Something of an irony, I'm a US based embedded guy working for a foreign company, becasue of a skill shortage in that country (and most ironic of all, lower oeprating costs in the US). Fortunately I don't need a work visa since I work from home, but in principle I believe the H1-B was a good idea when it started. The US (and other First World countries) does benefit from a brain drain, pulling the best and brightest from other countries. And in a way it helps the newly graduated in those other countries since it puts pressure on foreign companies to improve conditions at home. The H-1B as it exists now is a joke. Companies like Wipro have destroyed it by grabbing every visa within minutes of issue, and using it to flood the outsourcing market. What I'd like to see is a quota, where any particualr company has a small limit on the number of available visa. Extend the quota to groups of related companies to block shell games. Wipro can't function in the US if all they can bring in is 100 bodies a year. Let companies bring in unique expertise, the way the H-1B was intended, but stop wholesale importation of inexperienced and cheap replacements. The counter argument is companies like Microsoft will move R & D overseas, but there's nothing to stop that now. The foreign talent pool for 20+ year experience engineers can't match what's available in the US.
