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Always wondered this, at least back when I was more heavily in the business seemed like it was short term gain but long term would bring the company down. They'd bring in these guys from India working for peanuts but then the quality of the coding, engineering and database management would be peanuts too. Critical code riddled with errors, angry customers and clients when core products or software didn't work. So then the company later on had to wind up hiring American contractors or in-house employees to clean up the H-1B workers mess anyway. And this was like, the normal way things happened, not exception. So the company paid twice over, once to hire the H-1B workers, then it didn't work, then they had to hire Americans anyway but **** off lose their customers anyway.
Another reason Trump should reform this mess and he'd gain a huge political windfall in from doing it. Even most of the Democrats I know would vote for Trump, or Republicans allied with him, if he concretely reduced, suspended or shut down the H-1B and the other cheap labor visa programs. Most people aren't political animals and don't pay attention to all the issues in the news and campaigns, but we do pay attention to things that have affect us directly like jobs. All the Independents and most Dems I know are like this, not too partisan, just want to vote for a candidate with good policy, and getting rid of sharply reducing the H-1B would be a big vote-getter in any state!
But Trump himself advertises for foreign/Hispanic workers, why? Because they work for less than an American worker.
Always wondered this, at least back when I was more heavily in the business seemed like it was short term gain but long term would bring the company down. They'd bring in these guys from India working for peanuts but then the quality of the coding, engineering and database management would be peanuts too. Critical code riddled with errors, angry customers and clients when core products or software didn't work. So then the company later on had to wind up hiring American contractors or in-house employees to clean up the H-1B workers mess anyway. And this was like, the normal way things happened, not exception. So the company paid twice over, once to hire the H-1B workers, then it didn't work, then they had to hire Americans anyway but **** off lose their customers anyway.
Another reason Trump should reform this mess and he'd gain a huge political windfall in from doing it. Even most of the Democrats I know would vote for Trump, or Republicans allied with him, if he concretely reduced, suspended or shut down the H-1B and the other cheap labor visa programs. Most people aren't political animals and don't pay attention to all the issues in the news and campaigns, but we do pay attention to things that have affect us directly like jobs. All the Independents and most Dems I know are like this, not too partisan, just want to vote for a candidate with good policy, and getting rid of sharply reducing the H-1B would be a big vote-getter in any state!
I see this every day. I'm one of the Americans who often cleans up messes made by contractors, many of them on H1B visas. The H1Bs who are FTEs are usually better than the outside contractor H1Bs in that they have some vested interest in doing well and not messing things up, but on average they're mediocre at best with a few outstanding individuals here and there.
Here's why this continues to happen: the development work is classified as cap-ex and goes against that budget...the cleanup is op-ex and comes out of a different budget from a different team with a different reporting structure that forks at (sometimes) the CIO/CTO level. Sometimes these teams are in different countries, sometimes they're in the same country, sometimes they're split between the US/India or US/Philippines.
But yeah...that's how I've seen it working almost everywhere for about the last 10 years or so.
Which means maybe it's important to look at not annual salary, but instead the salary per hour that the worker is working, and I'd guess that with H-1B's couldn't do that since they'd fear deportation. Which means another key piece of the reform, I would think besides demanding higher salaries than an American worker and surveying if Americans are available, is removing the visa from the hands of the employer, and giving it to the worker. This seems to be a source of a lot of the abuse. If the worker could at least complain about abuses or find another employer, or ask for higher wages, then a lot of these abuses-- including in effect, the reduction in hourly wages due to the unpaid overtime the H-1B's are forced into from their indenturement-- would be reduced.
I haven't seen much of this. The H1Bs working "slave wages", long hours, and living in flophouses have been the exception rather than the rule in my experience...and Dallas-Fort Worth is a hotbed of H1B visa holders.
I've found that the "indentured servant" types almost always work for either one of the big Indian outsourcing firms (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, et. al.) or a teeny tiny boutique sweatshop that may have 10-20 workers max on the books, usually owned by people from Telangana or Andhra Pradesh.
Most of the H1Bs I've worked with over the last decade or so come in between 9-10am and leave between 4-6pm. They all take an hour for lunch, they almost all drive fancy cars, and most of them are homeowners. The females have expensive handbags and always have the latest iPhone. The men usually wear expensive shoes & watches and carry at least two smartphones.
Doesn't seem to me like they're hurting financially.
A lot of them save tons of money on childcare too since a mother/mother-in-law is almost always in residence on a 6-month visitor visa. Mom/mom-in-law switch places every six months...6 months here in America, 6 months in India, then back to America for another 6 months. Depending on how many kids are at home, that's a massive monthly saving.
I know some H1B visa holders are abused and are victims of insidious & predatory fraud but I have not personally witnessed low-paid H1Bs living 10 to an apartment in years.
Salary Cap will not work. Some of H-1B workers are employed thru different layers of LLCs. Suppose a job requires salary of 50 Dollars per hour. Now the company has to decide whether they want to hire an American worker for 50 Dollars or a Foreign H1B worker !! Foreign H-1B worker will be employed thru two different layers of LLCs who will pass on the salary of 40 dollars, 30 dollars per hour. All the companies are connected. So even though salary advertised is 50 dollars per hour, they will take out commission of 20 dollars out of it due to layers of consulting firms dividing the profit. So even if Government mandate a minimum salary, such workers are always an attractive proposition as they can milk more money from them.
I haven't seen much of this. The H1Bs working "slave wages", long hours, and living in flophouses have been the exception rather than the rule in my experience...and Dallas-Fort Worth is a hotbed of H1B visa holders.
I've found that the "indentured servant" types almost always work for either one of the big Indian outsourcing firms (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, et. al.) or a teeny tiny boutique sweatshop that may have 10-20 workers max on the books, usually owned by people from Telangana or Andhra Pradesh.
Most of the H1Bs I've worked with over the last decade or so come in between 9-10am and leave between 4-6pm. They all take an hour for lunch, they almost all drive fancy cars, and most of them are homeowners. The females have expensive handbags and always have the latest iPhone. The men usually wear expensive shoes & watches and carry at least two smartphones.
Doesn't seem to me like they're hurting financially.
A lot of them save tons of money on childcare too since a mother/mother-in-law is almost always in residence on a 6-month visitor visa. Mom/mom-in-law switch places every six months...6 months here in America, 6 months in India, then back to America for another 6 months. Depending on how many kids are at home, that's a massive monthly saving.
I know some H1B visa holders are abused and are victims of insidious & predatory fraud but I have not personally witnessed low-paid H1Bs living 10 to an apartment in years.
Mobile Phones are an obsession and status symbol in India. People without Toilet, sleeping on street will also have a Smartphone. They will not call anybody but will use it for whatsapp, facebook, selfies whenever they get free wi-fi. Cars are a requirement especially in places like Dallas.
This is a cultural change because for years, even well-to-do Indians used to drive old Toyota Camry. Mr Patel and Camry were made for each other.
I am surprised to see that H 1B visa holders are buying homes !! When your status in the country is not guaranteed, it is stupid to buy homes.
Mobile Phones are an obsession and status symbol in India. People without Toilet, sleeping on street will also have a Smartphone. They will not call anybody but will use it for whatsapp, facebook, selfies whenever they get free wi-fi. Cars are a requirement especially in places like Dallas.
This is a cultural change because for years, even well-to-do Indians used to drive old Toyota Camry. Mr Patel and Camry were made for each other.
I am surprised to see that H 1B visa holders are buying homes !! When your status in the country is not guaranteed, it is stupid to buy homes.
And yet there they are, driving new construction in some Dallas suburbs since so many of them will not deign to live in a "used" home.
They'd rather live in a new house built under a highway overpass next to a toxic waste dump than a solidly-built quality home as long as the new build has the "right" upgrades, is in a "desi" community, and is zoned to a "good" school.
And yes...people on non-immigrant visas shouldn't buy houses. It's foolish.
The only south Asians I see driving old Toyotas are the ones who have been here 20+ years. They're not flashy.
I haven't seen much of this. The H1Bs working "slave wages", long hours, and living in flophouses have been the exception rather than the rule in my experience...and Dallas-Fort Worth is a hotbed of H1B visa holders.
I've found that the "indentured servant" types almost always work for either one of the big Indian outsourcing firms (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, et. al.) or a teeny tiny boutique sweatshop that may have 10-20 workers max on the books, usually owned by people from Telangana or Andhra Pradesh.
Most of the H1Bs I've worked with over the last decade or so come in between 9-10am and leave between 4-6pm. They all take an hour for lunch, they almost all drive fancy cars, and most of them are homeowners. The females have expensive handbags and always have the latest iPhone. The men usually wear expensive shoes & watches and carry at least two smartphones.
Doesn't seem to me like they're hurting financially.
A lot of them save tons of money on childcare too since a mother/mother-in-law is almost always in residence on a 6-month visitor visa. Mom/mom-in-law switch places every six months...6 months here in America, 6 months in India, then back to America for another 6 months. Depending on how many kids are at home, that's a massive monthly saving.
I know some H1B visa holders are abused and are victims of insidious & predatory fraud but I have not personally witnessed low-paid H1Bs living 10 to an apartment in years.
No, the workers are not abused, the Indian consulting companies abuse the system.
And yet there they are, driving new construction in some Dallas suburbs since so many of them will not deign to live in a "used" home.
They'd rather live in a new house built under a highway overpass next to a toxic waste dump than a solidly-built quality home as long as the new build has the "right" upgrades, is in a "desi" community, and is zoned to a "good" school.
And yes...people on non-immigrant visas shouldn't buy houses. It's foolish.
The only south Asians I see driving old Toyotas are the ones who have been here 20+ years. They're not flashy.
H1 is an immigrant visa, and once in the process, it is renewable until resolution. While they may not get a green card in their lifetime at current rates, they won't get kicked out unless they violate the law either, or lose their job.
H1 is an immigrant visa, and once in the process, it is renewable until resolution. While they may not get a green card in their lifetime at current rates, they won't get kicked out unless they violate the law either, or lose their job.
I know how the H1B visa works, thanks. I know it's a dual-intent visa since you can apply for a green card once you've been here N number of years (I believe it's 6). It should never have been a dual-intent visa in the first place
FWIW, the USCIS lumps the H1B in with every other non-immigrant visa in its statistics.
I know how the H1B visa works, thanks. I know it's a dual-intent visa since you can apply for a green card once you've been here N number of years (I believe it's 6). It should never have been a dual-intent visa in the first place
FWIW, the USCIS lumps the H1B in with every other non-immigrant visa in its statistics.
I agree about it not being dual intent, but it's the easiest way to go for people to get a green card, and it's also a de-facto merit based system green card. You have a good paying job, have to abide by the laws of the country, and all the data is collected already. Governments love it when you make it easy.
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