How to fix the H-1B visa mess

You may have heard the presidential candidates prattling about H-1B visas, some saying we need to end that program and others saying otherwise.

The H-1B visa program allows US companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations that they “theoretically” cannot find here. I don’t think that they try very hard. It’s cheap qualified labor.

It’s also the road to an eventual green card for these foreign workers. The H-1B loophole is used by them and our companies for selfish reasons.

It’s a foot in the door for the workers so they can understand our culture from the inside, and potentially cheap labor for the US companies.

The H-1B program is great for employers who can probably get cheaper labor from overseas than using American workers with similar qualifications. That’s the problem.

I have no doubt that the unspoken warning to these workers is that if they quit or are fired, they are likely to be sent back to their country of origin. That assumes that the workers haven’t found another loophole and can stay. They are, no doubt, thinking about it from the first day on the job.

If you are a foreign worker working in the US, it’s much easier to find ways to stay, than if you are outside wanting to come in.

It isn’t modern day slave labor, but I’m sure that the thought has crossed the mind of both the workers and the employers. It will never be uttered.

Here’s the fix –

If in the unlikely event that a US company can’t find American workers to do a job, then they can hire H-1B workers from overseas subject to the following conditions.

They must pay our government the difference between the prevailing US salary for the job plus 15%, minus what the H-1B worker is paid. It will go directly into a segregated fund to provide medical services for our disabled veterans. That will stop our government from stealing and spending the money elsewhere.

So if a job should pay $100,000 a year but the foreign worker gets $60,000, then the employer must pay $55,000 a year into the fund, in equal monthly installments.

In this way, it will be slightly more expensive to hire these foreign workers. If the companies still do, they’ll generate a windfall fund for our veterans. They need help.

This fix will help fund the programs to help them.