Mayor Bloomberg calls H-1B visa caps 'national suicide'

[OhioChick]

September 29, 2011 04:58 PM ET

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling for "eliminating the cap on H-1B visas" and believes restrictive U.S. visa policies -- particularly the limiting of employment-based green cards -- are a form of "national suicide."

Bloomberg, who spoke Thursday at the U.S Chamber of Commerce about national competitiveness, has been an advocate for eliminating the visa cap, easing access to employment-based green cards, and doing more through visa policies to attract foreign entrepreneurs and encourage foreign students to remain in the U.S.

But Bloomberg's call for more H-1B visas comes at the same time the pace of visa demand is relatively low, as is IT hiring overall. In the immediate pre-recession years, available visas disappeared in a week.

In his speech, Bloomberg said that "temporary visas like the H-1B program help fill critical gaps in our workforce, but the numbers are too few and the filing process too long and unpredictable."

More: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220407/Mayor_Bloomberg_calls_H_1B_visa_caps_national_suicide_

[begin_within]

1. Yeah, who needs jobs anyway...

[brentspeak]

2. Bloomberg deserves to be drop-kicked all the way to Bombay n/t

[MADem]

3. WTF? He's crying because those guys work for cheap-cheap-cheap.

Ten guys in a two bedroom apartment, working for twenty two grand a year.

Jobs are hard to come by--Americans will work for less, though they won't work for slave wages.

[aquart]

4. I don't think being a billionaire is good for him.

Warps everything.

[ixion]

5. screw capping them. outlaw them.

H1-B and outsourcing have destroyed the IT industry in the US.

[Skittles]

6. CORRECT

standards have very much been lowered - the kind of garbage I see from offshore - gawd, Americans would be fired in a HEARTBEAT

[ixion]

7. yep, that's for sure... I've picked up a couple contracts

that had initially been in India because they either couldn't do the project or it was written so poorly it never worked as expected.

[Skittles]

8. but it is CHEAP and that all that counts

USUALLY :rofl: