Does the Government Support Global Talent Management?

2 comments

Well…it’s that time of year again. The time when US Citizenship and Immigration Services begins accepting applications for H1-B visa petitions. On Tuesday, it was reported that, in less than one day, they received about 150,000 petitions and had reached its limit for applications. Congress has limited visas granted to 65,000 — picked at random — making it about a 43% chance of actually getting a visa if applied.

Obviously, something needs to be done. A cap increase, at least, is necessary, although some companies including Microsoft would like there to be no cap at all. The outsourcing debate has fueled speculation that H1-B visas are only used by companies to hire cheap labor but the fact of the matter is that companies are going outside of the US to find the necessary and best talent available. Other interesting take can be read here and here.

What are your thoughts?

  • Phil Fersht

    One of the most damaging aspects of outsourcing is having workers get paid for services provided to a US firm, but be based offshore and hence stimulate the local economy where he or she resides. One solution is to encourage more workers to deliver these services from the US. You will find most workers who qualify for H1Bs are well educated people who add a lot of value to companies, so why not increase the cap? We let thousands of Canadians in the country on TN Visas, so why not get more Europeans and Asians in on H1s? This “reverse outsourcing” is the perfect remedy for addressing the current damage some outsourcing may be doing to the US economy.

  • http://www.tomob.wordpress.com Tom O’Brien

    If this is not the definition of insanity – well, I don’t know what is. How can we support not allowing US based companies to hire the best and brightest – wherever thay are from???

    This is just wrong.

    Tom O’B

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