"The Department of Homeland Security stepped up to the plate Friday for corporate H-1B visa interests as it changed immigration rules without notice to allow employers to hire an unlimited number of foreign students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math to work in the U.S. for 29 months after graduating with a bachelor's degree or higher – longer if an H-1B visa is pending – provided they studied in the States for one academic year under an F-1 visa and their employer enrolls in the Department's e-Verify program. 'This rule will enable businesses to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers, giving U.S. companies a competitive advantage in the world economy,' said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in justifying the change, which the DHS made without notice or comment by exploiting a 'good cause' exception that allows procedural rules to be bypassed to prevent 'serious damage to important interests.' In explaining its motivation, the DHS cited testimony by Bill Gates ('I don't think there should be any limit') as well as the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, which counts major H-1B stakeholders Google, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft among its members."Would anyone but a lawyer not think that hiring a bunch of young men from areas that have either a tendency towards substantial financial scams or extremely active intelligence agencies, might just bring substantial security problems?
Can the US government even do an adequate background check on folks coming in from places like India and China?
This issue is being discussed more here.
