85,000 H-1B Jobs Exclude Americans; 78,000 Left in Doubt

(PRWEB) April 14, 2008 -- Ending the concealment of over 78,000 technical and professional job openings left unfilled in the H-1B lottery was demanded of House leadership on April 11, 2008 by Brightfuturejobs.com, a grassroots lobbying campaign formed to counteract claims that Americans can't do science and technology. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have reported that it received nearly 163,000 H-1B work visa petitions during the filing period that ended on April 7, 2008.

The group has for years, already been demanding the chance for Americans to compete for the 85,000 visa jobs presumably filled each year.

"Even as unemployment skyrockets, over 78,000 job openings filed with the Department of Labor will remain vacant. We want Americans to get a crack at these job openings," said Donna Conroy, Executive Director of brightfuturejobs.com.

"For every employer who loses the H-1B lottery, there could be thousands of US professionals who win--a good paying job!" she explained.

Over 78,000 jobs filed by US and foreign companies for H-1B visas will remain vacant for up to one year after the 85,000 visas currently permitted are awarded through the lottery, according to Conroy.

"The concealment of these jobs opening in the face of the triple whammy of unemployment, foreclosures and credit crunch constitutes criminal negligence," said Conroy; "these jobs should be published immediately following the outcome of the H-1B visa lottery."

"It's a golden opportunity for Congress to make winners of over 78,000 unemployed US professionals," she proclaimed. The demand is directed to Chairman George Miller (D-CA) of the House Committee on Education and Labor which has oversight authority over the Department of Labor and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Ignoring Local Talent

Employers have been recruiting globally for months now to fill 163,000 openings for fiscal year 2009. "However, they have yet to give American citizens and legal residents a chance to compete for these jobs that will become available in 2009. That's right - 2009."

"And we have the want ads to prove it:"

?    Alberg, Naperville, IL blatantly entitled "Currently we are in the process of hiring best H1/L1/B1/TN (other forms of guest worker visas);

?    Sirius, Houston, TX, entitled "New H1b's for 2009."

?    FTG International, Jersey City, NJ, entitled "H-1B Visa - FY 2008/9"

?    SRM, Inc., Fairfax, VA, requiring a $2500 deposit before filing for an H1-b visa

?    Aries Computers, Manalapan, NJ (SBA 8 (a) Certified MBE/WBE GSA Contract No. GS-35-F0080R)offering "Free Training, Free Food and Guest House accommodation, H1-B applied in April 2008, Green Card processing in Jan/Feb 2009, Effective Resume writing help, Marketing and Placement, Behavioral and Technical mock interviews. Preparation of In Person Interviews/Client Interviews."

"The offering of such support and training is strong evidence that many, likely most H1-Bs are entry-level, contrary to corporate claims that their level of qualifications is higher than experienced US tech professionals. Corporate lobbyists' claims that the H1-b visa hiring program is needed to fill a technical qualification gap in the US workforce are disproven right out of their own corporate want ads.

Innovative Revival of Jim Crow

"One would think that a system of job-discrimination enforced by the federal government would not be possible four decades after passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Now, tech firms only rely on the US workforce when they can't find any more H-1b visas. This program is killing our chances of landing jobs in 2009," said Conroy.

Despite the fact that these are American jobs - most of which will stay in America - employers needn't demonstrate a shortage, according to the Department of Labor.

In a letter dated April 1, 2008 Senators Durbin and Grassley, who had introduced bipartisan legislation last year to prevent H-1B and L-1 Visa abuses, wrote to the top 25 recipients of H-1B visas in 2007, "Most companies can explicitly discriminate against American workers by recruiting and hiring only H-1B visa holders. As the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has said: "H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of a foreign worker."

"Further concealment of these unfilled jobs constitutes an injury added to an insult to American professionals - citizens and green card holders alike. Especially during a developing recession," she asserted.

In addition to deprivation of job opportunities, American IT professionals have been subjected to a not so subtle implication of their inferiority to foreign IT professionals.

"The constant disparaging of US technical talent points to tech firms' innovative revival of 19th century Jim Crow laws," Ms. Conroy further charged, "It recently reared its ugly head again when the study "H1-B Visas and Job Creation", released by the National Foundation for American Policy came to the conclusion that H1-Bs created between 5 and 7.5 jobs. This conclusion was reached without offering any data on the productivity of foreign workers nor was an indication that such study was even undertaken. If you simply substitute the term white for H1-b, the illogic and defamation of the assertion becomes abundantly clear," complained Conroy.

But that's nothing new she observed; "for years want ads specifying 'H1-b only' have constituted but the latest manifestation of "No Irish Need Apply". These sound bites are just the latest developments in the propagation of the myth of American technological incompetence."

Bright Future Jobs

BFJ is a grassroots lobbying campaign dedicated to counteracting claims that Americans can't do science and technology. We lobby to require employers to seek local talent for US job openings before recruiting abroad. Our exposure of federal government documents declaring that the H-1b law's intention is to bypass the US workforce resulted in the introduction of the bipartisan Durbin-Grassley ""The H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007" (S. 1035). We were instrumental in securing the passage of a Cook County resolution urging passage of the Durbin reform bill in September, 2007.

Contact:

Donna Conroy

Bright Future Jobs

773-764-5865

cell 773-759-5865

dmconroy@sbcglobal.net

http://www.brightfuturejobs.com

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