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H-1B visas mainly go to Indian outsourcing firms

economist.com

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

#31

Post by ta78637 »

crypto5 wrote: post #21
ta78637 wrote: post #7

Article's concluding sentences: "Reducing the number of visas for TCS and its brethren would probably result in them shifting work to India. A better change would be to end the rule whereby H-1B recipients must stay with the company that sponsored them. For within their ranks may lurk the next Elon Musk or Sergey Brin." Personally I find this line of thought (cliche?) frustrating. Not just because apparently us prole…

> How many Musk-like or Brin-like individuals have come through TCS or Wipro or Infosys on a H-1B so far? You don't know, these people are forced to be in underpaid H1B slavery for decades and are not be able to use business opportunities.

I understand what you're getting at and don't intend to be cruel. Unfortunately, huge employers don't flinch at leveraging natural human sympathies as a convenient way to beat down support of policies that might increase domestic labor's bargaining power. I intend to make a little fun, but not at H-1B workers. Only at journalistic shilling.

[edit - fixed grammar mistake which mangled intended meaning]

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

#32

Post by tejaswiy »

ta78637 wrote: post #7

Article's concluding sentences: "Reducing the number of visas for TCS and its brethren would probably result in them shifting work to India. A better change would be to end the rule whereby H-1B recipients must stay with the company that sponsored them. For within their ranks may lurk the next Elon Musk or Sergey Brin." Personally I find this line of thought (cliche?) frustrating. Not just because apparently us prole…

Ignoring the TCS jibe, there have been several succesful startup founders that have initially held an H1.

http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/india...

I don't care enough to validate if everyone on that list held a H1 at some point, but they're all born in India and went on to start large companies in the US and were likely on a H1 at some point. And this list ignores people of all other nationalities and only limits itself to companies valuing > 1bn.

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

#33

Post by ta78637 »

adrr wrote: post #30

Easiest solution is to inflation adjust min salary of $60,000 set back in 1989 and have the limit follow inflation. Lawmakers have this tendency to not build in inflation adjustments(eg: AMT tax limit,min wage) which causes lot issues down the road.

Quite right. $60K in 1989 would be $117K in today's dollars by CPI. But CPI might be a little bit optimistic. I'd peg it to the rate of real estate inflation :)

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

#34

Post by davidw »

aub3bhat wrote: post #23
ta78637 wrote: post #7

Article's concluding sentences: "Reducing the number of visas for TCS and its brethren would probably result in them shifting work to India. A better change would be to end the rule whereby H-1B recipients must stay with the company that sponsored them. For within their ranks may lurk the next Elon Musk or Sergey Brin." Personally I find this line of thought (cliche?) frustrating. Not just because apparently us prole…

Economist is correct that's why it "Triggers" so many people like you, just take a look at electronics industry, if you think that the jobs wont be shipped out to india/China/Canada or reduced due to automation you are living in fantasy land. By improving portability of H-1B the government can make market fairer and less prone to misuse. Simply banning the visa will just lead to a rush of outsourcing/offshoring drain…

Sorry guys, but voting his comments down do not change the laws of economics. If someone in Romania can do your job - with the same quality - at 1/10th the price, the market will find a way to move the work there.

In most cases, it really isn't equivalent and the price difference isn't that much for really qualified people, but shutting out lots of talented people might tilt things in that direction.

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

#35

Post by jackweirdy »

gragas wrote: post #29
vmarsy wrote: post #5

Related, Trump's executive order from today which mentions H-1Bs : https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/18/presi... And a quote from the NYT article[1]: “This does nothing,” said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. “Like all the other executive orders, it’s just words — he’s calling for new studies. It’s not going to fix the problem. It’s not going to create a single job.” [1] h…

>Like all the other executive orders, it’s just words The hypocrisy here is truly disgusting. One moment, executive orders are the end of the world. The next moment, they don't mean anything at all. If a person can't see past this man's partisanship, then they are hopeless; when reason and logic are out the window, it's over. For those who want evidence from the mouth of Chuck Schumer himself [1]: >Schumer said that…

> One moment, executive orders are the end of the world. The next moment, they don't mean anything at all.

That's a bit of a simplification, of course it's valid to say one executive order is bad and one is a waste of time - they're different orders that do different things!

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

#36

Post by wtf_is_up »

gragas wrote: post #29
vmarsy wrote: post #5

Related, Trump's executive order from today which mentions H-1Bs : https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/18/presi... And a quote from the NYT article[1]: “This does nothing,” said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. “Like all the other executive orders, it’s just words — he’s calling for new studies. It’s not going to fix the problem. It’s not going to create a single job.” [1] h…

>Like all the other executive orders, it’s just words The hypocrisy here is truly disgusting. One moment, executive orders are the end of the world. The next moment, they don't mean anything at all. If a person can't see past this man's partisanship, then they are hopeless; when reason and logic are out the window, it's over. For those who want evidence from the mouth of Chuck Schumer himself [1]: >Schumer said that…

The only purpose Schumer and Pelosi serve in Washington is to sling mud at every single thing the administration does. It makes no difference what it is or where they stood prior.

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

#37

Post by jldugger »

ta78637 wrote: post #7

Article's concluding sentences: "Reducing the number of visas for TCS and its brethren would probably result in them shifting work to India. A better change would be to end the rule whereby H-1B recipients must stay with the company that sponsored them. For within their ranks may lurk the next Elon Musk or Sergey Brin." Personally I find this line of thought (cliche?) frustrating. Not just because apparently us prole…

Basking in future billionaires could mean taxing them to fix US education systems (or a lifetime supply of mojitos, I don't care) so it's not all bad.

But there's a knock on effect -- if you go to the effort of sponsoring an H1-B with the intention of underpaying them, then changing the rules to allow visa holders to leave you for a job that pays job (or better work-life balance or has a mojito bar) would leave you holding all the processing expense and none of the profit from underpaying people.

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

#38

Post by bwang29 »

seanmccann wrote: post #18
bwang29 wrote: post #9

For those in the thread who struggled for H1B's chance of winning, I'd recommend considering an O1 visa - I think the requirement is slightly lower to apply than previous years, and O1 doesn't have a lottery process. I've stayed in the US as a collage student, then graduate student from a top university then starting my company for a total of 9 years. I lost the H1B lottery twice and have been on F1 then F1-OPT, then…

Are you from China? I just looked this up and it seems that for Chinese nationals, O-1 is single entry. I believe it's multiple entry for nationals of nearly every other country. It has to do with some US-China reciprocity agreement.

Ah, that's right. I have no idea it is country specific. It is good to know.

It confused a whole lot of me the rationale behind single entry O1 visa - it does create a lot of inconvenience as we do have a subsidy in China that I'd wish to be able to travel back to.

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

#39

Post by bwang29 »

kkapelon wrote: post #22
bwang29 wrote: post #9

For those in the thread who struggled for H1B's chance of winning, I'd recommend considering an O1 visa - I think the requirement is slightly lower to apply than previous years, and O1 doesn't have a lottery process. I've stayed in the US as a collage student, then graduate student from a top university then starting my company for a total of 9 years. I lost the H1B lottery twice and have been on F1 then F1-OPT, then…

Who says that O1 is single entry? I do not believe this to be the case.

Just verified it is single-entry for Chinese nationals.

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

#40

Post by jldugger »

anindha wrote: post #26
Zigurd wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct. But there are market solutions: If visas were auctioned like spectrum, only high value positions would be filled by H1-Bs, which would actually implement the stated purpose of enabling only those who cannot be found domestically to get H1-Bs. And it would largely prevent H1-Bs from lowering wages. AND that "lurking Sergey Brin" would be more likely to be found among those high-value candidates.

The problem is startups would find it hard to hire since it's hard to value equity in a visa application.

Oh well? If payment in scrip lottery tickets isn't considered good enough for minimum wage laws, I don't see why this would be any different.
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