http://www.debbieschlussel.com/

By Debbie Schlussel

**** UPDATE/Correction, 07/22/06: Munjal Shah, CEO of Riya and the subject of this post, has written in the comments section of this entry to dispute what I've written herein. He says I am wrong and that he is not using H-1B visas to bring over foreigners to do the work he admits Americans are qualified to do. Instead, he's using L1 - intercompany transfer visas, to bring foreigners here to do the work Americans WILL and can do.

My mistake, and I stand corrected. You say "to-MAY-toh," I say "Tom-AH-toh." Either way, he's still bringing in alien workers to America to do the work he admits Americans are qualified to do, given the chance (which he won't give them).

And I gotta hand it to Mr. Shah. That's a clever trick. Open an office in another country to avoid hiring Americans and outsource the jobs there. Then, bring the outsourcing back here with him under the guise of "Intercompany Transfer." Ain't America Grand.

And, FYI, the Wall Street Journal article in question quotes Shah as saying that it cost him a lot to close up and move his outsourced Indian office functions back to America. He could have avoided the huge expense--and my post about him--had he hired Americans to do the job here in the first place. Overall, he and his company lost . . . and so did America.

So, while it may be legal, it's a way of getting around hiring Americans. He took jobs away from Americans in the first place,a nd now he's bringing those non-Americans to whom he gave the jobs, over here to America. ****

Recently, I told you about a law firm that gives seminars advising companies how to avoid hiring Americans. The firm--among many others around the country, I'm sure--gave employers advice on how to hire foreigners for jobs Americans are qualified for, but at a much lower salary.

It's called the H-1B Visa. And employers constantly lie, claiming there are no qualified Americans, so that they can hire a foreigner for much less...