I wonder why people here praise free competition on a global market as a primary value when they talk about their products and services, but support competition limiting when it comes to the labor market in their own country.
Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
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Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#42Can 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?
Does Larry Page abuse the H1B Visa program? Does Larry Page perpetrate H1B Visa Fraud?
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#43I'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…
Whenever people moan about enforcement of white-collar-crime laws, I can't help but think about the last scene in The Wolf of Wall Street: after a short stint in prison, DiCaprio's scummy businessman is still rich and admired, while the FBI guy who took him down shares a cheap subway ride with other poor, tired and depressed workers.
Incentives are wrong all over the place, Reaganism made authorities fundamentally powerless. Why would any civil servant sweat prosecuting big businesses, when he can just close an eye and wait for a revolving door to appear shortly after?
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#44Beyond this, there's an entire system that has undermined American software engineers. Schools are incentivized by the ridiculous out of state/country fees they get when they accept international students for their Masters programs, regardless of a students actual abilities or whether the three year Indian/China/U.K. Bachelors sufficiently prepares them. These people always graduate, because money. Corporations, who…
>> Schools are incentivized by the ridiculous out of state/country fees they get when they accept international students for their Masters programs, regardless of a students actual abilities or whether the three year Indian/China/U.K. Bachelors sufficiently prepares them. These people always graduate, because money.
I've personally worked in a University Department that was tasked with marketing to international students and can say that this is entirely true. To the point that the school reserved a certain number of spots exclusively for out of state/international under the guise of diversity. In most schools it's not even where you think it is, recruitment and admissions had little to no control over us. We had a direct line to the top and were actually the ESL program, we gave students who graduated (the ESL program) a guaranteed spot in whichever college they wanted within our university, and we would take basically anyone who paid.
So if you wanted to short circuit the regular admissions process and are willing to pay you'd apply to our ESL program >> spend 4-6 months there >> pass through because $$$ >> enter your bachelor program of choice at a fairly high state school.
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
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",…
Was this in Japan? (I just read the first few sentences of the bio on your blog). If so, how different is 30k USD there from market rates? And what country are you from originally?
I wonder if anything is at all different because of differences between Japanese and US culture with respect to discussing compensation, what is typically expected of workers, and so on.
(Not trying to poke holes in your story -- just genuinely curious!)
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#46They also need to start going after the lawyers at the immigration firms who knowingly assist in fraud and even coach the applicants how to respond to USCIS questions. There is rampant fraud going on. I've seen it firsthand and know dozens of others in the industry who have as well.
They have started doing just that. From [1]:
An immigration attorney for two information technology companies today
admitted that she submitted phony documents and obstructed a federal
investigation as part of a scheme that fraudulently obtained foreign
worker visas, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Sunila Dutt, 39, of Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty before U.S.
District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court to an information
charging her with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and obstruct justice.
[1]: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/virginia-immigration-atto...
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#47Earlier 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.
Leaving immigration aside -- there are order-of-magnitude compensation differences even among white US-citizen programmers. I.e., some are paid 50k a year; some are paid 500k a year. How is it possible for someone to figure out what they're "worth" in this environment?
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#48I wonder why people here praise free competition on a global market as a primary value when they talk about their products and services, but support competition limiting when it comes to the labor market in their own country.
Pure self-interest, I would imagine.
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#49I'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.…
That sounds like free market though doesn't it? Hire the cheapest workforce that can do what you want?
Re: Bay Area professionals indicted for H-1B visa fraud
#50The title is a bit sensationalist and misleading; "Bay Area staffing executive indicted for H-1B visa fraud" would be more accurate.
One of the two people indicted is the CEO of a staffing company ("Dynasoft Synergy" in Fremont); the other has worked at a couple companies including Cisco, not explicitly in an executive capacity.