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H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

economist.com

191–200 of 414 posts

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#191
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! I'm french and it will be the second time this year that I apply for an H1B. Without Tata and Infosys I'd have it for a while now.

Not sure if this is well known, but here's what you can do if you are not Indian or Chinese. Yes Mr. or Ms. French, you too. -Do a MS in CS or some STEM field from an accredited school. -Get a job with an employer willing to start green card process immediately (many will be willing since it means no uncertainity of H1b lottery) -Before your 3 yr OPT expires, you'll get your EAD (after doing PERM and I-140 on premium…

> EAD means no need to file for H1b. You are out of the rat race meant to keep Indians and Chinese out of USA.

This is wrong. The EAD is just the Employment Authorization Document. It just says you're allowed to work and you SHOULD have it before the OPT.

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#192

Looking at the discussion so far - probably going to get trolled/downvoted but here goes: From all of the above comments - people are trying to undo only the parts of globalization that they don't like (wage arbitrage is one of them - stop crying!). I truly wonder what would happen if the Indians (and the rest of the world) started treating Americans the same way the America treats them and starts to roll back the im…

You're severely underestimating the impact U.S. business has on other countries. A trade war with any of the countries you have listed would harm them much more than it would harm the US.

China holds about 8-9% US debt. Their entire economic model is based on the devaluation of their currency so that the US and other countries purchase their products. If China dumps US debt, there is plenty of demand elsewhere.

Look, I'm not some extreme pro-America nationalist - but you have to look at the facts and it is simply an indisputable reality that no other country in the world can compete with the US on economic grounds.

You are overplaying your hand if you think that a trade war with the US would end favorably for any of those nations.

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#193
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is the incentive system. I have never been known for my lack of directness and in given so, I used to work with an Indian developer who was very good at his job. So one day I just flat out asked him, I said Karthick why do a good portion of Indian developers suck, his response floored me. Without missing a beat he responded, look it's a misaligned incentive system. When I go back to India the first questi…

You're absolutely right about this and I can attest. Whenever I tell someone I run my own software business the first question I'm asked is how many employees do I have? Nobody cares about the revenue of the sites, it's just that if I have more than 10 employees then you're successful. So in India a person making 1 mil / month is less successful than someone who has a company of 10+ employees that is drowning in debt…

I'd rather you pay 10 salaries than just 1 too :-)

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#194
The articles gives a good overview of the "H-1B situation". However, if you want to dig deeper here is some data I put together http://h1bpay.com/blog/2017/01/30/h-1b-visa-basics-applicati...

Basically, only Microsoft is among the top 10 sponsors and not of the major sponsors is among the top 10 average salaries.

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#195
post #103

This one sentence says it all: "The Economist found that between 2012 and 2015 the three biggest Indian outsourcing firms—TCS, Wipro and Infosys—submitted over 150,000 visa applications for positions that paid a median salary of $69,500. In contrast, America’s five biggest tech firms—Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft—submitted just 31,000 applications, and proposed to pay their workers a median salary of…

Uh? SD is a super-generic title. H1B pool can include disproportionate number of fresh graduates (BS or MS) because OPT program gives them the flexibility to wait till April comes around to file for H1B. It is almost impossible (with exceptions for researchers and multinational managers/ O1/O2/L1) to hire experienced people from outside the US via H1B. Thus this skewing happens: more jobs for fresh graduates probably go to foreigners than do jobs for people experienced and established in their fields.

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#196
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep.... if you are a US citizen, for the money, go to med school, everything else is overrated.

A medical degree costs a lot more than the degree necessary to work in IT. I don't have the report off the top of my head, but doctors don't reach salary parity with their peers who got bachelors degrees until their mid-40s. Edit: I'm talking about lifetime earnings parity, not yearly parity. If you are marking $85k in IT as a 27 year old, you are way ahead of someone who starts making $175k at the age of 35 and has…

Though I do not have doctor friends in US so I may be wrong but I have heard from many that even family doctors here start with 200K pa almost anywhere in US. Now apart from top end software/banking most would not reach that number by end of career in software/IT.

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#197
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep.... if you are a US citizen, for the money, go to med school, everything else is overrated.

A medical degree costs a lot more than the degree necessary to work in IT. I don't have the report off the top of my head, but doctors don't reach salary parity with their peers who got bachelors degrees until their mid-40s. Edit: I'm talking about lifetime earnings parity, not yearly parity. If you are marking $85k in IT as a 27 year old, you are way ahead of someone who starts making $175k at the age of 35 and has…

It's not salary parity per se, but rather that in the comparison the doctors are paying both the actual cost of medical school (and the servicing of the resulting debt) and the opportunity cost of spending seven-to-ten years in school/residency/fellowship before actually making a high salary. Meanwhile, their bachelor-only peers have been paid money, gained experience and gotten promoted.

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a current CS student from India, I can completely back this theory. Most in my class are very sure they want to pursue a career in Computer Science, but have little to say if you ask them why. A good fraction of them, every year, end up joining consultancy firms in nontechnical roles, or (what I hate more) in HR - and are perfectly fine with it. Computers in India are not associated with the amazing feeling most o…

Damn there are some really solid responses in this thread... Thanks for the input

Wait till you hear the stories feom inside those three companies and more mentioned in the article! You'll be surprised :-)

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So isn't the obvious solution to move the allocation strategy from lottery to "auction" (highest payed employees get their visas first)?

That would essentially mean only silicon valley and NYC employers would get H1B employees. The entire South would face a skills shortage. The economist article actually provides a better solution. Visas shouldn't be tied to a particular employer. The employee should be able to transition to a new employer without a new visa application. There could be minimal paperwork to determine when a foreign worker is and whethe…

So that is how the free market works your not one of those gosh darned socialists are you :-)

And I suspect that for a "brown" skinned persons the south is not exactly a welcoming environment.

Re: H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been doing tech support for nearly two years now. I've gotten plenty of certs, am mostly through college, and always ask to do more. It doesn't seem to matter in this area.

> am mostly through college Lack of a degree and a code camp certificate only works in tech cities where it's hard to find coders who are gullible enough to work for free...I mean get paid in equity in a startup that's really only there to suck at the tit of an angel investor for a few funding rounds.

Right. That was exactly my point with my first post. The only way you can get a job in this industry without being in a tech city is to have a degree. I don't understand why I'm being downvoted for pointing that out.
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