I have been in America for seven years.
In that time, I have come to feel, live, and think like an American. I spent Election Days 2004 and 2006 stumping for John Kerry and Tammy Duckworth. Despite all the harm Republicans have done to it, I see America's entrepreneurial zeal, Americans' thirst for excellence, their never-ceasing ambition to achieve all that they can. I enjoy a technology industry that is the envy of the world, and I mean that literally.
Why can't I stay here?
I came to the United States in the fall of 2000. The dot-com boom was still on; in a single week I lined up eleven interviews and got three job offers in the tech industry. I picked the top one and had a six-figure salary. It was a life I couldn't have dreamed of in my native country.
Now, seven years later, the future no longer looks so rosy. Adjusted for inflation, I am earning essentially the same that I did then, even though I have seven more years' experience in high tech, plus acquired a master's degree from Stanford.
Why are my earnings flat? You could blame outsourcing, the hollowing out of the middle class, even the war in Iraq. But there is a much simpler answer: H-1B.
H-1B workers are often accused of being scabs, slanty-eyed, dark-skinned union busters who come in, steal American jobs, and export them back home. The truth is very different. We came to America because we believe in America. We want to live in America. We don't want to go back to our countries of origin, not one of which has the dynamism and energy of American high-tech companies.
I want a green card. An EB-2 or EB-3 green card, indicating that America has accepted me for my technical skills and desire to contribute. Let me throw modesty to the dogs and say flatly that I am a prize catch. I have a graduate degree in computer science, eleven years' experience as a software developer and manager, and speak, read, and write perfect English. If you don't want me, Canada, the UK, or a dozen other countries would love to have me, and I could be there, permanently, in less than one year. I'd have done so already, but they don't have the tech environment America has.
But I don't have a green card. I have been in America for seven years and it is as remote as ever. Without a green card, my wife cannot work. My children, were they old enough, could not work. I cannot donate money to a political campaign. Some jobs won't consider me at all. Paperwork hounds me wherever I go, and my presence here remains at the whim of Congress. And most important, without a green card I can never become a U.S. citizen, never participate fully in American life (except, of course, for Selective Service, for which my son still has to register when he's 18).
An H-1B holder cannot apply, himself, for a green card. His employer must apply for him. This is a process that can take up to six years, for a variety of bureaucratic reasons I'll explain below.
So what happens if you change jobs? You certainly can, but then your green card application is scrapped, and the six-year wait resets at zero. This has happened to me three times now. Because of this, H-1B workers are reluctant to change companies. As a result, we put up with abusive employers or lower pay much more readily than would a US citizen or green card holder. Our initial pay is competitive with US workers, but raises tend to be few and far between. I myself have never received a raise of more than 5 percent, except when I changed jobs.
Employers can sponsor employees for a green card, but that doesn't mean they will. The process does cost money, and more importantly, it gives the employee freedom to leave, and who wants that? My third employer dragged its feet for over two years, making one feeble excuse after another, until I finally quit in frustration. Now I am back at the tail of the queue again. My master's degree gives me an edge, but only enough to cut the wait to four years rather than six.
Ah yes, the wait. What takes so long anyway? Surprisingly, the answer isn't the Department of Homeland Security, or juvenile College Republican political appointees micro-screening everyone with the surname of "Khan" (though that happens too).
It's an innocent-looking thing called a "visa number". Only about 140,000 of them are issued each year for employment-based green card applicants. This limit set by Congress in 1990. The limit is subdivided into quotas by country, which effectively penalizes the Big Four (Mexico, India, China, and the Philippines). This 140,000 includes spouses and children, mind.
In 2000, Congress raised the H-1B cap to peak of 195,000 a year, which does NOT include spouses and children. The limit later reverted to 65,000, but in the meanwhile nearly all of that group has applied for green cards.
Do the math.
140,000 green cards, including families.
Up to 195,000 applicants, not including families.
Answer: BACKLOG!
I submit that nearly all the abuses of the H-1B program could be remedied by a few simple measures:
- Allow workers to apply directly for green cards, instead of relying on employers. This way we could change jobs freely. Then, if employers refused to give us a raise, we could walk, just like a US citizen. Do this and H-1B wages should match that of US workers.
- Raise the quotas for employment-based legal immigration. 140,000 is actually lower than Canada's quota, and they have barely a tenth of the US' population. In particular, the quota should be raised whenever the H-1B cap is raised.
- Allow spouses of H-1Bs to work or start their own businesses. There is no good reason not to. Why should a perfectly productive person be kept idle at home?
- Amnesty for legal immigrants. I have been in America seven years, have worked hard, studied hard, paid a lot of taxes, and played by the rules.
Can't I have a green card?
Please?