PERM Fake Job Ads defraud Americans to secure green cards fo
programmersguildCited 20× on HN, 2011–2025
commentary · general · 2011–2025 on HN
A 2007 clip in which immigration attorneys describe how they help employers run classified ads designed not to find qualified American applicants, so they can secure green cards for H-1B workers. It is presented as an exposé of the PERM process.
HN commenters in H-1B debates post it as evidence that the labor-market test is gamed with fake job ads.
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12 comments from Hacker News
They are making these specific jobs tough to find because they are for a PERM test and don't want to get applicants. This video is old, but the same thing is happening today. ▶ this video
There is no skills/jobs mismatch. These types of articles are part of a stealth propaganda campaign primarily designed to push for more immigration for the purpose of driving down wages. If people think there are not enough skilled workers domestically, they will support more immigration. Don't fall for it! Employers can't find skilled workers... at slave-wage salary. That's the part they never include. How is an app going to fix the problem of employers posting fake jobs domestically, in order to circumvent the immigration rules: ▶ this video
Immigration lawyers explaining the use of fake job ads for H1B recruitment "Our goal is NOT to find a qualified US worker." ▶ this video Follow the money :)
When the standard operating procedure for companies is to post fake job ads with the sole purpose of not hiring an American, in order to get around the law, you know it's not working as intended. Watch lawyers (criminals) teach companies how to break the law: ▶ this video Any tech CEO talking about "we're lacking skilled workers" or "we need more STEM workers" is deliberately perpetuating a system that is objectively defrauding Americans out of jobs. The companies are doing it for no other reason than to reduce labor costs, and they are using shady loopholes that should be enforced, but are not. The very first thing Trump could do is actually enforce the current laws, including increasing penalties, such as massive personal liability for management and investors of guilty companies.
I recommend Cohen & Grigsby. They'll be happy to show you exactly how to run fake job ads locally in order to exclude American workers, then they'll show you how to use the various loopholes to get around what flimsy regulations exist, in order to get yourself a bunch of low wage immigrant employees who live in fear of losing their job and being sent back home. See for yourself here: ▶ this video
>There definitely is a STEM shortage, and you are being really dishonest if you say there isn't. 1) STEM is a term so board to be nonsensical in this context. 2) There may be some self-imposed "shortage" but that doesn't mean anything. Anyone can come up with a job with qualifications impossible to meet. Especially if this is a fake [1] job opening created solely so you can say "shortage!" [1] ▶ this video Who is really being dishonest?
In my opinion, the real fix is to make the H-1B 'lottery' into an auction. Instead of accepting 65,000 H-1Bs at random--accept the 65,000 H-1Bs with the highest wages. That way we are getting the immigrants with the highest valued skills and stopping companies like Cognizant and Infosys that game the immigration system by applying for the cheapest H-1Bs possible. Look at the biggest H-1B recipients: link It's all low quality outsourcing shops like Cognizant and Infosys. If you've ever applied for an H-1B then you know how easy it is to abuse the prevailing wages. The process to evaluate the skills of the applicant is simply filling out a form online for their experience level, job title, and location. Give it a test here: link It's very easy to game their job title and location to lower the salary. Here is the law firm Cohen & Grigsby advising other employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1B workers: ▶ this video This seems like clear fraud. The issue I have with H-1Bs is when companies lie/cheat/commit fraud to outsource jobs that Americans do want and are qualified/willing to do, all for the sake of driving down wages.
The tech industry here in the US is so flush with foreign guest workers on the H1B, F1 OPT, L1, etc visas that companies are spoiled for choice. It may not be as bad as 2008-2009 when job postings were requiring 10+ years of experience for a mid-level dev, but I see job postings with 10-20 'must-have requirements' bullet points. BS 'requirements' like 5 years of Angular 2.0 or 10 years of Bootstrap. Companies are getting their fix of cheap labor by partnering up with universities to provide them via the F1 OPT work program. They enroll foreign workers to the university and the university put these 'students' to work for the companies under the guise that they're doing 'research work' for the university. Here's an article on it: link "PERM Fake Job Ads defraud Americans to secure green cards" ▶ this video How Record Immigration Levels Robbed American High-Tech Workers of $10 Trillion link How American workers are being sold out, By Michelle Malkin and John Miano, November 8, 2015 link www.amazon.com/Sold-Out-Billionaires-Bipartisan-Crapweasels/dp/1501115944/ link other sources on visa abuse or fraud: John Miano - cis.org/Miano-Blog NumbersUSA - link
>artificial barriers Like citizenship? Do you consider citizenship an artificial barrier? As someone who has worked at tech companies and various law firms in the Silicon Valley, I've seen this story played out several times. Hire Cognizant, TCS, Infosys, Symphony, or some other outsourcing firm and then bring in H-1Bs for an entire department. All it does is drive down wages for everyone and hurt everyone except for the 1% at the top. How do you feel about companies and law firms gaming job postings to disqualify qualified workers in the US so they can hire someone on a visa for much less? Employers are posting jobs that don’t really exist, seeking candidates they don’t want, and paying for bogus non-ads to show there’s an IT labor shortage in America. Here is the law firm Cohen & Grigsby advising other employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers: ▶ this video Do you consider this abuse or fraudulent? >Or is this a guise for xenophobia? Implying that the only people against immigration are racists is just a lazy, offensive, and dismissive argument. Try something else.
Law firms have openly admitted to advising businesses in this kind of fraud! link "Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker, and, you know, that in a sense that sounds funny, but it's what we're trying to do here. We are complying with the law, fully, but our objective is to get this person a greencard.... Certainly we are not going to try to find a place where [American] applicants would be most numerous.... if necessary schedule an interview, go through the whole process to find a legal basis to disqualify [the American applicant] for this particular position." ▶ this video
Well, sort of. They don't have to answer any replies, though. Exhaustive discussion here: link But note in particular that firms specialize in coaching companies on how to fake compliance with such laws : story: link video proof: ▶ this video
How do you feel about companies and law firms gaming job postings to disqualify qualified workers in the US so they can hire a candidate on a visa for much less? Employers are posting jobs that don’t really exist, seeking candidates they don’t want, and paying for bogus non-ads to show there’s an IT labor shortage in America. Here is the law firm Cohen & Grigsby advising other employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers: ▶ this video Do you consider this abuse or fraudulent? Also, how much of your firm's work is done by paralegals using templates and boiler plate support letters?