What I was getting at with Larry was that if we need to import highly-skilled workers, there are more direct ways to get them than by expanding the number of H-1B visas. As it happens, the Center for Immigration Studies has a paper on the subject out today. That paper comments on the feature of that visa I find objectionable:

The H-1B program is, in theory, a non-immigrant program, although it is widely used as a stepping
stone to permanent residency. H-1B visas are valid for up to three years and can be renewed once for an additional three years. H-1B visas also are tied to employment, so an H-1B visa becomes invalid if a worker loses his or her job. While employed, it is relatively easy for a worker on an H-1B visa to transfer the visa to another employer. However, H-1B workers seeking permanent residency are effectively bound to their employer because changing jobs requires restarting the application process, making it unlikely that it will be completed before the visa expires. Transfers do not extend the time limit on the original visa.

Some unions have objected to this feature; and for once, they’re the ones on the side of free labor markets.

The CIS paper also provides evidence “that the H-1B program is rarely being used to import ‘highly skilled’ computer programming workers.” I don’t object to the goal of bringing such workers here, even if it causes computer programmers’ wages to drop*, and in that respect I’m on the same page as Larry. But I think the goal could be achieved in better ways.

* Sorry, Chaka.