Article against Skill Bill

[arnet]

See the following article, which is posted in numbersusa site for webfax against the skill bill, till now they are campaigning against undocumented workers and now they turned against skilled documented workers too....so we IV members should increase our campaign to counter these.....


NumbersUSA has posted the following campaign against the SKILL Bill:

Ask your Rep. to oppose the SKIL Act H-1B increases

This new fax has been posted in your Action Buffet based on your answers to the Interest Survey.

Take Action

Send this fax to your Representative that asks them to oppose the SKIL Act (H.R. 5744) to increase H-1B visas.

Background on SKIL Act

Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) introduced the SKIL Act (H.R. 5744) in the House. The Senate version is S. 2691. The SKIL Act would:

increase the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000 in the first fiscal year after enactment.

further increase the cap by 20 percent in any fiscal year following a year in which employers used all available visas.

exempts from the annual cap on H-1B visas aliens: who work at a nonprofit organization; who hold a graduate degree from an institution of higher education in a foreign country (up to 20,000 exempted per year); who have earned an advanced degree from a U.S. institution of higher education; or who have been awarded medical specialty certification based on post-doctoral training and experience in the United States.

increases by 150,000 the annual worldwide level of employment-based (EB) immigrants and

exempts the spouses and minor children of EB immigrants, along with certain other aliens, from that cap.

facilitates a path to permanent residency and employment for L-1 visa holders by requiring DHS to extend the authorized stay of an L-1 nonimmigrant who has an application for LPR status pending.

expands eligibility for F student visas to include any student qualified to pursue a full course of study in mathematics, engineering, technology, or the sciences leading to a bachelor’s or graduate degree.

The result of the SKIL Act would be to further depress the wages of Americans working in high-tech and scientific fields and to cause additional job displacement for those workers.


More H-1B Background

The annual cap on H-1B visas returned to 65,000 on October 1, 2003, after being increased to as high as 195,000 the year before.

As a result of heavy lobbying by high-tech companies and cheap labor lobbyists, in the fall of 2004, Congress created another H-1B visa expansion with an annual cap of 20,000 to accommodate foreign nationals attaining graduate degrees from U.S. universities.

These are an extra 20,000 H-1B visas to be granted above the 65,000 cap for workers with U.S.-earned graduate degrees.

These H-1B visas are still available for workers that are not subjected to the annual cap, such as those who would be employed at institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations, or governmental research organizations.

[pappu]

Originally Posted by arnet

See the following article, which is posted in numbersusa site for webfax against the skill bill, till now they are campaigning against undocumented workers and now they turned against skilled documented workers too....so we IV members should increase our campaign to counter these.....
.

numbersUSA and the likes have been visiting our forums under different names and trying to gather our secret information or find what we are doing. Sometimes they try to post inflammatory and nasty posts to incite or demotivate IV members.

IV has been sending faxes to support skil bill (total 1045 sent so far !! and many lawmaker offices were beginning to take notice or expressing their support) and thus they have decided to counter our strategy. They ran a successful campaign against undocumented illegals and have been successful in stalling the current CIR bill in congress. Now there is a chance that legal provisions maybe passed in the coming session before elections. or before the new elected representatives come in. Numbersusa is trying their best to stall any kind of immigration relief for anyone to just focus on border security and enforcement only bill.

This is a challenge for all of us trying to get something done. There is a larger campaign against us and we are very small and don't have neither enough money or clout to fight them. (you all will be surprised to know how much money they have collected to fight us. Our budget is nothing compared to them. Numbersusa does not even reveal or post their financial data like us). With their money they have been able to purchase more political capital due to lobbying efforts. We all are not all that united and have been living our own lives with our own struggles. However we are best and the brightest and intelligent people and I'm sure we can counter them with our means.

Only a collective use of our intelligence, strategic planning and actions will help us. We all need to be united for our struggles ahead. There is a larger goal for all of us ahead.

[rbharol]

Those who think foreign skilled workers will take their jobs do not realize that America needs it. It does not have enough skilled workers. That is the very reason that H1B program is in place and companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Sun etc are asking for it.
And it makes more business and common sense to retain those workers who have acquired training and experience in USA. So giving them green cards easily would benefic America.

The probable reason the people opposing it is that they do not want to compete or are incapable of competing with foreign skilled workers. They will give different excuses against this.

I Know most engineers coming from India are much much more intelligent and smarter than many.

SKIL bill will go through and it MUST go through if America wants to stay competetive. It will benefic corporate america as well as us who
wants to stay here.

[Alabaman]

Sometimes I just get so irritated by these anti-immigrant groups. If It were possible, how I wish America could shut its doors to all kinds of visas for 5 years and let them decide if they think they really need foreigners or not.... only that would also hurt people like us.

I know how many american citizens I helped trained as a GA while in grad school, the services I perform right now as an engineer helping to improve americas infracstructures, how much social security taxes I pay without any certainty of social security for myself.... anyways enuff of the whinning..

[alterego]

Bottom Line is immigrants like us help america STAY strong. A pity that these people can't see this. The majority of americans are not like this however. The majority have had very positive experiences with legal high skilled immigrants and are very supportive of us. In many ways we are ambassadors for our cause through our lives daily. Spin will only get our opponents so far. We are the walking talking truth.

The fact that they posted this on their site actually encourages me that SKIL provisions are under discussion "behind the scenes" otherwsie well connected organisations like numbersusa would not bother with it. In a counterintuitive way, I am happy.

[dixie]

numbersUSA's one point agenda is to kill any fledgling bill that sounds remotely pro-immigrant so the fact that they posted stuff on their website about SKIL doesnt say much either way. But by openly opposing legal and illegal immigration in the same breath, they are positioning themselves as a fringe right-wing organisation and will loose any credibility among objective watchers of the immigration debate. CIR being an all-encompassing immigration relief bill was a different cup of tea, but as far as I can see the only folks who will go to the extent of sending faxes solely opposing EB immigration are the PG and zazona types, and we all know what they stand for.

Originally Posted by alterego

Bottom Line is immigrants like us help america STAY strong. A pity that these people can't see this. The majority of americans are not like this however. The majority have had very positive experiences with legal high skilled immigrants and are very supportive of us. In many ways we are ambassadors for our cause through our lives daily. Spin will only get our opponents so far. We are the walking talking truth.

The fact that they posted this on their site actually encourages me that SKIL provisions are under discussion "behind the scenes" otherwsie well connected organisations like numbersusa would not bother with it. In a counterintuitive way, I am happy.

[a_yaja]

Originally Posted by arnet

See the following article, which is posted in numbersusa site for webfax against the skill bill, till now they are campaigning against undocumented workers and now they turned against skilled documented workers too....so we IV members should increase our campaign to counter these.....

I am not surprised that NumbersUSA is against the SKIL Bill. These are the same people who oppose citizenship as a birth right and are trying to garner support for Rep. Tom Tancredo's bill to deny citizenship for children born in the US whose parents are not citizens. They even want the total immigration numbers to be reduced to a 1000 a year (although, seriously I wonder why they want a 1000 immigrants a year - why not 0?)

Such obstacles will always be present - but we should not lose sight of our goal. We have to focus our energy on the positives of what we have achieved and march on. Certainly we must take into considerations the stratergies of those who oppose us, but we must not be distracted by them. Because if we do, then we will lose sight of our goal and get entwined into petty politics - and those who oppose our integration with this country would have already won.

[leoindiano]

I didnt know H1 increase is part of SKIL bill.

[TheOmbudsman]

Guys, in part, aren't some of the pro immigration forces responsible for such reaction ? A_yaja, look at your post; do you really believe that given the influx of illegal aliens this country should continue to support citizenship as birth right for people who are not here as permanent residents or citizens ? More our leaders push that for that insane and unreasonable idea, more you will see NumberUSA rightfully figthing and probably winning the cause against us.

I think we should pound NumbersUSA and let them know that it is OK being against illegal immigration and OK to fight for control in visa numbers. However, if they reject SKIL bill in its entirety they should be flagged as anti-immigrants.

I believe that some of the SKIL bill provisions are irrational. For example, let people increase H1b automatically at 20% per year sounds like a bit of stretch to me. However, all those numbers could be negotiated to more reasonable levels to benefit all of us.

Originally Posted by a_yaja

I am not surprised that NumbersUSA is against the SKIL Bill. These are the same people who oppose citizenship as a birth right and are trying to garner support for Rep. Tom Tancredo's bill to deny citizenship for children born in the US whose parents are not citizens. They even want the total immigration numbers to be reduced to a 1000 a year (although, seriously I wonder why they want a 1000 immigrants a year - why not 0?)

Such obstacles will always be present - but we should not lose sight of our goal. We have to focus our energy on the positives of what we have achieved and march on. Certainly we must take into considerations the stratergies of those who oppose us, but we must not be distracted by them. Because if we do, then we will lose sight of our goal and get entwined into petty politics - and those who oppose our integration with this country would have already won.

[ufo2002]

Originally Posted by rbharol

I Know most engineers coming from India are much much more intelligent and smarter than many.

I bow to your divine intelligence.

As much as the corporations are in favor of more H1B and SKILL, we should also be thinking about why they are only lobbying for a temporary non-immigrant visa? Why won't they call for high EB caps? Everytime I hear a politician talk about pro-immigration, it's only to increase H1B, but not improve on the current EB-GC system... no long term solutions, just band-aids.

[pappu]

Originally Posted by ufo2002

I bow to your divine intelligence.

As much as the corporations are in favor of more H1B and SKILL, we should also be thinking about why they are only lobbying for a temporary non-immigrant visa? Why won't they call for high EB caps? Everytime I hear a politician talk about pro-immigration, it's only to increase H1B, but not improve on the current EB-GC system... no long term solutions, just band-aids.

yes. the lobbying efforts on behalf of skilled legal immigrants have been mostly 2 kinds. And both these are big lobbyists compared to IV. 1- lobbying by hi-tech industries for increase in h1B cap. 2- lobbying by medical sector for getting more nurses and physical therapists. They are lobbying hard to get such schedule A workers get all our unused Greencard numbers from previous years. These are the 2 most organized lobbying people and are spending a lot of money on it. EB greencard provisions for us are not in their list of top priorities. What is important for industries is to get a lot of talent to this country. Thus H1B cap needs to be increased. Once the talent is here, and they are interested in staying here a greencard will be applied and sooner or later they will get a greencard. Our delay in the greencard does not really affect industries as much as lack of talent from foreign shores.

Unless the GC retrogression issues are projected as serious issues and huge lobbying efforts are done, it will be tough to convince lawmakers.

[retropain]

This is the fax NumbersUSA is asking their members to send to their Congressman in opposition to the SKIL Bill

As you will notice, its a bunch of lies and balony. We pay all taxes- we can send our paychecks, simple as that- get ZERO soccial security & medicare benefits while paying thousands of dolars in taxes, and they now have the temerity to call our children "Anchor babies"- the same term the restrictinists use for the children of people who came in illegally.

Get's my blood boiling when i see blatant lies from these bastard restrictionists....



Dear Representative XX:

Please don't be swayed by well-funded, corporate lobbyists who try to make a case for a higher H-1B cap. Tell Rep. Shadegg that unemployed American high-tech workers can't afford his SKIL Act.

Here are just a few reasons why I hope you will oppose the SKIL Act:

(1) The six-year visas allow foreign workers to bring in their families, and guarantee thousands of anchor babies.

(2) H1-B salaries are tax-exempt--no FICA, no federal or state income taxes. They can live at the same level as tax-paying Americans at a lower cost. Therefore, Congress allows foreigners to "low-ball" American workers.

(3) H1-Bs can leave the job they came to fill and seek other jobs, not necessarily in the "hard to fill" category.

(4) Most H1-Bs are of a "protected" ethnic group, so H1-Bs have an affirmative action preference when competing with Americans for the same jobs.

The result of the SKIL Act would be to further depress the wages of Americans working in high-tech and scientific fields and to cause additional job displacement for those workers.

Please oppose H.R. 5744.

Sincerely,
YY

[dixie]

I find it hard to believe that their fax is not only full of factual errors but even contains racist innendoes. "protected ethnic group" ? what the hell is that ? if anything, asians are over-represented in the tech field and affirmative action works against them.

This should be a fitting reply to all the numbersUSA apologists (trolls ?) in our midst, who suggest that we can garner the support of such closed-minded people if only we support "some" of their agenda and tone down ours to only benefit a narrow section of this community (needless to say they are talking about themselves). We are lucky to have a core group that is wise and promotes the interests of all IV members.

Originally Posted by retropain

This is the fax NumbersUSA is asking their members to send to their Congressman in opposition to the SKIL Bill

As you will notice, its a bunch of lies and balony. We pay all taxes- we can send our paychecks, simple as that- get ZERO soccial security & medicare benefits while paying thousands of dolars in taxes, and they now have the temerity to call our children "Anchor babies"- the same term the restrictinists use for the children of people who came in illegally.

Get's my blood boiling when i see blatant lies from these bastard restrictionists....



Dear Representative XX:

Please don't be swayed by well-funded, corporate lobbyists who try to make a case for a higher H-1B cap. Tell Rep. Shadegg that unemployed American high-tech workers can't afford his SKIL Act.

Here are just a few reasons why I hope you will oppose the SKIL Act:

(1) The six-year visas allow foreign workers to bring in their families, and guarantee thousands of anchor babies.

(2) H1-B salaries are tax-exempt--no FICA, no federal or state income taxes. They can live at the same level as tax-paying Americans at a lower cost. Therefore, Congress allows foreigners to "low-ball" American workers.

(3) H1-Bs can leave the job they came to fill and seek other jobs, not necessarily in the "hard to fill" category.

(4) Most H1-Bs are of a "protected" ethnic group, so H1-Bs have an affirmative action preference when competing with Americans for the same jobs.

The result of the SKIL Act would be to further depress the wages of Americans working in high-tech and scientific fields and to cause additional job displacement for those workers.

Please oppose H.R. 5744.

Sincerely,
YY

[boreal]

Originally Posted by dixie

I find it hard to believe that their fax is not only full of factual errors but even contains racist innendoes. "protected ethnic group" ? what the hell is that ? if anything, asians are over-represented in the tech field and affirmative action works against them.
.

Well, what do you expect from people who dont have any skills? Forget tech skills, these people obviously dont even have the skills or the patience to do a little bit of research (thats all it requires to not spread such blatant lies) before spreading such lies. We dont pay taxes - ha ha..yeah right..If not for us, the social security and other govt depts would have been short-changed as jobs would have migrated big time to other countries - where ppl have the technical skills. And money earned elsewhere does not bring moolah to the social security or other coffers of this country.
[I had to add the last sentence as the trolls would not understand otherwise what i meant.]

[dixie]

It may actually be good that they are making such blatant errors .. they are ruining their own credibility. The law-makers and their staff (at least for the most part) arent so dumb as not to recognize such blatant distortion of facts. Like someone on this forum said; just shouting a lie doesnt make it any truer. From our perspective, a dumb beast makes a better enemy than a cool and calculating one.

Originally Posted by boreal

Well, what do you expect from people who dont have any skills? Forget tech skills, these people obviously dont even have the skills or the patience to do a little bit of research (thats all it requires to not spread such blatant lies) before spreading such lies. We dont pay taxes - ha ha..yeah right..If not for us, the social security and other govt depts would have been short-changed as jobs would have migrated big time to other countries - where ppl have the technical skills. And money earned elsewhere does not bring moolah to the social security or other coffers of this country.
[I had to add the last sentence as the trolls would not understand otherwise what i meant.]