Technology workers in the United States insist that hiring foreigners makes it harder for Americans to get jobs, and many are uncomfortable working next to professionals who come from other countries.

That's the gist of a recent survey by career portal Techies.com, which polled more than 1,100 people on their views of the controversial H-1B visa worker issue. The Immigration and Naturalization Service program allows U.S. companies to import foreign workers with college degrees and relevant work experience if they cannot find Americans to fill open positions.

Among the results of the survey: 85 percent of respondents said they worried about losing their job to noncitizens, and 60 percent said they had problems communicating with foreign workers.

The survey by Bloomington, Minn.-based Techies.com included Americans and noncitizens living in the United States. Titles ranged from chief executive to data entry operator. Survey participants did not have to give their names or employers' names, so the comments were particularly candid.

Although the study indicates a general prejudice among Americans against H-1B workers, it also highlights the myths and stereotypes--often highly inaccurate--that influence the attitudes of many Americans.

For example, three out of five American workers said their companies have taken the H-1B program too far, flooding computer and engineering departments with lower-paid workers from India, Taiwan, Russia and Israel. That is pinching American workers accustomed to higher salaries, Americans complained, and it has eroded the cushy wage premium that the technology industry has traditionally afforded its work force.

"I think the U.S. should focus on more domestic training and recruitment of IT workers," a U.S.-born help desk analyst with less than two years of work experience said. "If we do not keep our population educated in the New Economy, then we are doing ourselves a disservice that will eventually lead to economic collapse."

In reality, H-1B holders do not necessarily drive down wages. In fact, they must get paid the median U.S. wage in a given job classification--or higher, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Their salaries might not advance as quickly as those of their American colleagues, but that is because they do not change jobs or get promoted as frequently--not because they start with a lower base salary.

According to the Department of Labor, employers must prove that the salary they provide the H-1B worker is at least the "prevailing" wage for the specific job in that region. To determine the wage, many employers file a salary determination request, in writing, with their state's employment security agency. In California, for example, employers file with the Employment Development Department of the Office of Alien Labor Certification.

Another prevailing misperception among Americans surveyed is that H-1B workers steal jobs from U.S. citizens. Techies.com participants said the prospect of losing jobs to foreigners through H-1B visas is the No. 1 reason the program is controversial.

"American workers are being forced out of their jobs. I am one of them," said an unemployed application developer and U.S. citizen living in the Midwest. "It is just a matter of time before the immigrants, H-1Bs and foreign outsourcing will take over the industry."

Such comments are also contrary to government mandates to train U.S. workers for technical jobs. In fact, employers may hire a worker under an H-1B visa only after executives demonstrate that they can find no suitable U.S. citizens to take the job.

In addition, a cornerstone of the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment & Training Administration (ETA) is the H-1B technical skills training grant program. The government awards grants only to business partnerships that provide computer and engineering skills training to American workers. The goal of the program is to "lessen their dependence on high-skilled foreign workers," according to the ETA.

Not all Americans in the survey were biased against foreign workers. In fact, four out of five respondents said non-U.S. workers were equally or better qualified for most openings at U.S. companies.

Of those who favored H-1B visa programs, many said the system was the free market at work on a global scale. If the United States does not produce enough engineers and software coders because of its liberal arts-oriented school system, they said, then other countries will fill the void.

"America is a capitalist society, and likewise one should be able to excel based on their individual skills and merits," a PC technician and U.S. citizen from the East Coast said. "Corporations should also have the right to choose among whoever to fill their positions with individuals who will most serve to its benefit, regardless of background."

Others took a less economic, more cultural point of view. They argued that the United States has always been a country of immigrants--and that has been the key to the nation's high standard of living and cultural diversity.

"Sixty-five years ago my father came to America with a one-day visa to start a new, better life," a computer operator and U.S. citizen from the Middle Atlantic region said. "Thanks to him, three generations have enjoyed his dream and opportunity of a better life. Why should we deny others this same opportunity?"

Most Americans said they did not have anything against foreign workers themselves, but rather against their employers for hiring too many H-1B visa workers. Not surprisingly, foreign workers had a different take.

They blamed animosity on ethnic, racial and religious biases of prejudicial Americans. They said that qualified applicants should have equal access to jobs and opportunities for advancement.

"The best jobs should go to the best people. That builds strength," said one programmer analyst, a non-U.S. citizen seeking an H-1B sponsorship. "There's a lot of off-the-press, freshly minted certification types...and they expect preferential treatment because of where they're born? What's the difference between that and preference based on skin color?"

The H-1B visa debate has become a hotly contested topic in the tech industry, which is one of the largest consumers of skilled laborers from abroad. The Techies.com survey highlights how the debate has changed in the past year.

At the height of the Internet stock market boom and hiring frenzy in the late 1990s and early 2000, American executives were clamoring to increase federal quotas on H-1B workers to fill an alarming number of critical job openings. Some studies showed that up to half of all technical openings were going unfilled because the U.S. school system was not producing enough college graduates with degrees in mathematics, computer sciences or engineering.

But as the economy cooled beginning in the spring of 2000, tens of thousands of technology workers were laid off. With layoffs continuing, many Americans are changing their minds about foreign workers: Three out of five told Techies.com that the H-1B program should not be expanded under any circumstances.

Almost a quarter of the respondents said they have switched opinions about non-U.S. workers and H-1B visas in the past six months. Some managers said they changed their mind after their employers started "abusing" the program by hiring too many foreigners.

But the perceived effect of foreigners' lower salaries--regardless of whether they actually receive lower wages--seems to be the biggest sticking point for many Americans surveyed. Techies.com researcher Anna Braasch said many respondents insisted foreigners were lowering the overall pay scale for U.S. tech workers.

"They frequently added, 'The real reason I'm against temporary foreign workers is because they'll work for less,'" Braasch wrote, "or 'They're lowering the pay scale in my profession.'"

The myths and realities of H-1B visas