Sounds like this will cause problems similar to the H1B. The comments here have already shown this.
Programming is hard, and it's hard to get people to do it for you unless you pay them a lot. Even then, you don't necessarily get people to do it for you.
So you figure, well, there are a lot of people overseas who I could hire. So we need to create a program to hire them.
But then it turns out there is still a concept of citizenship, which is normally required to live and work unencumbered in a particular nation.
So they say, well, sure, let's just let them in as long as they promise to work in this profession for this employer.
But now, you have two people doing the same job next to each other at the same desk, and one of them can change fields, move to a new city, take a new job, and do all those things we normally associate with freedom. And if an employer doesn't allow him or her to do these things, they'll change fields, take a new job, or move to a new city.
So eventually the employer discovers that the restricted and unfree workers are easier to keep around, and you don't have to pay them as much. This starts to set the salary and working standards, so they people who are free start to avoid the field.
Which makes it harder to get the free citizens to do the work, which makes it hard to get people to do programming for you.
But then you figure, well, there are people overseas I could hire, so we need to expand the program so I can hire them...
It's totally broken. A traditional concept of citizenship and a global workforce don't really work all that well together. Something is going to have to give.
It was interesting experiencing that first hand. Not so much the exploitation, but the awkward position that you're put in when quitting your job could mean losing your entire life. I stuck it out at my last job for about a year longer than I was really comfortable with because I didn't want to take the chance of jeopardizing my permanent residence papers. I gave my notice within a couple weeks my permanent residence going though (and naturally, shifted over to working on my startup, another thing that was impossible for me to do previously :-) ).
I've experienced it only second-hand, but I sure have been close to the problem. I don't blame you for sticking it out, you'd be crazy not to.
I recently left a company that moved the office about 50 miles south through heavy traffic. It also decided, amazingly enough, that telecommuting was "bad", so they banned it (not even one day a week). Yep, everyone who lived 50 miles away is not obligated to drive in to work every day. They severely diluted everyone's stock, and implemented a bonus plan that was so weak it was embarrassing.
Almost all of the UC citizens have left. But the H1B's are still there. I don't blame them, they'd be crazy to leave and jeopardize their visas and green card applications. But it really makes me sick that my government essentially allowed private corporations to essentially control a worker's right to reside in the United States, along with hopes for becoming a citizen.
The funny thing is, I'm pretty libertarian. In my opinion, businesses should be free do do all that crap that my last company did if that's what they want to do. Nobody owes me a job on my terms, just as nobody owes my former company a talented employee on their terms.
That's how free markets work, but the H1B has proved to me that businesses are not in favor of free markets, they're in favor of regulation that benefits them. When workers gain too much power - not through unions, not through government regulation, but through value - the corporate world will absolutely seek legal systems that give them control over things like visas and green card applications.
Makes me worried. I grew up in SF, so of course I've had plenty of socialists in my life saying things like "if democracy could change anything, it would be illegal..." but really, you have to say the same thing about free markets. It's pretty clear that when they threaten the establishment, the big corps will do everything they can to ensure that free markets are illegalized.
From everything that I've gathered, in Germany at least, the process is less brain-dead than in the US. It's still brain-dead, but there's less insult added to injury.
(Saying this as an American with permanent residence in Germany.)
The competition for skilled migrants is going to heat up. I think in 10 years many european countries and US states will be desperate for workers - particularly countries like Italy where population is aging rapidly.
http://longevity-science.org/Population_Aging.htm
Most, if not all EU countries have provisions for obtaining citizenship after a certain number of years of residence. Or do you mean gaining citizenship after a certain number of years in any EU country?
Yes. Like in germany, where it takes about 16 years of living there to get a citizenship, and since you were not born there, you will always be a second class citizen, always. Plus in a typical racist/ethnocentric way, you have to renounce your motherland's country's citizenship. No, thanks.
There is a real good reason USA attracts smart immigrants in droves. Even with the latest problems after 2001, this country will be able to attract more foreigner than any other country in europe.
Permanent residence is a load of paperwork, but still fairly straightforward if you've been working in Germany for 5 years and as of the latest laws gives you the right to work and live anywhere in the EU.
Programming is hard, and it's hard to get people to do it for you unless you pay them a lot. Even then, you don't necessarily get people to do it for you.
So you figure, well, there are a lot of people overseas who I could hire. So we need to create a program to hire them.
But then it turns out there is still a concept of citizenship, which is normally required to live and work unencumbered in a particular nation.
So they say, well, sure, let's just let them in as long as they promise to work in this profession for this employer.
But now, you have two people doing the same job next to each other at the same desk, and one of them can change fields, move to a new city, take a new job, and do all those things we normally associate with freedom. And if an employer doesn't allow him or her to do these things, they'll change fields, take a new job, or move to a new city.
So eventually the employer discovers that the restricted and unfree workers are easier to keep around, and you don't have to pay them as much. This starts to set the salary and working standards, so they people who are free start to avoid the field.
Which makes it harder to get the free citizens to do the work, which makes it hard to get people to do programming for you.
But then you figure, well, there are people overseas I could hire, so we need to expand the program so I can hire them...
It's totally broken. A traditional concept of citizenship and a global workforce don't really work all that well together. Something is going to have to give.