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They most certainly do pay U.S. income taxes, and FICA, and the employer pays their FICA contribution, too, and they cannot be reimbursed for FICA even though many leave after the term of their visas (6 years max - versus 10 years minumum for SS benefits).

That is CURRENTLY true concerning Indians. I may have misread an article that I had found in relation to totalization agreements which do in fact exempt foreign nationals from US FICA. However, Indians amongst others are lobbying Congress to pass totalization treaties with them.

Taxing times: Nasscom pitches for totalisation deal with US, UK

There are bilateral tax treaties with Canada and some Eurpoean countries that enable H1-Bs to pay into their home SS system. But no treaty with India, and no treaty with Russia, at least when I employed a bunch of Russians.

There's MANY countries that have totalization agreements with the US.

From U.S. INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY AGREEMENTS

U.S. Social Security Agreements

Country	Entry into Force
Italy	November 1, 1978
Germany	December 1, 1979
Switzerland	November 1, 1980
Belgium	July 1, 1984
Norway	July 1, 1984
Canada	August 1, 1984
United Kingdom	January 1, 1985
Sweden	January 1, 1987
Spain	April 1, 1988
France	July 1, 1988
Portugal	August 1, 1989
Netherlands	November 1, 1990
Austria	November 1, 1991
Finland	November 1, 1992
Ireland	September 1, 1993
Luxembourg	November 1, 1993
Greece	September 1, 1994
South Korea	April 1, 2001
Chile	December 1, 2001
Australia	October 1, 2002

We get and keep ALL their FICA. More than 10 billion per year.

For NOW we get to keep the FICA from Indian nationals. That may change. As far as this 10 billion dollar figure, do you have any source information on that?

If H1-B wages are $80B, and the bulk are from low-wage countries (SS tax treaties are mainly with first-world countries with comparable SS tax rates and benenfits), then we are, in fact, raking in nearly 15% of that (which would be $12B) in FICA without any obligation to pay benefits.

That's not counting normal income tax.

And where do you get the idea we pay for universities in India, much less China? Like I said, unless these people are frauds (some certainly are - I have seen some firsthand) or seat-warmers for dishonest consulting firms, smart immigrants are a huge benefit.

I also make a lot of money from working for overseas companies. Last year 30% of my billable hours and 40% of my gross were on project located in Europe. We need to make high-value professional work more easily internationalizable. It's good for us.

I would like to see secure borders and wetbacks out of our schools, hospitals, prisons, and welfare programs first. Sriram the software guy is the least of our worries.