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Anti H-1B posters come up in San Francisco metro stations

Washington: Anti-H1B posters have come up in local metro stations and commuter trains in San Francisco and California, ahead of the work visa, which is popular among Indian IT professionals, filing season beginning in April.
The Progressives for Immigration Reform which has bought advertisements worth USD 80,000 for the San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations and trains, argues that their purpose is to create awareness about the misuse and abuse of the H-1B visa.
"This is to get exposure to the H-1B programme. And with that attention, with that visibility, begin conversations on the abuses of the programmes what it was intended to be and what it has become," Kevin Lynn, director of the Washington Dc-based Progressive for Information Reform told PTI.
The campaign started on March 15, and would last till April 1, he said, adding that he has been receiving "amazingly positive" response from the users of BART. Your companies think you are expensive, undeserving & expendable," the advertisement said. "Congress, fix H-1B law so companies must seek & hire US workers!" it said.
These advertisements have been placed primarily at San Francisco's Civic Center Station and Oakland's 19th Street Stations with smaller numbers in other stations and in trains, BART said. Lynn insisted that this is not about against H-1B visa, but to create awareness about the abuses of the programme and then fix those.
"The responses receiving are amazingly positive," he said, adding that there was some negative responses, wherein people mistakenly thought that this was anti-immigrant. "That all pretty much ended by Friday as news started to come out and people began to realise that this is a programme that is bringing attention to the abuses of the programme," he said.
"In fact, I would say the positive responses are half and half between people who are foreign and people who are US citizens. Because there are two groups being abused here and exploited." Lynn said.
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