"Good morning, you’re fired and getting replaced by a software engineer from India with an H-1B visa… APRIL FOOLS!"  This is a bad joke to play on an engineer these days because it is just too close to actually being true. 

The root of “April Fools Day” goes back to the 1500s when the New Year date was moved from April 1st to Jan 1st.  Those who were unaware of the change were open to pranks and jokes.  They were the “April Fools”. 

April 1st, 2007, is still however, the beginning of the New Year for H-1B applications and it is American engineers unaware of these activities, who are once again the “April Fools”.

Immigration lawyers, representing tech companies and foreign nationals, sent thousands of couriers to hand-deliver H-1B applications to the USCIS, hoping to make it in time. The H-1B cap is expected to be reached within a day, or as fast as CIS workers can humanly-possibly process them.  Ironically, American technology and Indian outsourcing companies are now battling each other to reserve their place in the biggest rush for fool’s gold in modern history. 

But who’s really the fool here?

Who’s the fool?

The H-1B program has been making fools of American engineers since its inception by restraining their trade in a variety of ways.  The H-1B program has made fools of guest workers who are treated as indentured servants.  The H-1B program is also turning American college students into fools because it discourages them from studying Math and Science.  The H-1B program is now making fools of politicians who cannot vote to increase the H-1B cap without the risk of losing their next election, and cannot get campaign contributions from large tech companies without voting to increase it.  The H-1B program has also been making fools of American technology companies who are now finding that the visas are being used up by Indian outsourcing companies before they get a chance to utilize them.

Those same technology companies have foolishly shot themselves in the foot by reducing the size of their American engineering workforce while insourcing and outsourcing as much as possible over the past decade.  Motivated only to increase quarterly profits, this short-sighted behavior has left American companies with little to no engineering knowledge base, and dependent on the continuance of guest worker programs and outsourcing practices.

Politicians have proven themselves to be out of touch with their mostly middle-class constituents and disproportionately beholden to their big business campaign contributors.  Politicians have proven themselves to be disconnected with realities in the engineering field by repeating foolish phrases such as “desperate shortage of engineers and IT professionals” and “America cannot compete without H-1B guest workers”.

Bill Gates has made a fool of himself by shamelessly misrepresenting an important engineering issue when testifying to congress in Washington D.C., while his own workers are contradicting his statements at his Redmond headquarters (near Seattle) in Washington state.

President Bush has shown himself to be out of touch with American citizens, foolishly parroting the talking points of big business without considering consultation with engineering or labor organizations.

Senators and House members foolishly ignored the advice of IEEE-USA and IEEE members by pushing ahead with bills containing H-1B cap increases with no reforms considered, first with senior Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Kennedy (D-MA), and then with junior House members, Guiterrez (D-IL) and Flake (R-AZ).  This may become the most foolhardy act of all if angry, web-savvy middle-class engineers decide to mount an internet-campaign against them during the next election cycle.

The H-1B program has now made fools of almost everyone.

Who are NOT the fools?

Some parties, however, have not been made fools of.  In fact, they’ve been playing an April Fools prank on all Americans.  Outsourcing companies, mostly from India, have played a bad joke on American engineers, American companies, American students, and American politicians, playing all of them for fools.  The top 10 H-1B requestors of 2006 are all outsourcing companies, who use the H-1B program to train their junior engineers in America, and rotate them back to their country of origin to facilitate outsourcing contracts.  Not even one of the top 10 H-1B sponsors is an American company.  This is a list of the top 10 companies who applied for H-1B visas last year:

Fearing political fallout, senior Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Kennedy (D-MA) retreated from the H-1B and Immigration Reform bill battlefield last week.  The McCain/Kennedy coalition split and opted not to release the immigration reform bill they’ve been working on. 

McCain seemed frustrated with the endeavor and is also concerned about losing support from his conservative base in his bid for the Republican presidential candidacy.  Conservative voters are strongly against guest worker programs which, many feel, leads to amnesty for illegal aliens.  The H-1B program is not related to illegal immigration but it is growing into an equally controversal guest worker program with heavyweight opponents such as IEEE-USA, the AFL-CIO, the CWA and many others who are joining in as the immigration battle progresses.

Bill Gates draws first-blood while IEEE raises an army of engineers in the pivotal fourth round of the H-1B battle of the Immigration Reform bill war.

In his opening move, the world’s richest man strikes hard at American engineering careers by testifying before congress in favor of unlimited H-1B visas.  Bill’s prestidigitatory presentation sought to somehow convince lawmakers that the best way to encourage American students to enter engineering is to import more engineers from other countries. 

First, he says, we must "place a major emphasis on encouraging careers in math and science" then secondly, "we need to attract and retain the brightest, most talented people from around the world".  Sadly, there were no challenges to this point by the committee. Not one Congressman or Senator suggested that increasing the cap might further discourage students from entering the engineering field.  Despite studies which show there is no shortage of engineers, Bill Gates insists that the tech industry needs the cap raised. 

Bill Gates draws first-blood while IEEE raises an army of engineers in the pivotal fourth round of the H-1B battle of the Immigration Reform bill war.

In his opening move, the world’s richest man strikes hard at American engineering careers by testifying before congress in favor of unlimited H-1B visas.  Bill’s prestidigitatory presentation sought to somehow convince lawmakers that the best way to encourage American students to enter engineering is to import more engineers from other countries. 

First, he says, we must "place a major emphasis on encouraging careers in math and science".  Then he suggests opening the flood gates to foreign engineers by eliminating the cap completely, "So even though it may not be realistic, I don’t think there should be any limit".  Sadly, there were no challenges to this point by the committee.  Not one Congressman or Senator suggested that increasing the cap might further discourage students from entering the engineering field. 

Despite studies which show there is no shortage of engineers, Bill Gates insists that the tech industry needs the cap raised.