Microsoft Needs Immigrants, Facebook Doesn't

Silicon Alley Insider:

H1-B season kicks off tomorrow, and it will be short and random: There are five days to sign up for all 65,000 specialty work visas the U.S. is giving away, which are then given away by lottery. Last year there was a 2 to 1 worker to visa ratio, and there won't be enough work permits to go around this year, either.

That's a problem for the likes of Microsoft, who has been lobbying Congress to raise the quota, without success. Steve Ballmer currently has 4,452 H1-Bs on staff, or about 5.6% of headcount.

But not every tech company relies on immigrant labor. Google has just 416 H1-Bs -- 2.5% of its staff -- on board, and Facebook has just one.

Read the whole story: Silicon Alley Insider

Comments

[drumz]

Cheap labor is all they want. I contracted in Redmond for 6 years and rose to the highest grade. Next grade for me was... unemployment. I did a thorough job and ended up training my replacement - a guy from the Ukraine.
It's just another corporate scam against the hapless rethuglican government.

[michelvaillant]

There is only one reason for what Microsoft is doing: cheap labor. And this is a pattern for them. They want to do everything on the cheap. And it really shows in their products.

[TN]

Saw Bill Gates telling Congress he needed more visa's. Couldn't find enough competant US students. He also let them know he paid 5 billion in taxes. They were falling all over themselves. One senator, it may have been a repug, which is amazing, called him on the fact he wants cheap labor. Bill you are a product of american schools, you made your money with american educated people, I don't care how much you paid in taxes you do not have any more weight as an american based on what you pay in taxes, so save it for someone who gives a dam. Hire USA!

[dadw5boys]

For some reason writing computer code does not inerest American kids.

Maybe they should actually teach some coding in schools.

OH SORRY. I FORGOT , THAT NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND MEANS THEY CAN ONLY LEARN THE BASIC'S. WRITING COMPUTER CODE IS NOT A BASIC.

Guess we need more Immigration. Hey but aren;t they SUPER CHEAP LABOR. Immigration drives a $60 an hour job down to a $10.00 an hour job.

[maggiemae656]

You don't need a college degree to write code. My son, at the age of 17, was writing code and developing high level software with a friend of his. Not one class in high school, not one college class--he is self-taught. Kids these days have technological abilities that seem to be inherent..­.what does a programmer need with college?

There must be some way to recognize talents in people that extend beyond what grades a teenager got in high school.