Senator Urges Microsoft to Give Priority to American Workers

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is urging Microsoft and other companies to ensure American workers are given priority over guest workers employed under the H-1B visa program.

The H-1B visa program was established to help U.S. companies find employment when the American workforce is insufficient to meet their demands.  Under the program, companies can hire foreign guest workers on a temporary basis when there aren't enough American workers to fulfill their needs.

"Microsoft employs thousands of people through the H-1B visa program," said Grassley in a letter he sent to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, urging the company to retain qualified American workers during their layoffs. "However, the program is not intended to replace qualified Americans."

According to Grassley, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released an internal report last October stating that the H-1B program has more than a 20% violation rate. Common violations include jobs that were not located where the employer said they would be, H-1B visa holders not being paid proper wages, forged documents, fraudulent degrees, and shell businesses.

In 2007, Grassley co-sponsored legislation calling for tighter controls over H-1B visas to increase job opportunities for Americans and to prevent such instances of visa abuse, fraud, forgery, and other violations.

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