents — as well as prevailing wages for those positions. A rudimentary analysis of Google's California H-1B data for the last three years suggests that Google may be paying more than a 20 percent premium over what it reports are prevailing wages. According to Labor Condition Application data, the average annual wage proposed by Google for H1-B hires in 2007 was $96,876, compared to an average prevailing wage of $79,777. Which leads to one of those have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife-type-questions: Is Google actually paying H1-B employees 20 percent more than they're worth, or is the company understating prevailing wage rates for the positions it fills with H-1B hires?
geeks gone wild
Orkut inventor may be best argument against H-1B visas yet
Give us more H-1B visas and we'll give you innovative products. That's the pitch Google exec Laszlo Bock made to Congress as he decried the H-1B visa cap. Projects like also-ran social network Orkut, which was created (or stolen, depending on who you ask) by H-1B hire Orkut Buyukkokten (pictured, right) represent a boon to the U.S. economy, added Google lobbyist Pablo Chavez as he echoed Block's plea for more visas. More »
labor
H-1B visa facilitator fined $45,000 over job listings
Last week, iGate Mastech was fined $45,000 for placing 30 online job listings in the spring of 2006 with the condition that only H-1B visa holders need apply. The company helps foreign workers obtain a visa (often for a fee), and then contracts out their labor to companies at a tidy profit. The contracting company doesn't have to worry about dealing with immigration authorities, paying health benefits and can lay the worker off without cause or severance — often resulting in a revoked visa and possible deportation if the worker can't find new employment quickly enough. As our tipster points out, iGate Mastech VP of immigration and compliance Tripti Noorani has successfully processed 20,000 H-1B visas for iGate Mastech employees since 1990. Maybe the company was just trying to help H-1B holders currently in the country stay in the country?
politics
the relaxation of H-1B immigration quotas as an "innovation" issue, not the exploitation of a global labor market to depress wages, claims UC Davis computer science professor Norman Matloff. He attempts to present a quantitative case to demonstrate that foreign skilled-worker visas don't go to genius inventors but to average, entry-level employees, in a paper for the Center for Immigration Studies. But his methodology is flawed, and a racial undercurrent bubbles beneath the surface of his argument.
More »
UC professor injects racism into H-1B debate
the relaxation of H-1B immigration quotas as an "innovation" issue, not the exploitation of a global labor market to depress wages, claims UC Davis computer science professor Norman Matloff. He attempts to present a quantitative case to demonstrate that foreign skilled-worker visas don't go to genius inventors but to average, entry-level employees, in a paper for the Center for Immigration Studies. But his methodology is flawed, and a racial undercurrent bubbles beneath the surface of his argument.
More »
politics
Homeland security makes it easier to hire foreign developers and supermodels
Score one for Lord Balaji, known to some Indian Hindus as the "Visa God." The Department of Homeland Security changed its rules Friday so as to allow U.S. businesses to employ foreigners for up to 29 months before they must obtain an H-1B visa. Previously, the limit had been 12 months — and the DHS used "emergency" provisions to avoid public review of the change. The foreigners must be students who attended American schools and earned a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, employed in their field of study. Either that or they have to supermodels, reports the WSJ. Because who said the huddled masses can't look like the Indian/Irish/French Saira Mohan?
politics
Google hires black lobbyist to appease black Congress members
Laszlo Bock, Google's vice president for
great moments in hr
White Google executive fibs to Congress about black employee count
It's no secret Google has painfully few black employees. Why lie about it? Laszlo Bock, Google's exceedingly Caucasian vice president of people operations, assured members of Congress last June that Google, which was lobbying for more H1-B visas for immigrant workers, had plenty of black employees. "We have a very strong internal Black Googler Network," he said. "We actually view it as our obligation to reach out to underrepresented communities in our industry, particularly women in engineering, particularly African-Americans. "How many [of Google's employees] are African-American?" asked Representative Maxine Waters. More »
politics
John McCain: There will be an increase in H-1B visas in our time
Is former eBay CEO Meg Whitman impacting John McCain's immigration policy? Currently, the U.S. government refuses to raise the cap on H-1Bs, the visas which allow foreign engineers to work at American companies. This despite the fact that By 2010, Asians will account for 90 percent of the world's engineers. In this clip McCain says he'll fix that problem. Though not without due concern for the terrorists, of course. More »
immigration
H1-B visa season kicks off on April 1
A correspondent writes to remind Valleywag that new applications for H-1B specialty worker visas will be accepted starting April 1. Management loves immigrant workers who are often cheaper and less prone to sassback. Meanwhile, homegrown developers and engineers see wage competition and job loss, and can get downright xenophobic. Immigrants catch it in the wash and the rinse, facing the prospect of abusive bosses and prejudiced coworkers. Immigration officials will penalize employers trying to game the lottery by submitting multiple applications for the same candidate, while two bills are up in Congress to double or triple the current quota of 65,000.
lawsuits
