Is there a wrong end of the cake?

Maybe for America. There is.

The current struggle for the H1 B cap can be called a rat race by all accounts. It is an extremely difficult balancing act and I understand the plight of any government trying to win through the process. There is no win - win situation. Whatever happens, there are going to be people extremely disappointed.

One side, we have the Americans: It is their country. They are sinking into a recession. If the H1B cap is increased: It is going to decrease jobs for Americans. But are Americans really into High tech careers? America has had a history supported by immigration. There are no fields dominated by indigenous Americans. They are all dominated by Asian and European workers with a few American managers: Except for the defense sector.

If the H1B caps are not to be increased: US trained workers go back home: Meaning more jobs are again going to be outsourced to China and India.

Americans wake up: The world cannot be conquered by working 8:00 to 5:00. If there are people willing to work 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM: Employers are going to hire them. Cos corporations do what is good for them. With free markets and global trading, the inevitable shall happen: Jobs will go abroad and still leave the job market for Americans pretty thin.

Looking from the case of the foreign students educated in US: they pay a lot of money: Much more than a resident here with the hopes of training and working in a US oriented job market which will pay them returns for the work that they did. You have to accept that they worked 8:00 AM to 2:00 AM then to become what they are now. I would say Asian students do put in more amount of work than an American student would ever: And American professors do know that. So when you did not complain about it then, whining about it now is not going to help at all.

It is like the tax payer. When you pay 35% of your hard earned money to the government, you expect reforms; You want good colleges, more jobs, better standard of living and a strong economy. When the foreign students pay, 200% of the education costs along with tax, food and living: Is it unfair on their part to expect a good job and a strong contribution towards the country’s economy? America’s economy?

This situation is getting out of hand each year. America does not restrict people coming into the country to study. The Universities do like the idea of getting cheap labor and also higher education incomes: More than twice that a resident needs to pay. But when it comes to having in the country, working for America, higher salaries, better living: America balks out.

Either way for America, the solution is tough. Jobs are going to go abroad, richen economies that no longer are dependent on them while reducing number of jobs in America: Microsoft opened a Vancouver office in Canada recently to get around the visa cap. It may not long before it moves to India permanently.
If the H1-B cap is increased, it means American students finally have to wake up and work for their positions which they think is legally theirs but in truth it is not.

Thinking India or China as body shops and other degrading terms will not work out in the future. It is diversify or die. Restraining job markets to Americans will suffocate American economy which is in no position to supply its growing job demands and high tech skills.

In a nutshell, it would be a good legal move for America to open the H1B cap, if not the entirety, at least the US advanced degree holders to prevent US trained talent leaving the country. It would also be a balancing act to put restraint on incoming students, cut down the number of illegal visas, and false consultancies. More work on those lines will actually reduce the true H1B applicants in gigantic proportions.

In any event, I foresee a strong propensity for other economies like India/China becoming global strongholds for high tech industries with Europe and America falling prey to their own immigration rules after building on them so much.

You cannot have the cake and eat it too. Not for that long.