02-02-2009, 10:21 AM
<b>AP Investigation: Banks sought foreign workers</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->As the economic collapse worsened last year -- with huge numbers of bank employees laid off -- the numbers of visas sought by the dozen banks in AP's analysis increased by nearly one-third, from 3,258 in the 2007 budget year to 4,163 in fiscal 2008.
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David Huber of Chicago is a computer networking engineer who has testified to Congress about losing out on a 2002 job with the former Bank One Corp. <b>He learned later the bank applied to hire dozens of foreign visa holders for work he said he was qualified to do</b>.
"<b>American citizenship is being undermined working in our own country,"</b> Huber said in an AP interview.
Beyond seeking approval for visas from the government, banks that accepted federal bailout money also enlisted uncounted foreign workers, <b>often in technology jobs, through intermediary companies known as "body shops." Such businesses are the top recipients of the H-1B visas.</b>
The use of visa workers by ailing banks angers Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
<b>"In this time of very, very high unemployment ... and considering the help these banks are getting from the taxpayers, they're playing the American taxpayer for a sucker,"</b> Grassley said in a telephone interview with AP.
Grassley, with Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is pushing for legislation to make employers recruit American workers first, along with other changes to the visa program.
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Jennifer Scott of Yreka, Calif., a retired technical systems manager at Bank of America in Concord, Calif., said in 2004 <b>she oversaw foreign employees from a contractor firm that also sent overnight work to employees in India</b>.
<b>"It had nothing to do with a shortage, but they didn't want to pay the U.S. rate," she said, adding that the quality of the work was weak. "</b><b>It's all about numbers crunching."</b>
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David Huber of Chicago is a computer networking engineer who has testified to Congress about losing out on a 2002 job with the former Bank One Corp. <b>He learned later the bank applied to hire dozens of foreign visa holders for work he said he was qualified to do</b>.
"<b>American citizenship is being undermined working in our own country,"</b> Huber said in an AP interview.
Beyond seeking approval for visas from the government, banks that accepted federal bailout money also enlisted uncounted foreign workers, <b>often in technology jobs, through intermediary companies known as "body shops." Such businesses are the top recipients of the H-1B visas.</b>
The use of visa workers by ailing banks angers Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
<b>"In this time of very, very high unemployment ... and considering the help these banks are getting from the taxpayers, they're playing the American taxpayer for a sucker,"</b> Grassley said in a telephone interview with AP.
Grassley, with Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is pushing for legislation to make employers recruit American workers first, along with other changes to the visa program.
...
Jennifer Scott of Yreka, Calif., a retired technical systems manager at Bank of America in Concord, Calif., said in 2004 <b>she oversaw foreign employees from a contractor firm that also sent overnight work to employees in India</b>.
<b>"It had nothing to do with a shortage, but they didn't want to pay the U.S. rate," she said, adding that the quality of the work was weak. "</b><b>It's all about numbers crunching."</b>
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