High-Tech Workers Say Employers Are Abusing Work Visa Program - H-lB work visa program - Brief Article

HR Magazine, August, 2001 by Bill Leonard

Most information technology professionals say they support the H-lB work visa program as long as the program is not abused by employers. According to a recent survey conducted by techies.com, a large number of high-tech professionals believe that employers have misused the visa program, and that this misuse has caused a loss of many high-tech jobs and a reduction in salary levels.

More than 1,100 high-tech professionals from both the United States and abroad responded to the survey, and a majority of the respondents believe that employers, high-tech workers and the U.S. government have mishandled the H-lB visa program. Nearly 25 percent of all the respondents say that they have changed their minds in the past year and no longer believe that H-lB visas are a good idea.

The survey clearly shows that these respondents' change of heart is not a result of the weakening U.S. economy. Many of the survey respondents stated that they had been supportive of the H-lB program until employers started abusing the program. And most of the survey respondents say that losing jobs to non-U.S. citizens was the primary reason that H-lB visas are so controversial. Many of these same respondents also added comments such as: "The real reason I'm against temporary foreign workers is because they'll work for less" and "These temporary workers are lowering the pay scale in my profession.