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India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

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11–20 of 62 posts

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#11

Theres nothing new here. Everyone knows, when you join outsourcing orgs in India, the goal is to go on-site. There is lot of internal politics and toxicity to be in that position to go onsite. Recently, I have seen these orgs. do the same in europe. They are just bombarding the system with applications. What is the motivation you ask? For billable resource, rates are different for resource when they are on-site vs of…

This has been going on for decades and everyone in the industry knows it. Articles like these are simply propaganda to make it seem like something‘s being done about the issue.

The system is and has been completely broken and, like most of the immigration policy in the US, it is a façade with the sole purpose of providing cheap labor for US corporations. There are plentiful capable US engineers available to be hired without the need for any of these programs other than the most exclusive programs for the top 0.1% of talent in the world.

The same tired old argument is made in the unskilled immigration space as well. Companies scream that there’s no availability of workers to build houses, operate restaurants, tend farms, clean facilities, drive trucks, or virtually any other job.

Does anyone wonder why the current administration is targeting the immigrants themselves and not the employers that hire them? They know that by targeting the immigrants it looks like they’re doing something, when really they are doing little to stem the problem. This whole problem largely goes away if employers are targeted directly for abusing the system, but it will never happen because cheap labor for corporations is the true driver.

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#12
“The manager visas, known as L-1As, are easier for employers to obtain and have fewer guardrails; for example, they lack even the minimal pay requirements that Congress has imposed for H-1B holders.”

This isn’t a story about H-1B abuse. It’s a story about TCS avoiding even the minimal restrictions of H-1B by sending applicants through L-1A.

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#13
post #7

The easiest way to solve this is to salary rank the H1B applicants. Those with the highest salaries get picked; not the ‘lucky ones’ that get through a lottery, which puts a PhD from MIT and a new hire at Tata from a no name school in India on equal footing. And I say this as someone who was on H1B. The current system benefits no one but these visa mills. Edit: for grammar

PhD from MIT could very well earn less than a mid range developer even though they are contributing much more to the society and country. Also salary war would mean companies face pressure to increase the salary of immigrants over the citizens.

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#15
post #7

The easiest way to solve this is to salary rank the H1B applicants. Those with the highest salaries get picked; not the ‘lucky ones’ that get through a lottery, which puts a PhD from MIT and a new hire at Tata from a no name school in India on equal footing. And I say this as someone who was on H1B. The current system benefits no one but these visa mills. Edit: for grammar

PhD from MIT could very well earn less than a mid range developer even though they are contributing much more to the society and country. Also salary war would mean companies face pressure to increase the salary of immigrants over the citizens.

The massive pressure in these Visa systems is precisely because of the opposite issue - it’s cheaper (and gives the employer more leverage) to hire from abroad than pay someone local.

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#16
This manager culture is prevailing in Indian outsourcing shops. Many talented and deserving candidates are taken back and such manager community is shipped out. Because of risky H1B visa, companies retain better talent in India to fix real issues. If you are planning to source, better to travel down to India (Bangalore/Hyderabad) and meet real heroes. There is a massive talent, IC roles are waiting to bring innovative and efficient solutions.

What article states is 100% true, being involved with similar company, passed beyond my NDA agreement duration.

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#17
post #11

Theres nothing new here. Everyone knows, when you join outsourcing orgs in India, the goal is to go on-site. There is lot of internal politics and toxicity to be in that position to go onsite. Recently, I have seen these orgs. do the same in europe. They are just bombarding the system with applications. What is the motivation you ask? For billable resource, rates are different for resource when they are on-site vs of…

This has been going on for decades and everyone in the industry knows it. Articles like these are simply propaganda to make it seem like something‘s being done about the issue. The system is and has been completely broken and, like most of the immigration policy in the US, it is a façade with the sole purpose of providing cheap labor for US corporations. There are plentiful capable US engineers available to be hired…

> There are plentiful capable US engineers available to be hired without the need for any of these programs other than the most exclusive programs for the top 0.1% of talent in the world

Yes for engineers, no for a lot of low-level work. The role of AI is being overstated. But there is a cap to IT salaries given remote working’s impact on the relative cost of offshoring.

> Does anyone wonder why the current administration is targeting the immigrants themselves and not the employers that hire them?

Absolutely. That said, the American consumer probably isn’t ready for the cost of food where everyone in the supply chain is paid a minimum wage and full benefits. (Counterfactual: the Netherlands.)

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#18
post #7

The easiest way to solve this is to salary rank the H1B applicants. Those with the highest salaries get picked; not the ‘lucky ones’ that get through a lottery, which puts a PhD from MIT and a new hire at Tata from a no name school in India on equal footing. And I say this as someone who was on H1B. The current system benefits no one but these visa mills. Edit: for grammar

Where there's a will, there's a way..

It would complicate some of these "games", but I'm sure they would implement a kickback system where the person would receive a great salary but it had a "side contract" where it would be required to pay most of it to another company, or just straight up fraud..

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#19
post #7

The easiest way to solve this is to salary rank the H1B applicants. Those with the highest salaries get picked; not the ‘lucky ones’ that get through a lottery, which puts a PhD from MIT and a new hire at Tata from a no name school in India on equal footing. And I say this as someone who was on H1B. The current system benefits no one but these visa mills. Edit: for grammar

> salary rank the H1B applicants

This isn’t a story about H1-Bs. Changing H1-B rules won’t do anything about L-1A abuse.

Re: India's Tata Consultancy Was Gaming the US Visa System

#20
post #7

The easiest way to solve this is to salary rank the H1B applicants. Those with the highest salaries get picked; not the ‘lucky ones’ that get through a lottery, which puts a PhD from MIT and a new hire at Tata from a no name school in India on equal footing. And I say this as someone who was on H1B. The current system benefits no one but these visa mills. Edit: for grammar

If companies want to pay a tax, say 100% of salary, because the employees skills are vital and the tax can fund education and training, I don’t see an issue.
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