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H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

economist.com

381–390 of 414 posts

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

#381
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…

When I got my H1B visa over 15 years ago (I'm now US citizen) the visa sponsor cannot offer salary less than 85% of average salary in area was hired.

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

#382
post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people I've worked with came to the US on H1-B's sponsored by the big outsourcing firms, then they move to one of the above mentioned companes. Presumably they move to those companies for better pay and working hours. And they have processes in place to handle the H1-B transfers. There is a lot of prestige with landing a job at those companies too. It's not everyone who can do that though, these folks are the up…

Would be fascinating to see how many people from TCS, Wipro and Infosys ended up moving to Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft after a few years in the US.

Some of the larger product companies employ contractors from those firms. I know quite a few people employed by TCS who work at Apple, and some of them plan to stay with TCS for 10 years or more. Those big companies are still taking advantage of these cheap visas even if they're not employing the people directly, and that definitely impacts wages in our field.

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

#383

Why don't we just stop accepting visa applications from Indian outsourcing firms—TCS, Wipro and Infosys for one year and see how it unfolds? It will resolve the ongoing debate -- at lease prove it one way or another. From a candidate's point of view, I am all in for finding new opportunities in a foreign prosperous land. But gaming the system is not great for the local US economy. Maybe having a new visa category wit…

> Why don't we just stop accepting visa applications from Indian outsourcing firms—TCS, Wipro and Infosys It's not practical to do that. You can call them "Indian outsourcing firms", but on paper they are American companies too. Compiling such a black list of companies purely based on how many H-1B applications they've filed in the past is not a good idea. Because it'll just give unfair advantage to the other "outsou…

In most countries you can buy master degree for 1k$ at most.

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

#384
post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is because H1-B is the "only" way for an international fresh grad to work in the US. This is a direct result of US immigration policy which ties up the visa process with the need for an employer sponsorship and more importantly the ability to acquire permanent residence is also tied up to employer sponsorship which leads to "indentured" servitude as many folks around here point out. Compare it with let's say Ger…

> Same is the case with Canada and Australia. Australia also has a working visa which is tied to the employer.

So has Germany, the foot in the door is tied to an employer but you get a clock based PR.

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

#385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What collateral do you offer against the unproven claim of "I'll create 10 jobs in 1 year"? Are you saying you'll fund the startup yourself?

If he doesn't create the 10 jobs within 5-10 years his visa is revoked and he goes home. That seems reasonable, no? It is similar to the entrepreneur visa DHS just finalized. If you have a certain amount of funding you can stay for a while, with the option to renew as long as you meet certain objectives (creating X jobs and raising $x more funding). Immigration is not a zero-sum game. Immigrants need houses to live i…

> If he doesn't create the 10 jobs within 5-10 years his visa is revoked and he goes home. That seems reasonable, no?

Depends, is he funding the startup himself? If so, fair enough, he gambles his labour on a venture likely to benefit the US if it pays off. If not, He gets a 10-year visa, and maybe a chance at rolling the dice.

10 years is long enough to make good money without risking a startup. Put up 10 years worth of dev pay as collateral (7-800k?) and suddenly the deal is only worthwhile if, either:

a) the jobs are indeed created, and a 10yr visa becomes a green card,

b) the startup has considerably more value than the collateral.

Of course, the collateral would be so high it would be unreasonable to be able to give it upfront, so I'm not sure how you'd get round that..

> They buy various goods and services

feels like the Glass-Makers fallacy again; I have no idea how the chain of events plays out.

for example; people still buy goods and services from the US as exports, but without many of the commitments citizenship would entail.

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

#386
post #249
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's not democratic about optimizing need based upon projected tax revenue? Are we discriminating against "poor companies"? Would you classify companies that allow their employees to work remotely doing the same? The unstated assumption in your questions seems to be that optimizing for revenue should be the #1 (or a high) priority for a government. If so, why not just cut all social programs? They're expensive, a…

>> What's not democratic about optimizing need based upon projected tax revenue? Are we discriminating against "poor companies"? Would you classify companies that allow their employees to work remotely doing the same? > The unstated assumption in your questions seems to be that optimizing for revenue should be the #1 (or a high) priority for a government. > If so, why not just cut all social programs? They're expensi…

> Social programs aren't revenue, they're an expense.

That's nit-picking. Social programs are negative revenue. If you want to maximize income, you can increase income, or decrease expenses. This is grade 5 math.

> "Greater good" is a feel good (no pun intended) term that has no objective meaning.

"Greater good" can be define to mean that it matches societies preference. i.e. long life, healthy life, whatever.

If only the constitution defined greater good.. perhaps something about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"?

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

#387
post #32

Is this disagreeing with Blake Irvine. See https://www.google.co.uk/amp/amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2017/02... This is the man who refers to H1B visas as genius visas. I have worked with many Indian outsourcing companies and while talented people do exist, calling their employees genius is wholly inaccurate (as would be calling most software devs in the Western world genius). I did laugh when I read irving's original pos…

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…

If 'caste system' is responsible for Indian IT workers, what do you think of Americans who have been 'scheming' from high school to get into HYP, then to consulting (McKinsey, Bain, BCG), IB (GS, JPM), PE (KKR, BS), hedgfuns. Of course, you don't see a caste system in the States.

You make it sound like 'every human being is not selfish' or 'most of the human beings are not selfish'. Just work in the service Industry, you see the turnover rate just because people want to make $2 per more elsewhere.

The reality is that caste system never exists, nor does it exist in India. Castes exist, however.

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

#388

This thing is the only thing that is keeping the salaries low. I can easily imagine a good software engineer getting paid at least 250-300K if we don't have H1-B visa system.

I'm a good software engineer and I do make (approx.) $250k, at a company that hires lots of people on H1B visas.

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

#389
post #239

I am on an H1-B work authorization. The company applied for my position with a salary of ~$100K/yr (on the LCA and the H1 application) but they actually paid me ~$240K/yr. This year and the next, it will be well north of $300-$330K/yr. Why would they do this? Simple - to be able to pay me a prevailing wage and keep me in status in case the shit hits the fan. If they applied to the government saying they'd pay me $240…

My actual salary will never be reported in an H1 database. The company has to report your actual salary. That's what in this database: http://h1bdata.info/ It's not prevailing wage, it's actual base pay. I can remember at a previous employer that when you file for an H1-B, the company has to post the information in a public place . The form states the prevailing wage and the actual base salary.

The company has to file the salary only when they submit a new or extension petition which could be valid up to 3 years.

So if OP had a salary increase from $100K to $240K since his original petition, it won't be reported until the company files for his extension or Green Card processing.

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

#390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdata: I'm in US. Three boys, all graduated Engineers. All have jobs, easy as pie. One had $30/hr part-time remote work during last year of college. Have to move to get the right job maybe, or take what you can find, but for various reasons they're all very happy. My Niece is in a field that's chronically low on qualified Engineers - she designs and installs automation in factories. So many facets including mechan…

"having work" isn't the only metric, the pay is relevant too. Presumably, the pay for these individuals is competitive?

Only moderate debt for most. None for some. Pay is relative.
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