I worked as a tech recruiter a while back and had a lot of H1-B clients. Is there fraud in the system? Assuredly yes, and reform is needed. But if you did away with the program today, there are so many companies that people rely on that they don’t even think about (lots of banks, insurance companies, and people who do unseen stuff) rely on these employees because sometimes there are like a handful of people in the world who know the stuff they need.
If the US managed to get their educational infrastructure in place to support learning these skills and not having to rely on foreign brainpower as much? Sure, maybe I see the point. But that’s by far not the case - we just don’t have the workers needed to thrive in the modern economy, and it’s becoming more and more apparent as other countries churn out skilled workers and we keep dropping in the educational rankings.
I worked as a tech recruiter a while back and had a lot of H1-B clients. Is there fraud in the system? Assuredly yes, and reform is needed. But if you did away with the program today, there are so many companies that people rely on that they don’t even think about (lots of banks, insurance companies, and people who do unseen stuff) rely on these employees because sometimes there are like a handful of people in the world who know the stuff they need.
If the US managed to get their educational infrastructure in place to support learning these skills and not having to rely on foreign brainpower as much? Sure, maybe I see the point. But that’s by far not the case - we just don’t have the workers needed to thrive in the modern economy, and it’s becoming more and more apparent as other countries churn out skilled workers and we keep dropping in the educational rankings.