U.S. Visa Limits Hit Indian Workers

Washington Post ^ | April 6 2009 | Emily Wax

[angkor]

MUMBAI -- With his master's degree in electrical engineering at North Carolina State University almost complete, Ravi, 24, received a promising job offer from a technology firm. He called his parents back in India, happy that he was on track for an H-1B work visa, which is seen as a steppingstone to U.S. citizenship.

But just before Thanksgiving, Ravi got a call from his future employer.

"They told me that because of the economic downturn they couldn't hire me in anticipation of tougher times ahead. They were laying off other American employees, and cutting my job would be a proactive measure," said Ravi, who gave only his first name because he did not want his job prospects affected. "I do feel bad for anyone losing a job, whether it's an American or an H-1B foreign worker. But for foreign students, if we don't get a job, we have to go back to our home countries. When I talk to my parents, they tell me not to worry, to just come home. [snip]"

As the U.S. economy slows, highly skilled foreign professionals seeking work under various visa programs are finding it harder to get jobs. President Obama's stimulus package stops U.S. companies, largely in banking and financial services, that take federal bailout money from hiring H-1B visa holders for two years if they have laid off American workers in the previous six months. The administration has vowed to tighten restrictions and step up oversight of all work visa applications.

The H-1B program brings in about 85,000 skilled foreign workers every year, ostensibly to fill jobs that U.S. workers cannot or will not do. But some companies in the science and technology fields, afraid of a backlash over hiring foreign professionals rather than American ones, are rescinding job offers.

[RU88]

Sounds like you have knowledge in this area. My question concerns the availability of American hi-tech workers to fill these positions. Are there enough Americans qualified to fill these spots and if so why are these visas being given out at all? My point being that I can understand visas if we have a shortage of qualified workers in given areas but not at the expense of available American workers.

[Wpin]

I have had the pleasure of hiring two H1B candidates. One from India and the other from Ghana. They were great employees, courteous, thoughtful and absolutely brilliant.

I paid them what I would have paid anyone else with same skill sets. Overall, it was a great experience and I would do it again in a minute.

Neither gentlemen wanted to become American citizens, they were proud of their own countries and of their families, friends, and countrymen. Both, went back home after a couple years to help bring prosperity to their homelands. Not a bad thing at all if you really stop and think about it.

Note of interest; the fellow from Ghana related to me that his country had been and was still transitioning itself from socialist to a free market economy and that it was good for the people. Indeed, last I heard (within past month) Ghana was still a growing economy...

[angkor]

>>>>> I have had the pleasure of hiring two H1B candidates. <<<<<<<

That’s nice.

But it’s generally not the individual H1B hires who are a problem.

The problem most definitely is the H1B system itself, which is greatly and profitably abused to the expense of the American worker, and the people (both Indians and Americans) who abuse it.

You need to watch this video, and then come back and tell us that the H1B system isn’t perverted and bordering on the criminal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU

“Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explain how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified [American] applicants, “

[angkor]

>>>> why are these visas being given out at all? <<<<<<

Because if you need 20 programmers, it is much cheaper to hire Indians at $50K than Americans at $75K (and those are true differentials that you’ll find on the H1B applications that are posted on the Internet).

20 x $50,000 = $1,000,000
20 x $75,000 = $1,500,000

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Here's a thought - eliminate the program.

And replace it with a fast-track to citizenship for individuals with advanced degrees earned either oversees or a simple undergrad degree earned here in the states.

Before we do this we must stifle "chain immigration".

I agree that the H1B program should be eliminated, if for no other reason the fact that it constitutes a form of indentured servitude and violates the 13th amendment. The L1 visa restriction need to be tightened up as well.

Doing what you propose would enable Indian and other immigrant workers to sell their services at market prices in the workforce. This would level the playing field for American workers who are now at a competitive disadvantage in our own country. I don't mind competing with foreigners but I do object to companies owning them.

[wolfcreek]

Boo Hoo. Sorry Indians, this well has run dry.

Try learning to speak coherent English while you're waiting.

[cubsfanconswoman]

Interesting my experience is the exact opposite. And they are much nicer guys.

[cubsfanconswoman]

You are like the caller at a call center I managed a few years ago who had no clue where he was and called for driving directions and being an abusive subhuman he blasted the person handling the call saying she had no clue and was a worthless Indian dothead. FOr the information of the abusive subhuman he was telling us where he was for the directions and he was close enough to where if we looked out the window we could see his worthless abusive self.

[Wpin]

I am wondering what possible governmental program does not have negatives. I would agree with you that large companies in tandem with the federal government abuse the system. But, you could say that about anything...

The hiring, in general of H1B individuals is a boost to our economy, not a drain. Competition is good, these are not words...they are fact. Your argument is similar to the Unions arguments...do you really think America is America when we prohibit freedom? Are we better off by supporting inefficiency such as the auto industries? Well, I guess we all will learn the truth behind the cliche “you get what you pay for...”

[angkor]

Just for the record, some H1B workers are good, some aren’t. Some are good guys, some aren’t.

Just like American workers.

But the H1B system and those who abuse it needs to be stopped.

[Wpin]

“Because if you need 20 programmers, it is much cheaper to hire Indians at $50K than Americans at $75K (and those are true differentials that you’ll find on the H1B applications that are posted on the Internet).

20 x $50,000 = $1,000,000
20 x $75,000 = $1,500,000”

And this is a bad thing why???

[bcsco]

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[wolfcreek]

No, what I am is an American who's tired of getting third world tech assistance, tired of pressing *one* for Spanish, tired of wasting valuble work time trying to understand and tired of PC assholes who enjoy rubbing it in.

I said nothing *sub-human* or abusive.

[Roses0508]

I’ve worked with Indian tech workers for many years. Early on they truely were the cream of the crop and their abilities and willingness to work paved the way for thousands upon thousands of their countrymen.

Here’s my problem. I was working for a Fortune 400 company. They needed to adjust the bottom line. So they laied off all the programmers and analysts for their mainframe solutions and hired an Indian “partner” (one that is now famous because its financial assets proved to be bogus). The Indian partner would rotate a team of programmers in to write the code for a software update and then rotate the team out before the code went live. When the update blew up (as it did every single time), the original coders were back in India and the few legacy employees were left trying to fix the code live. After awhile they quit trying to fix it and just rolled it back. After a year and a half, most of the software updates had NOT happened and all of the legacy employees had quit. Now said company is desparately trying to hire American workers again (preferably those people they laid off that have knowledge of their systems).

While hiring the Indian partern adjusted the bottom line for a couple of quarters, ultimately it cost the company money and customers because they were not able to meet deadlines to make software updates to support new products.

The cream of the crop was certainly not available for that project.

[x_plus_one]

Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering don’t grow on trees. He was only doing the work that Americans are unwilling or unable to do.

[gieriscm]

Back in the late 1980’s my summer internship as an EE at Westinghouse was cancelled for economic reasons. I found out two days before my final exams, at which point it was too late to get an internship with another company. I spent that summer waiting tables.

[dawn53]

Luckily, the GATech student has parents who own a business where he can work for the summer. It won’t be in his field, but it’s work.

My kid has one semester left and could finish up his Master’s w/night classes in the fall, so he was hoping to find a “real” job now, even though he graduates in Dec. But if he doesn’t find a job, he does have some internship oppertunities open to him. Pay’s not great, but something is better than nothing.

[TSgt]

He was only doing the work that Americans are unwilling or unable to do.

You are a fool. Go back and read post #7. There are plenty of educated Americans who want these jobs and are willing to do them.

The H1B program is nothing more than a cheap labor scam.

[OpeEdMunkey]

Interesting my experience is the exact opposite. And they are much nicer guys.

Our two best senior DBAs where H1B's. We had one that was kind of a dud as well. Happens.

We paid them at the same rate that we paid similar US employees.

The difference may be that these two guys were planning to stay here and working on their citizenship. As one guy said, "Home is home, but after living here (US) for 5-10 years it's only nice to go back and visit."

[mbraynard]

I've outsourced some tasks to India. I don't see a particular problem with it. Sometimes it has worked well (data entry) but for more complex tasks, it has been a bad idea.

I don't particularly thing that Indians who are here are wealthy because they use cheap Indian labor. It's probably because the ones that are here all gravitate towards successful professions (doctors, engineers, etc.) and don't really get caught in the American subculture of sex/drugs/rocknroll/welfare.