Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud • Hacker News Board

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#21

Post by WalterBright » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 6:50 AM UTC

yummyfajitas wrote: post #17

deepnotderp wrote: post #9

It's annoying that SV tech companies get a bad rap with the H-1B even though that the real people abusing these visas are clearly outsourcing firms like Tata and Infosys.

It's not Tata and Infosys either. Those guys are too big to avoid playing more or less by the rules. The actual people playing games like this are small time bodyshops. It'll be two cousins from Ahmedebad starting a shop in the US and hiring a bunch of locals via their personal network. They then attempt to socially isolate their employees, getting them set up in the local Guju community, so they don't talk to outsid…

I'm not sure how anyone could be prevented from using google to research how much they are worth.

Edit: To clarify, I am commenting on the parent's remark that employers are preventing employees from finding this out.

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#22

Post by iliketosleep » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 6:51 AM UTC

FesterCluck wrote: post #7

I've personally witnessed the hiring of a contractor from India at a small development company simply to save on funds. There were plenty of skilled workers in our pool to fill the position, the owner simply didn't want to pay the price. Weeks into his employment the developer came to me and asked if there was anyone he could report work complaints to. I gave him contact information for the state's employment agency.…

So long as a loophole exists that satisfy the conditions of being relatively easy to exploit, weakly enforcement, and offer significant competitive advantage (i.e. savings on salaries), companies will exploit it.

Finding loopholes in the system to enhance profits and be more competitive is part of a game. So I find it difficult to blame employers. The problem lies in policy and enforcement; something is very wrong if it makes sense from a business and risk management perspective to break the rules.

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#23

Post by mavelikara » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 6:52 AM UTC

Delighted to see more of these parasites getting indicted. Here they are plotting to keep more of their employees enslaved in long GC backlogs https://youtu.be/lj1bHpPvSuE

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#24

Post by digitalzombie » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 6:53 AM UTC

deepnotderp wrote: post #9

It's annoying that SV tech companies get a bad rap with the H-1B even though that the real people abusing these visas are clearly outsourcing firms like Tata and Infosys.

Aren't you ignoring the fact that companies uses outsourcing firms like Tata and Infosys?

If there aren't any demand for them then they wouldn't exist. So they're just the middle man for poorer companies to abuse.

SV tech companies, especially the larger ones, can afford to sponsor and go through these process.

> https://qz.com/899306/will-the-h-1b-be-worth-it-for-indian-i...

There are quite a few of them in the list.

Also the big SV tech companies have been caught colluding programmer wages in the past. It's not a far stretch to say h1b visa programs is something they wouldn't be interested in.

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#25

Post by patio11 » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 6:57 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #21

yummyfajitas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not Tata and Infosys either. Those guys are too big to avoid playing more or less by the rules. The actual people playing games like this are small time bodyshops. It'll be two cousins from Ahmedebad starting a shop in the US and hiring a bunch of locals via their personal network. They then attempt to socially isolate their employees, getting them set up in the local Guju community, so they don't talk to outsid…

I'm not sure how anyone could be prevented from using google to research how much they are worth. Edit: To clarify, I am commenting on the parent's remark that employers are preventing employees from finding this out.

Would you believe that I took a $30k a year programming job as a legal immigrant in the knowledge that it would require 60+ hour weeks because it was my impression that it was the best option available to me?

"I'm clearly not Google material; I can barely get this J2EE app working", "I perceive that I am working uphill against racism in hiring managers", "I owe my sponsor for this job because they treated me fairly", "Literally no one in my friend group or family has a better job than this at my age", "I suppose this is what 'paying my dues' means and I have been aggressively cultivated to do so since before I could read", "My BATNA is deportation", "Well they are offering a 50% premium on a grad student stipend", etc, can do an awful lot of work.

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#26

Post by Buge » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 6:57 AM UTC

ireadfaces wrote: post #18

Can we spare Larry page? Or next time someone searches H1B fraud, Google will show 'Larry page' as suggestion.

I would think Larry Page of all people should be able to fix that problem.

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#27

Post by yummyfajitas » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 6:58 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #21

yummyfajitas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not Tata and Infosys either. Those guys are too big to avoid playing more or less by the rules. The actual people playing games like this are small time bodyshops. It'll be two cousins from Ahmedebad starting a shop in the US and hiring a bunch of locals via their personal network. They then attempt to socially isolate their employees, getting them set up in the local Guju community, so they don't talk to outsid…

I'm not sure how anyone could be prevented from using google to research how much they are worth. Edit: To clarify, I am commenting on the parent's remark that employers are preventing employees from finding this out.

I'm told that people in these situations often simply don't consider leaving for mostly irrational reasons. It's been described to me as something like "it's a big scary world out there, whereas the local community feels like an extension of nice familiar Ahmedebad."

One of the people who told me about this (he was Malayalum) said he was uncomfortable when he came to the US because all the doctors were Bengali. They could speak to him in English or Hindi (both of which he knew), but he was only comfortable in Malayalum and another local language.

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#28

Post by blntechie » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 7:02 AM UTC

deepnotderp wrote: post #9

It's annoying that SV tech companies get a bad rap with the H-1B even though that the real people abusing these visas are clearly outsourcing firms like Tata and Infosys.

There are 3 groups of H1B employers from worst to good. Tata, Infosys and the like are in the 2nd rung.

1) Body shopping/consultants who submit applications for work which doesn't exist (like the one in this news) and then later parade them as consultants to companies.

2) Outsourcing companies (like Tata and Infosys) who file valid job applications but have not done diligent search for US citizens/permanent residents thereby defeating a core tenet of the system. Primary motivation is to get work done on lower pay.

3) High tech and other companies which uses the visa as it is intended. Search for skilled job applicant for a while and then hire from a foreign country.

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#29

Post by 59nadir » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 7:04 AM UTC

ireadfaces wrote: post #18

Can we spare Larry page? Or next time someone searches H1B fraud, Google will show 'Larry page' as suggestion.

If we keep writing Larry Page, will Larry Page show up when one googles "H1B fraud"? Will Larry Page actually be ranked higher based on the many mentions of Larry Page?

Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud

#30

Post by thaumasiotes » Sun, Mar 26, 2017, 7:09 AM UTC

callalex wrote: post #19

hrshtr wrote: post #15

In bay area there are quite a handful of such firms which fake person resume and help them find out the job. What surprises me is that employer does catch the difference in experience while interviewing and bunch of positions are filled. These firms file h1b shown more experience than what a person does actually have and make good money out of such schemes :(

Please rephrase your comment in complete, comprehensible English sentences.

"In the bay area there are quite a handful of such firms which fake a person's resume and help them get a job. What surprises me is that the employer does catch the difference in experience while interviewing and a bunch of positions are filled (anyway?). These firms file h1b applications showing more experience than the person actually has and make good money out of such schemes :("

It seemed mostly comprehensible to begin with. I think a discussion of immigrant visas is actually a really poor place to insist on only hearing from people who speak perfect english.