H1B

[Robert La Ferla]

"Patrick R. McManus" <mcmanus at ducksong.com> wrote:

> Just browsing my linux mailboxes this morning (representing perhaps 12
> or 18 hours of mail) I've come across the following 'foreigners' who
> have contributed more to creating the linux industry than most anybody
> on this list. Some of these people work for american companies. Some
> of them even work in America. The horror!

Hiring temporary foreigner workers when there are unemployed people in our country who will work for reasonable rates is the problem.  Your argument is basically a variation of the liberal argument that "companies should hire the best (btw - sometimes best=cheapest) workers regardless of where they live."  The problem with this argument is that other foreign countries are not hiring American programmers at the same rate.  Furthermore, if we live in that "global village", we will all be transients.  Forget about owning a home because you can never depend on working and living in once place.  Everyone should rent because you will have to pack up you and your family (including pulling your kids out of school) to move on to the next global job.  However, there are visas for foreigners with special talent.  I think Linus Torvalds falls into this category.  He and others like him are an exception and not the rule.  Moreover, we are not talking about foreigners (permanent residents / green card holders) who despite their citizenship come to live here permanently.  We are talking about temporary foreigner workers displacing local American workers.  If these same workers become permanent residents, they will be in the same boat as the rest of us.  So it's not about the workers.  It's about the unethical employers.