WASHINGTON (TIP): On March 23, Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Doug Collins (R-GA) reintroduced a bill to prevent employers from sending jobs overseas by abusing a temporary visa program. The legislation would stop employers that are awarded temporary visas through the H-1B program from using them to train workers in the United States then move those jobs to another country.
H-1B visas allow American businesses to hire foreign professionals if skilled American workers are unavailable to fill job openings. The employees must have expertise in fields like science and technology and generally have college degrees. This month, 60 Minutes reported that unscrupulous employers have utilized the program to bring foreign workers in and displace American jobs. This follows reports last year that American workers were forced to train H1B visa holders to do their job so that the jobs could be permanently outsourced to foreign workers.
“Our policies should promote jobs in America,”said Kilmer. “They shouldn’t be about sending jobs done by hard working Americans overseas. That’s why I’m continuing my push with Representative Collins to keep H-1B visas from ever being used to send any job to another country.”
“Protecting American jobs is crucial in order for our economy to continue to gain strength and momentum,” said Collins. “Companies have the opportunity to bring workers from overseas on an H-1B visa in the event that qualified Americans aren’t available, but we can’t allow the law to be exploited to displace American workers and send their jobs abroad. The Keeping American Jobs Act protects American workers by preventing bad actors from abusing the system in order to offshore jobs.”
I’m an IT professional with 20 years experience in Australia and have seen first hand that the equivalent Visa here (457 visa) has been predominantly used to hire in cheaper (not better) IT skills. That was never the intent of the these Visas. Curbing the Visas will be of benefit to the local IT professionals as many are out of work or working for wages commensurate with unskilled work. Yes it will increase costs for local business but only in the short term. As they will get a better IT resource, with better technical skill, better communication skills and more inventive approaches that ultimately will improve their technology and bottom line. Sometimes businesses do not know what is good for them in the blind chase for lowering costs.