So, in 1999, whilst working as an expat in the beautiful, but depressingly rainy German town named Düsseldorf, I was contacted by a Swiss headhunter regarding a System Administrator's job at a huge Swiss company.
The problem then, was the need for computer-related specialists had exploded due to the then Dotcom Boom. I hold a Master in Business Informatics which I had to produce. The Swiss administration had to verify there was no unemployed Swiss specialist who would then had the priority to the position I was offered.
I always had a really neat opinion about Switzerland. Being born in neighboring France, where just wearing a French flag is seen as being extreme right, I will always love how Swiss people are proud of their own flag. Of course, I did not always feel welcome wherever I went, that's the price of being a come-from-away with a family name sounding like refugees from the recent Yugoslavian war. But I followed the rule and always found my pleasure whenever I could, and eventually gladly shared it with locals.
In 2016, after 5 years of application, I obtained my most prized "diploma": the Red Pass. I once heard some younger colleague telling me how I really was not a Swiss. I just answered him I am just Swiss enough to willingly take a gun and shoot at French soldiers, should they decide to invade my home. Even the wokest youngsters cannot argue with this.
In 2024, it looks like the Swiss educational system adapted its cursus and there now are enough locals being able to occupy the positions such as mine. Having these young students learning beside us is really nice and gratifying.
So, now, when I hear about how Musk's stance about immigration is opposed to America first, I just pray it's a contingency measure and the American system is willing to improve itself until the need for foreign help is down. I also want people to understand that sometimes, people immigrate because they LOVE WHO you are and HOW GREAT your country is.
Let us not be too hasty with the strategy currently being discussed.
The problem with the H-1B visa according to Steve Bannon is that the Big Corporations are NOT checking to see (IF) there is an American Citizen qualified to take the job before hiring a foreign immigrant or foreign student who graduated from our universities. The H-1B visa is a scam for Big Corporation to save money by paying these foreign workers less money and less benefits while our American citizens who are qualified, sit back unemployed or have to take a job doing something they did NOT train for. The H-1B visa's are supposed to be Temporary, but (IF) a worker quits or goes back to his country, they are replaced NOT with an American, but with another foreign H-1B visa worker, thus once again Big Corporations are cheating the American Citizen taxpayers.
Steve Bannon says that he disagrees with President Trump on this topic BUT would agree (IF) President Trump would place an EXIT DATE on their visa for them to leave our country and go home with the skills they received to Make their Country Great. AND... to replace them with our own qualified workers. This is what the problem is. NOT a continual hiring of foreign people who we will once again have a 'flood' of to come in, take our jobs, apply for citizenship and then not comply with our way of life. AND another pet peeve of Steve Bannons is the amount of H-1B visas that are allowed. I think he said that at the moment there are about 85,000 of them waiting to be given out and that the lobbyists and Big Corp are scrambling to find the foreign workers they need to hire in order to save their companies Big Money.
Another problem, particularly with Indians, is that a HUGE amount of them have completely fake “qualifications”.
In Ireland they are brought in to replace the Irish nurses and doctors we train, who leave to get better paying jobs abroad.
Almost weekly some of these doctors and nurses from india are exposed as frauds.
Nobody asks the simple question, if they have the same qualifications as the Irish who leave, why are they not going after these high paying jobs?
Visas in most countries are a very profitable scam.
Yes. I understand. Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec and others are trying their best to get President Trump to see the Truth about this program. Once it is exposed, then hopefully, the rest of the world will Stop this Scam.
Do they really believe President Trump and a team of no more than 10 people, with 3 being civilians, don’t know the truth about the H1B program?
I suppose they do, but Steve Bannon is sure convincing about Trump wanting to keep the program. I suppose it could only be a way of exposing the corruption, but the MAGA supporters are sure unhappy about it.
I could swear I read a truth from Trump knocking the H1B visas as damaging to America First. If I find it again, I'll post it
Thank you. It will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for this insight. I believe the Swiss model is more adequate in this matter.🙏🏻💐
Switzerland is in a unique position - the whole country is only about the size of a large town so I am not surprised to hear that it is somewhat restrictive to become a resident. Five years is a bit much though; surely they either want you or they don't and it surely should not take such a length of time to make up their minds.
Governments need to wake up to the fact that if they make legal immigration an impossible bureaucratic obstacle course then that in itself encourages illegal immigration, even for folks who want to be legal.
It isn't impossible. My wife is an aspiring naturalization candidate and has been here as a resident alien for over 20 years. There must be a rate limitation on immigration for citizenship in order for assimilation and indoctrination (in U.S. governance and laws) to occur. It is necessary that they become Americans, not just foreign colonists.
I always like a "thank you for this information" post. We are all both teachers and learners, helping each other.
As I understand this, the Swiss will not import someone if there is a local that can do the job, and will cancel the visa for that person if they violate the laws, lose their job, etc. Further, no visa holder can initiate "chain migration" where they bring in 40 of their closest relatives for family reunification (hah), and/or go on welfare. If you are in Switzerland, you need to be working and to not be any sort of drag on Switzerland.
If we had those policies in the USA, you would not see most people complaining.
We don't have those policies.
P.S. Please send (more) raclette. :)
Thank you for posting this. I believe America could learn a thing or two about the Swiss model.
All three of you are quite correct in what you have espoused...Having been through what is being done now that actually started in 2007-2008 time frame when large corporations saw a way through the quagmire of the H1B Visa Program...Politicians were paid off to change it...
WE DO NOT NEED ANYMORE H1B VISAS IN THIS COUNTRY...We need to toss everyone out who has come here on an H1B visa and/or become a citizen...the REASON: THERE ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH RETIRED, SKILLED TECHNOLOGISTS IN THIS COUNTRY TO HELP THESE COMPANIES TRAIN the US Technologist graduates.
When I first became an engineer I spent over 6 months just learning what all of us were going to be doing (petro-chemical plants, Fluor Engineering) AND using the knowledge we had acquired in the Engineering/Computer Science Collages/Unis...
So, for what it's worth, we have a VERY RICH TECHNOLOGIST BASE...
I believe Steve Bannon said that very thing about having many engineers and such.
Well worded Mary.
Thank you. I tried to get it all in there.
Quite right. This has been well-understood by technical unions for decades. If Trump wants support for H-1B limitation or discontinuation, he would find it galore in organized labor.
So very true.
It's not always about the money, my specialty is hard to find. I do feel H1-Bs should come with a fee and equal pay requirements to force companies to adhere to the skill side of the equation.
Yes. Me too.
I am fortunately employed but have been looking for the better part of a year in IT.
One of the new things I've noticed in the job hunt is many employers have a list of requirements that is almost impossible to fill completely and/or they are hiring for a job with one description, but the requirements are for a different position that should pay a lot more.
I'm historically an admin, also done Ops and Dev Ops. Most of the positions now with those titles are wanting a full-blown developer in these positions - but they sure as hell aren't paying developer salaries.
I've thought this was due to a tightening market, but now I can't help wonder if these requirements are designed to be impossible to fill honestly and can only be met by someone who is faking their qualifications and willing to take the lower salaries being offered - i.e. H1Bs.
There sure as hell isn't any shortage of experienced tech workers looking for work. Just go on the forums of any job board - people have been out of work for months or years sending out hundreds or thousands of resumes only to get a handful of first interviews and then be ghosted. I've been somewhat selective in my applications, only applying for jobs that I 100% qualify for and with other personal caveats, and yet I haven't received anything beyond an automated receipt response from a single employer - I have yet to even get a rejection letter.
Something out of the norm is going on in the job market, at least in tech but I suspect it is more widespread. H1Bs would explain it, but I guess that isn't necessarily definitive.
Regarding the "requirements being impossible to fill," it's to allow them to reject anyone without being sued. It gives them discretion to hire who they want, which otherwise is difficult because of the large quantity of people who apply because they want to sue for discrimination. It's stupid, but there it is.
If the H1B program were used in good faith, like the hiring process you experienced, it wouldn't generate the intense resistance on display.
But the problem is that it's a total scam, with only a thin veneer of pretense. For our domestic workforce it's like competing against indentured servants. And it happens in multiple industries, not just tech.
The emotions are even higher because Elon absolutely knows this (or at least he should), and it's a "he knows he's lying, everyone knows he's lying, and yet he's blatantly lying anyway" kind of thing. It's telling us to deny the evidence of our own eyes.
Hopefully he's acting in order to force the debate (and setting the stage to clearly allow Trump to override him), but he's certainly pressing the trigger points.
I am very sorry to hear this, the swamp really seem to be a piece of work in America, not that it doesn’t exist my side of the Ocean. I pray we all get rid of it together. WWG1WGA!
Amen!
What this H1B infighting tells me is that Bannon, Ramaswamy, Musk, and the others engaged in this argument do not share or understand President Trump’s vision for the future. They are all arguing from a perspective of the DS imposed managed decline of the United States.
When President Trump says we are entering a Golden Age he is talking about a level of prosperity we cannot imagine. The H1B program, and other things will become artifacts of the reign of the DS. As Penisse points out it won’t happen overnight, but under President Trump it will happen.
My belief is the economy will be strong enough to offer good paying jobs to any American who wants to work. I also think the H1B will be scrapped to prevent future abuses of American and foreign workers alike. It will be replaced by a new program that ensures foreign workers are truly needed. And, prevents trapping foreign workers in a system that allows lower pay and no path to permanent residency or citizenship.
What about people already in the jobs successfully for several years? Then being asked to train an Indian and then be laid off Or take the laugh now instead of 6 months of training?
My friend got called into his boss's office under Obama for an hb1 Visa worker.
He tried to train, bit figuratively he was digging his own grave. He left after 5 weeks.
THERE WAS AN IT EXECUTIVE AMERICAN IN THE JOB DOING IT AND KICKED OUT UNDER THAT PLAN!
The H1-B just needs reform and adherence to high standards.
The truth many don’t seem to want to face is that the quality of American tech workers and college graduates has degraded a ton. Many hiring managers and recruiters won’t even consider recent grads or gen z due to lack of work ethic, social and job skills yet an extremely high level of entitlement.
Immigrant workers tend to have a higher level of work ethic and that’s just the truth. Obviously there are some with phony degrees like from India but that’s why the standards and checks for approval should be increased, and there should be a stipulation that salaries for H1-B must be competitive so that companies can’t abuse it to acquire lower salary employees.
America's principle of "Life, Liberty and Pursuit of happiness" is what attracts people to migrate here. Sure globalists have fucked it up thoroughly and made it lucrative under the financial benefits, which in itself is another illusion since people are always under debt slavery.
We have to stop falling for the greed and pursue what really makes us happy from deep inside. Not what they tell us "to be happy" in the entertainment industries. Its a psyop.
We do seem to really be losing our bearings over this subject. Hold the line, pepes. Mellow out, man.
I dropped my thoughts into this post: https://greatawakening.win/p/19A12uWoaq/h1b-thought/
We don't need anymore immigration, period. We already have the talent need, home grown right here. Don't believe me? Go ask all the under 35 white men who aren't getting hired and are overlooked for DEI and H1B.