12/23/2005
John Miano and the Center for Immigration Studies have recently published a major report on H-1b visas. [The Bottom of the Pay Scale | Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers, December 2005]Here is the note I sent them: There is one big thing that you are missing here, US citizenship and permanent residency have substantial economic value.
Unless companies profiting from immigration are required to pay market rates for those immigration rights, there will always be a severe disconnect here. Programs like H-1b essentially allow companies to pay employees in immigration rights rather than cash.
I would suggest some additional policies:
1) Whatever allocation is set aside, auction those visas off if they are to be used for profit making purposes.
2) Fund research and development centers via cash instead of via immigration rights(that might be paid in part by visa fees) — and organize them so that they get paid for results(say via objective prizes). They might on occaision which to purchase visa rights at auction-but they should have the alternative of hiring americans with that cash.
3) Also I think we need to emphasize that some H-1b workers really are abused by the system. These folks need legal aid to sue their employers(which could be funded from the expanded visa fees.
4) I would also suggest that provision be made that any H-1B worker can demand to be sent home at employer expense-and with a substantial resettlement allowance at any time. Again this could be paid for by suitably expanded feeds.
The important thing here. We need to solve the enormous problems created by H-1b visa expansion — and we need to make sure that the solution is funded not on the backs of poor people — but by the people that have profited enormously from these corporate welfare policies.
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