The land of opportunity. Isn't that what America is supposed to be? The H-IB visa program that was instituted in 1990 gives highly skilled foreigners the opportunity to fill jobs in the United States that American citizens are not available to fill. The programs current guidelines subject it to misuse by employers, resulting in the outsourcing of positions and deterioration of the American work force. Though America is essentially a country made of immigrants, we as a country should ensure we are offering available opportunities to American citizens before reaching beyond the countrys borders. While the premise of the H-1B visa program is good and beneficial to the country when used as intended, further regulations are needed to ensure its proper usage.
While the H-1B program is not an immigrant program, it does allow foreigners to reside in the United States for employment purposes. The country caps the number of H1-B visas to 65,000 annually in order to limit the number of foreign non-citizens in the United States at any given time. When all of the exceptions and exemptions for research and institution employees are included, the actual number is not even close to the set limit. In 2010, there were a total of 241,682 reported H1-B visas (Butler, 26). Immigrants with H-1B visas are sponsored by employers and only permitted to be in the United States so long as they keep a business sponsor. The H-1B program does not provide employment for unskilled workers; it exclusively includes only those who have at least a bachelors degree, or equivalency, in specialty occupations (Tannock, 312). While H-1B visas are only available to skilled workers, other visa opportunities are available for temporary employment in the United States. New paragraph here? Americans were surveyed in 2010 on whether they favored highly skilled or low-skilled immigrants. Responders of both high and low skill levels themselves strongly favored highly skilled immigrant...