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Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigrant Visas

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Mon May 02, 2005 at 04:47:39 AM EST
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Bill Gates is not going to make any friends among the Minutemen or Congressmen like James Sensenbrenner and Tom Tancredo with proposals like this:

The United States should remove visa limits to allow more skilled foreign citizens to work at U.S. companies if it wants to remain a leader in technology, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Chairman Bill Gates said on Wednesday. Microsoft is having a hard time finding skilled workers within the United States, and the lack of H-1B visas for skilled workers is only making the situation worse, Gates said in a panel discussion at the Library of Congress.

"The whole idea of the H-1B visa thing is, don't let too many smart people come into the country. The whole thing doesn't make sense," Gates said.

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    Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigrant Visas | 7 comments (7 topical)
    Re: Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigra (none / 0) (#5)
    by MikeDitto on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:53:07 PM EST
    Perhaps Bill Gates should open a serious R&D facility somewhere in the country other than rainy Seattle. I know at least three dozen highly qualified engineers here in Denver who are currently working outside the field because there is just no work to be had in the field. It's not that there is a lack of qualified personnel, it's that the very plentiful workforce won't work long hours for peanuts for fear of being deported. The H1B rules state that the imported workers have to be paid comparable wages, but the companies easily skirt around that by setting the salary ranges for a particular job classification to be ridiculously wide. Visas for people who are highly specialized in a field are a separate issue. What Bill Gates and others want is carte blanche to having a servile work force in a field that requires widely possessed knowledge and skills. Pigwiggle, it's apples to oranges.

    Re: Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigra (none / 0) (#1)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:38 PM EST
    When did the Minutemen say anything about legal immigrants?

    Re: Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigra (none / 0) (#2)
    by mpower1952 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:39 PM EST
    "The whole idea of the H-1B visa thing is, don't let too many smart people come into the country. The whole thing doesn't make sense," Gates said. Is Bill Gates really that naive or does he think we are? H-1B visa as well as other visas are used by many corporations as a way to get cheap labor and indentured servants. Once they're here, they can't complain or they will be sent back to where they came from. The visa is to work for one particular company.

    Re: Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigra (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:39 PM EST
    As a 30+ year vetran of the IT industry it is hard to see how H-1B does anything but hurt the IT workers in the US. When the US IT industry is employed at 100% then maybe these Visas are a necessity, but now, they are simply another cash cow for the companies that hire h-1Bs.

    Re: Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigra (none / 0) (#4)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:39 PM EST
    I work with a number of folks that are here in the US on H1Bs. Half of all postdocs in engineering and science are foreign nationals and a large portion of those folks have H1Bs. They are desirable for a number of reasons; portability (often more than one postdoctoral position is required for consideration as a permanent employee), length of pay between positions, length of total stay, and so on. It is my understanding that the H1B is the best visa for a young scientist who is trying to stay in the US as a permanent resident. A friend of mine used an H1B to work through a postdoctoral position into an associate professor position. Folks, we are wholly dependant on foreign nationals for the volume and quality of science done here in the US; we desperately need these folks.

    Re: Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigra (none / 0) (#6)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:40 PM EST
    “What Bill Gates and others want is carte blanche to having a servile work force in a field that requires widely possessed knowledge and skills.” What Bill wants and what Bill gets… Look, you can try and pay some Indian code developer the wage she makes in India while she stays in the US, but it will never fly; it’s a matter of living standard. If you try to protect a US wage in any field companies will simply move where they can be the most profitable. We can have MS (and employees) here contributing to the US economy or you can have them in India. When the US protect wages by any means in effect US taxpayers subsidize the wage in that industry. So the US taxpayer pays some portion of the wage of that code developer and then perhaps pays a higher price to consume the code; only one side benefits in that arrangement.

    Re: Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigra (none / 0) (#7)
    by eastbaydave on Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 05:44:00 PM EST
    Mr. Gates needs to finish the statement: 'Microsoft is having a hard time finding skilled workers within the United States ... who require little or no time for learning the specific tools we use. Microsoft would also rather hire a foreign worker for less salary than an American worker.'

    This is not Bill Gates the technical pioneer speaking. Rather, this is Bill Gates the corporate executive who values cost savings above all else. Microsoft is already hiring thousands of information workers and scientists overseas.

    Bill Gates Wants Limits Lifted on Some Immigrant Visas | 7 comments (7 topical)