Surveying, Mapping and GIS

Exploring all aspects of mapping and geography, from field data collection, to mapping and analysis, to integration, applications development and enterprise architecture...

  • Geospatial Technology, End to End...

    Exploring all aspects of mapping and geography, from field data collection, to mapping and analysis, to integration, applications development, enterprise architecture and policy

Technology Workers, H1B Visas and Controversy

Posted by Dave Smith On 6/29/2007 04:22:00 PM 1 comments

There have been a number of news stories circulating about the H1B visas and overseas technology workers finding employment in the US:



A fraud aspect of it stems from the appearance that employers are going out of their way to deny Americans jobs - more details here:



There are a number of additional videos and clips on YouTube and others relating to this...

I don't think that I have any problem whatsoever with foreign developers coming here in and of itself - I know and work with a lot of very wonderful and talented people from overseas.

What concerns me on one side is the pure profit motive of industry, and on the other side, I am also concerned by the protectionist and xenophobic attitude of some others, and so on. However even these seem to be stuck in the weeds and shallow water - there is also a bigger picture that needs to be examined -for example if Americans cannot find gainful employ in technology sectors, it creates many other cascading impacts and disincentives - and this in turn begins to undermine technology curricula at schools and universities, it impacts research and innovation, and so on. And ultimately, all of these may also adversely impact profit.

Gains and losses should be balanced judiciously.


Life isn't just about cold hard cash.

1 Response for the " Technology Workers, H1B Visas and Controversy "

Search