Tech firms triple their recruitment rate for H-1B workers, H-1B visa opponents find their voices again

An accurate and balanced article by Matt O’Brien of the San Jose Mercury News indicates that IT firms’ hiring of H-1B workers has tripled this year, a fact that doesn’t yet indicate a thing to Kim Berry, H-1B opponent and president of the Programmers Guild.  Mr. Berry instead quickly moves to politicize the discussion by characterizing H-1B workers as “cheaper not better,” and by referring to H-1B employers as “penny pinchers.”

Mr. Berry is either uninformed or conveniently ignoring the fact that H-1B employers can pay an initial government fee of up to $5,550.00 to file one H-1B petition on behalf of a foreign professional.  This amount does not include attorney fees or any guarantees.  Mr. Berry’s statements also do not take into consideration the many intellectual and business contributions that H-1B and ex-H-1B workers have made to better his home State of California.

Mr. O’Brien’s article includes a succinct description of President Obama and Mitt Romney’s views on the H-1B program. “Romney’s economic plan proposes raising the visa caps for highly skilled foreign workers,” while President Obama “has not articulated any major changes to the H-1B program.” The latter statement could also have read: ‘…no more major changes have been articulated beyond the near doubling of H-1B filing fees for certain firms, as implemented by this Administration’s Public Law 111-230, and the unchecked increase in unjustified denials, audits and requests for evidence issued of late by the USCIS and US Consulates.’

– Ashwin Sharma, Esq.