The new way wall street works (Foreigners need read)

So, until last week despite a terrible economy and a whole house of cards tumbling in downtown and midtown Manhattan, it didn't look so bad for those with jobs.

As some of you may have seen, TARP got a new bit of legislation put in. It was a subtle piece of work called the "Employ American Workers Act". This was put in by Senators Sanders (I-Vt.) and Grassley (R-Iowa), or as we could probably call them, Bernie and Chuck.

Bernie & Chuck want to stop foreign people taking jobs in place of Americans at TARP funded banks for the next two years, by blocking access to H1-B visas for new workers*. A quick look at this shows that their target, as representatives in their states, is protecting jobs that are in the Customer Service Centers in Manchester or Des Moines. It is meant to be that jobs don't go to foreigners, they go to Americans.

While we can argue that this is pretty naive, and that it is protectionism in the beautiful ironic way that America always complains against, and as much as we can comfort this is being loyal to their constituents and they are old and conservative, the impact is beginning to ripple.

As of this week, one Bulge Bracket firm has pulled all offers to international, err - foreign, candidates, for fear that they will not get visas. If you read the paper, it suggests that F1 candidates on OPT (the 12 month training commitment post MBA as part of the F1 visa) can get H1B. The problem is that banks prefer to apply for H1B before graduation, as the timing is set that the status gets seriously weird when OPT runs out and H1B is granted but not active. Every other bank on the street is currently reviewing its position and will say little other than that they have lawyers on it. That said, every one of those banks will be very much aware of the conclusion drawn by the first firm to go vocal, and everyone is seriously concerned.

For those of you coming in to school, or those in Year one, I recommend that if you do not hold a US permanent resident permit, you are extremely cautious about recruiting with the US banks for US domestic roles. While the condition will fall off, it looks like none of the banks will take the risk. It may be seen that, on April 1st when the H1B pool moves, that there are possible ways around this. But if it does hold, for the near term it is a pointless pursuit.

I won't take the time to go into why this is the most shortsighted of policies and is likely to cause extensive long term damage to Wall Street - I don't think it needs me to explain that constraining a talent pool is never going to help solve a problem.

Personally, as a person directly impacted by this, I am writing to the Senators. I am going to put a face and a name to those impacted by their poor legal drafting and closed-minded policies. I will explain to them how they have actively achieved job destruction, as the jobs that me and a number of others have seen taken away are certain not to help the unemployment situation - the job will simply cease to exist.

I will try and keep you all updated. For the meantime I have to find another job, contemplate getting married so that I can stay with my significant other, and a whole host of other things.

I know that most people are very shocked by the protectionist move that the country has taken. I have never seen as many people apologize for government legislation as have to me over the past few days. Really, that doesn't help. If anyone knows how it is possible to contact the right people so that others aren't ruined by this abhorrent legal restriction, that would be useful.

I really hope this washes over and it is one bank with one bad interpretation. I think it will likely be all. And when you see the list of financial institutions that have taken Tarp money, you will notice how many places are now closed to workers.

* the exact facts on whether they are really impossible for MBAs to obtain is something that is being clarified, but looks to be the case and is certainly interpreted by some as this