Sunday, June 10, 2007

Immigration attorney Philip Boyle argues that H-1b puts upward pressure on the salaries of U.S. software professionals (we respectfully disagree)

In his commentary "In My Turn: Immigration reform -- Vermont style," immigration attorney Philip Boyle make the outrageous claim that the H-1b program actually increases the wages of U.S. software professionals, writing:

"H-1B workers must be paid prevailing wage or better. Hence, these workers have a positive impact on wages which a tax would thwart."
If Philip Boyle is sincere - which, as an attorney is highly unlikely - then he should advocate for flooding in foreign immigation attorneys into Vermont. After all, the Level One DOL prevailing wage (which is applied for most H-1b applications) for LAWYER of $25.65 hour - $53,352 year would certainly put upward pressure on his meager salary.

The reporters at the Burlington Free Press should also rally for more H-1b reporters, as their DOL prevailing wage of $12.65 hour - $26,312 year would put upward pressure on their salaries.

By far largest user of H-1b in Vermont in 2006 was iTech. iTech LCA wages are here – as low as $36,000 minimum BS degree and specialized knowledge. iTech made the Programmers Guild “lowest paid” list. ITech is owned by an immigrant from India and is engaged in shipping work back to India, the same as the firms that have yet to respond to the Durbin/Grassley inquiry.

Boyle argues that the H-1b cap should be raised because H-1b is used to hire new grads from Vermont universities. But not one of iTech’s openings is for new grads – all require at least 2+ years of experience.

(Boyle ignores an alternate solution of giving H-1b preference to U.S. grads - or to eliminate H-1b entirely and allow supply/demand forces to draw more Americans to pursue advanced degrees – that same force that draws sufficient Americans to pursue law degrees.)

The reason iTech uses H-1b is not because no Americans are available, but rather because they hire disproportionately Indians from India – not graduates from Vermont colleges, as Boyle alleges. (Of the 80 iTech green card certifications in 2005 and 2006, 77 were for workers from India.)

iTech is second only to Goldstone Technologies in 2000-2006 LCA filings in Vermont. Goldstone is an Indian company that uses H-1b because they don’t hire Americans. (On p.22 of John Miano’s study he found that Goldstone wage are $12,000 below Expected OES wages.)

Here is an ITECH AD TO HELP PROCESS THEIR EMPLOYEES’ GREEN CARD APPLICATIONS. This person will administrate the PERM job ads that reject qualified American job seekers, as explained by the immigration lawyers in the Cohen & Grigsby video. PERM ads are described at www.programmersguild.org/RIR/

Philip Boyle does not care about Americans getting American jobs because he only profits when American jobs get filled by foreigners. If he truly belived that flooding in H-1b workers would boost wages rather than displace Americans, he would be calling for more H-1b within his own profession. As it stands, we call him "Liar Liar."

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bravo! Keep up the good fight.
Have you noticed how the media is intentionally ignoring the deliberate purge of our middle class engineers?

The business leaders in silicon valley are behind the lies of a labor shortage.

Anonymous said...

well, let's import a bunch of immigration attorneys so that Philip Boyle has upward pressure on his wage. After all, one good turn deserves another

Anonymous said...

oops, I should have read the article rather than just skimming, seems that point was already made

Anonymous said...

H1b is needed when there is really shortage of skills. Not unlimited H1b or GC.Even optimistic estimates shows that new jobs created are 100k year in high tech.If 50% of new job goes to H1bs then it will require 50k H1bs and 100K gcs.Why there is need for 180k H1bs? It is outrageous to ask unlimited H1bs in STEM or Master degree in USA

Anonymous said...

CA GOP Deputy Political Director is on H-1B visa

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11129.html

BlogspotDude said...

I completely agree, H-1B visa holders are driving down U.S. wages, 30% or more! I've seen it in many companies I've worked for. I have 10+ yrs. experience in IT and a Master's Degree, and it still can be hard to find work, especially as a "full-time" employee. All that are left are contracting jobs that are nomadic in nature. You must relocate 1/2 way across the country to get a good job every 6-12 months.

BlogspotDude said...

How can we make a difference and get involved? I've emailed several senators including Durdin & Grassley to suppor them. Also, contacted my local senators and representatives as well. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi, is there any suit in the works to call this law firm to account? It seems that a class-action suit for mega $$ is appropriate, as well as a civil rights suit and a criminal investigation. I would add my name to the list of parties, for sure.

I worked in an immigration law firm so I know quite a bit about the law the guy is talking about on the video - what he's describing is not "funny", it's blatantly illegal, bordering on treason.

Unknown said...

Thank you for creating this organization. When I returned home today and saw the youtube video on the news I was enraged. I have now joined your guild and put in my 35 bucks!

Anonymous said...

As a H-1B, I'm paid 50% above the local average and 20% above the US citizens in my team. I'm the best guy in the team, btw.

Anonymous said...

The newspaper ads used in the PERM process are not fake. The candidates who apply really suck. Just ask my boss.

He received a stack of resumes from high school/ITT Tech grads with no hands-on experience at all.

Anonymous said...

The one comment I see popping up again and again is blaming the attorneys for this issue. This whole "immigration attorneys are the devil" argument is about as persuasive as blaming ER doctors for rising crime rates because they provide emergency medical care to gang members.

Attorneys are bound under oath to zealously represent their CLIENTS. Keyword: CLIENTS. Attorneys only work when hired. If you have an issue with the H-1B situation, take it up with Congress and the companies that abuse it.

Anonymous said...

quote "He received a stack of resumes from high school/ITT Tech grads with no hands-on experience at all."

You think the H1Bs have any real hands-on experience? Their resumes are complete fantasy. Most of them have had nothing more than a 3 month training course and then claim to have a MSC and 5 years experience.
I just did a contract job rewriting the crude messed up code from an H1b that claimed on his resume to have 5 years professional experience with ASP.NET 3.0.
LOL I guess he has a time machine since .Net 3.0 did not exist 5 years ago. Oh and since he is only 20 years old I guess he must have started college at 14 to already have a Masters. Oh wait he said he has a Masters AND 5 year experience so he must have started college at 9.

Anonymous said...

i have written to my Congressman and to the department of labor. This is abuse! We can not let this fade away. Please keep writing and let everyone know.

Anonymous said...

The flaw in the argument is while programming can be done long distance lawyering cant. So the two options are to lose the entire IT industry to outsourcing or to at least keep some of the jobs here for Americans by using H1Bs to supplement the workforce. And lets face it becoming a good programmer is a lot tougher than becoming a good lawyer so why should American kids opt for programming instead of law. We need to keep IT in this country for the same reason we keep farming in this country - using subsidies if needed- national security. Doesnt matter programming does not create as much economic value in the US system as lawyering does we still need to keep it here but at the same time we need to be able to pay low wages like farming as else if we pay more than the economic value the jobs will get outsourced

Anonymous said...

American IT people add a high economic value. The clow who posted on the 29th who says they don't must be for H1-B increase and low wages to americans. We design and build various components for the military, steel Industry, Baking, etc. Companies to engage in this practice should be dealt with the same as the the Enron executives!!! These companies and their attorneys are stealing from our economy and government. It is unamerican to hire foriegn workers when current IT workers can be trained to do the same work.

globe_trotter said...

I am an Indian in an H1-B, and I agree that the abusive H1-B system drives down not only wages, but permits blatant abuse (in the form of denying pay, perks and promotions )by employers. The solution would be to remove the employer – employee green card dependency. However, I do not agree with the protectionist attitudes of some of the bloggers.
Case in point: Look at what happened to Detroit, there are hardly any immigrants in the traditional American auto industry. Try building barriers in the software industry – and high tech in US will be another Detroit. This is a free market and you live and die by it – or be faced with Detroit like conditions in a Soviet Style regimen. For the less skilled Americans, stopping complaining and changing professions would be the best bet. For Indians, there are other places in the world to live than US if the immigration fiasco continues.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/technology/070705/z070502A.html - This is what will happen if there is no immigration reform and free flow of high tech professionals is curtailed.

Interesting article, though it’s a bit off topic, but relevant by the renowned Wharton professor.
http://au.blogs.yahoo.com/futureinvest/11/investing-in-a-risky-world Americans are blissfully unaware of the fact that US dollar precipitously declining against Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupees, Euro and Canadian ( almost on par now with C$ ) . If the neo-cons ( programmers or not ) take it to the next level, the demise of the US standard of living will come sooner than expected.

Anonymous said...

Has it occurred to anyone that Mr. Kim Berry might be publishing false and defamatory information? Don't believe everything you read.

Mr. Kim Berry said...

Did it occur to "anonymous" that if anything I had written was libel that I probably would have heard from Philip Boyle by now?

Citizen Carrie said...

I found this pretty late, but I need to respond to Globetrotter. No immigrants in the auto sector in Detroit? According to the Department of Labor's FLC data center website, why is it that for 2006 (the last year with available statistics at this date), the database shows 12,112 applications for the state of Michigan for 2006 alone? Not to mention all of the L-1 visas that were issued at that time that are impossible to track?

Citizen Carrie said...

Let's see. Continuing on with the state of Michigan, and the number of H-1B visa applications processed, we have 8,711 for 2001, 8,584 for 2002, 8,614 for 2003, 11,439 for 2004, and 9,761 for 2005. You could make a pretty good case for the fortunes of the auto companies declining with the rise of the number of workers coming in with H-1B visas.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what people think these H-1b workers do if they can't come to the US. Do you think they'll start working on plantations?

I'll tell you what: they'll found companies in their home countries and compete with US companies, and they'll have lower labor costs and overhead to boot. Or they'll just get hired by corporate branches overseas, at lower wage levels and not paying US taxes.

Whether you like it or not, every American worker is competing globally, against people who are willing and able to do the same job for much less. Getting some of these people to come to the US and work at US wage levels, if anything, helps.

Unknown said...

What's happened to this once great nation where politicians and companies are willing to step on their own people to save a buck by importing their labor at the expense of future generations. I do grow concerned over the future of this country.

______________________________
hotfrog
New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters http://www.e-us-visa.com