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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

#151

Post by AdrianB1 »

ed_balls wrote: post #50
davidw wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I wouldn't be surprised if a good developer in Romania makes $40k a year (net salary) which is equivalent of $70k ($130k gross) in SF? The market is working.

No, it does not; in socialist Romania the tax is more than 60%, so the net is lower. The net salary for a good developer is ~ $25k.

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

#152

Post by bingomad123 »

molyss wrote: post #10

"Given that the unemployment rate for college graduates sits at 2.5%, it is fair to say that most native workers displaced by H-1Bs land on their feet." That's completely ignoring the fact that if you have cheaper workers, you end up being underpaid and/or doing a job you'd rather not be doing. Unemployment rate alone don't tell the whole story, and failing to acknowledge that sounds like poor/partial journalism to m…

> That's completely ignoring the fact that if you have cheaper workers

Cheaper labor is good just like cheaper raw material. Trump wants American companies to buy expensive American steel instead of cheaper Japanese or Chinese steel of same quality. This is a net loss for American economy and a state sponsored coercive benefit for the American Steel industry.

Personally it is both productive and economically beneficial to hire a SAP experience guy from Infosys instead of an American college kid who needs to be trained and who will leave in 1 year any ways. Of course I would hire the college kid for half the wage but then there is this sense of entitlement.

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

#153

Post by tenpoundhammer »

diebir wrote: post #48

Of course they ought to just increase the number of H1-B visas... They have always been a drop in the bucket on the technology market, even in the worst times (2001 and 2009). These are the future immigrants that we want in the US, highly educated, driven, mobile upwards and ready to buy a house. If you can't find a job or compete with H1-Bs in this economy you probably should consider another occupation. I work for…

I've worked for 2 fortune 500 companies that have brought in multiple low payed H1-b visas instead of hiring at the standard US rate. As an engineer I was part of the hiring process. All of the candidates at both places ended up being far less qualified than Wipro claimed and did a terrible job.

So it definitely happens, I'd say it happens a lot.

There are also great H1-b hires like the one I'm working with right now. He is incredibly skilled. He also cant work for another company unless he reapplies so he's stuck.

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

#154

Post by txmx2000 »

prasadjoglekar wrote: post #20
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…

The H1 visa prohibits all paid work except for the sponsoring employer. This lock-in is precisely what makes these visas lucrative to TCS etc. Removing the lack of mobility will remove a big perverse incentive.

The purpose of the H1B is to allow companies to fill a need the labor market cannot supply. It does not exist for the benefit of the worker. It makes no sense to make these portable.

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

#155

Post by erispoe »

dmitrygr wrote: post #110
zzleeper wrote: post #98

I went through the entire comment thread and feel like you guys are missing a lot of the H1B benefits by focusing just on tech and the effect of the Indian consultancies. Most PhDs, specially in STEM, math, stats, econ, etc. are not American. And almost all of them end up with a H1B visa at some point if they remain in the US. It might be lottery based if you go to work at any firm, or quota-free if it is in academia…

Thing is, nobody wants that effect. We want the PhDs. What we do not want it companies that bring in cheap barely-qualified labour for cost-cutting. This hurts the people brought in (they are stuck in bad jobs with bad pay and no way out). This hurts the local workers who cost too much compared to this effectively-slave-labour. The hard part changing the rules such that PhDs and other productive uses of H1B do not su…

All these effects are the product of workers being stuck in their jobs through the H1B program. Give H1B workers the same rights as American workers and they will compete on the same terms, getting a competitive salary and not bringing wages down.

If someone's got an H1B, it's because there's demand for the job, unsatisfied by US workers, wether at the original company requesting the visa or in the industry in general. Companies will pay them correctly when foreign workers are free to leave for the competition. And when they do, they're not unfair competition for locals anymore. With equal pay, companies will prioritize US workers over visa hassle.

Also, ban H1B outsourcing.

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

#156

Post by spangry »

weirdstuff wrote: post #13

On these more controversial political threads: How are certain accounts instantaneously downvoted to dead on HN, within single-digit seconds? Seems automated but entirely too hard to tell. For example, l3m0ndr0p (yeah, I'm totally him/her) made an "America first" type of comment. I know that doesn't play well with a lot of HNers, but seeing it instantly downvoted to dead was weird, too. I know there's a left-ish bias…

Reading through l3m0ndr0p's comment history is quite a surreal experience. Almost every one of their posts is downvoted to grey, even the extremely uncontroversial and mundane ones. I can get how, with a comment history like that, whatever algos HN has running might automatically drop them to the bottom of the page since it would just run blindly on whatever metrics it sees.

What I find harder to understand is how they ended up in that position in the first place. Their comments aren't exactly in lock-step with the general HN view of the world, but they're not that far out either. If anyone thinks I'm being OTT here, go and see for yourself. Diversity of opinion is a good thing. I'd hate to see HN turn into another mindless echo-chamber.

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

#157

Post by iamgopal »

finid wrote: post #120
joe_the_user wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last twenty years have been about deprofessionalization, not professionalization. Indian universities are terrible but are getting slightly better, US universities have been getting worse over time but are still better. But the process is about just getting enough numbers - why improve an education system when you can just harvest the small percentage of people who learn despite the poor quality - you only need s…

Indian universities are terrible... That's a very broad statement. They are so terrible they manage to produce engineers and scientists who then come here and other parts of the world for higher degrees.

Skill engineers and scientists are despite terrible universities, not because of it.

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

#158

Post by mythrwy »

txmx2000 wrote: post #140

Americans don't get PhDs because graduate schools are flooded with applications from those trying to gain entry to the US. Once in industry foreigners tend to hire only members of their own race further discouraging Americans from pursuing advanced degrees. I think it's disgusting that you say you're contributing to my country as though, without you, these positions would go unfilled because Americans aren't intellig…

The fact the positions would not otherwise go unfilled does nothing to diminish the contributions of OP to the country.

You may have a valid point (at first) but then it gets ugly. There isn't a reason to make someone just trying to get the best out of life feel bad.

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

#159

Post by nirav72 »

TP4Cornholio wrote: post #148

"Given that the unemployment rate for college graduates sits at 2.5%, it is fair to say that most native workers displaced by H-1Bs land on their feet." Working at starbucks with a huge debt load is landing on your feet?

Do those Starbucks workers have a technical background? If yes and they're still working for starbuck wages, then there is something wrong.

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

#160

Post by pfarnsworth »

revanth1108 wrote: post #111

Well, I am currently on F1 student visa. I have done my internship at Blackberry as a Security R&D Intern I was offered a full time position for Information Security Analyst. But I couldn't get that offered position because I don't have a GC or Citizen ship. Recently, I have interviewed for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for a CSE1 role The duration of the role is for a year. I am with in my opt. Unfortunately…

American citizens and GC don't need H1Bs.
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