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H-1B Cap

By Annie Banerjee

Hopefully the last petitions have reached the Vermont and California Service Centers by now. Stay tuned for more on the lottery in this blog. I'll post them here as soon as they become available.

I cannot help but reflect on the CAP. In a year where the dreaded R word is echoed through out USA, when unemployment is at a record 5 year high, more H-1B s are being filed in 2008 than it was in 2007. Why? Because of the lottery. The employers know that only a portion of the petitions they file will statistically get in. This creates an artificial employment situation, one that is created by the Government rather than the free market economy. Employers have to project their need for the full year (until September 30, 2009) and calculate what chances they want to take with finding employees. This situation creates an artificial demand and supply.

Yet America was founded on the Laissez Faire system, and because of this system we have prospered, while Capitalism and then Socialism tumbled. We have let the market dictate our economy, whether its a bear or a bull market. Why then don't we just do away with the CAP, and let market forces dictate our employment based immigration? This is because the anti immigration forces, the very people who does not want a Government Controlled Economy, champion a restrictionist immigration policy. The net result is that Companies, without these professional workers, will just out source more work out of the US, resulting in less economic activity at home.

If we do not let free market economy dominate the US job market, can we then turn around and criticize Governments like Cuba who control every aspect of their economy?

Full post as published by US Immigration Matters on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).