H-1B visa: Indian IT companies seem like latest Donald Trump casualty

[ChennaiDude]

Yes.
The H1B program is one of the biggest scams out there! In my college town even a simple 'web clerk' job requiring data entry and very minor PhotoShop skills elicited 75 applications within 72 hours--for a pay up to $10/hour!!

Yes, there are lots and lots of Americans out there who are qualified but unemployed. They can't be as managed or controlled or paid too low and thus these barely English speaking H1Bs whose skills, frankly, are not that great weasel their way in.

Mr. Trump: Look into this scam called H1B. I don't care who it targets against but I do care who it will benefit!!

Stop making a fool of yourself..to be eligible for H1B..the employer needs to meet the LCA standards....that is what is the minimum the person needs to be paid within that Geo...go to WWW. USCIS.gov...before talking nonsence.

 

[airmarshal]

It is just that as a country, we need to do a better job at putting our own kids to work first. I hope Mr. Trump focuses on it, otherwise, our next generation is doomed.

Rightly said! However, what you need to understand is that cutting down on visa program will lower the intake of very talented people who have the potential to make it big in US due to your country's environment that rewards innovation. By putting the people of your country first, the thrust of the argument is to fill jobs for which local individual might not even qualify.

I agree that H-1B has been abused and misused. The reform in the program should not discourage bringing in talent at same time should give priority to local students/workforce to fill those positions.

 

[randomradio]

If you are already living in the US and want to apply for a H1-B, then this is the minimum salary you need to have if you are living in LA as a Computer Programmer.

http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-1131&area=31084&year=17&source=1
Level 1 Wage:$29.99 hour - $62,379 year
Level 2 Wage:$37.99 hour - $79,019 year
Level 3 Wage:$45.98 hour - $95,638 year
Level 4 Wage:$53.98 hour - $112,278 year
Mean Wage (H-2B):$45.98 hour - $95,638 year

Use this link to look up data for other states for any occupation you want.
http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesWizardStart.aspx

 

[Indika]

H1b program has been abused no doubt , that has to be fixed. Indian IT companies which abuse them should be penalized. I see no reason why ppl should join such companies, they are a disgrace to IT sector. Companies which break laws will certainly abuse its own employees.

H1b program will not be stopped that for sure. As for as many ppl claiming enuf americans are available to do the job is sheer nonsense. Business will look at value for money not just qualifications. One good thing about limiting H1b visas is that it will jolt the indian companies to move up the value chain and more jobs will move to India which is a good thing.

 

[DJ_Viper]

Rightly said! However, what you need to understand is that cutting down on visa program will lower the intake of very talented people who have the potential to make it big in US due to your country's environment that rewards innovation. By putting the people of your country first, the thrust of the argument is to fill jobs for which local individual might not even qualify.

I agree that H-1B has been abused and misused. The reform in the program should not discourage bringing in talent at same time should give priority to local students/workforce to fill those positions.

Sir, please don't mind my jingoistic statement but it is the reality. We've run the globe for 60 freaking years without any H1B's or T1E's since the WWII and have built the most strongest country and the economy. So I am sure we can continue to do it ourselves.

In fact, due to the tech boom, now, we have millions of Indians, Pakistanis, Israelis, Russians, Koreans, Chinese, etc, etc as our naturalized citizens. And their children are very focused on education and new ideas (Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, the list goes on and on). So I am sure our country can reward her own citizens for future innovations.

We now produce enough talent in all fields that it can be used for our future. The only issue is, the businesses have gotten used to ill practices of some foreign companies and they would prefer foreign workers, over American workers. That is, and should never be allowed. Once things are under control, a minimal amount of immigration of highly talented pool of people doesn't hurt. But 60 or 80K visas every year, with 200-300k students who also end up staying here, means we are losing American high paying jobs by 200k+ per year and putting those many American kids out of work.

If someone does some cool new "innovation", trust me, in today's world, on Twitter, Facebook, etc, they would get connected to a huge network of companies who'd ask them to come here. We don't have to lose 200k jobs every year to ensure that. Thanks

 

[NirmalKrish]

I don't see this as a bad thing, it will prompt our resources to work in our own sectors rather than for foreign multinationals. If we have the manpower allocated to jobs back in India, well that will only help strength local companies get a footprint and offer world class products to rival that of the US.

 

[DJ_Viper]

The H-1B program will not be eliminated, but definitely it will be revised. Requirements will be tightened to avoid abuse like replacing American workers with H-1B workers, etc. There's a need for immigrant labor in this country and it will continue, but in a different form..

Yes Sir, "Revised" is a good word. A revision down to bringing very selective 1000 workers a year is perfect for me. Another revision to bring back millions of IT, Manufacturing and BPO jobs from India, China, Mexico, Philippines is also much needed. We need to make sure our American citizens are financially well taken care of first, before we worry about bringing the rest of the globe's "middle class" "UP" and crushing down our own middle class to turning this country into a lower tier nation. That's stupidity. Whoever started that shiit was effing corrupt as hell.

Another revision on all these silly billion dollar companies is needed, if you don't hire 80-90% US citizens and residents, and if you don't have programs as a large business to allow the Americans the opportunity to grow, and you prefer to bring in foreign people in 747 jets to replace hundreds of Americans in a day (has happened many times, I know probably a dozen examples and their results from court proceedings), well your corporate tax rate should be 50% . That provision would get all kinds of Americans to get fine paying jobs. Thanks

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Anti-Pakistan. Anti-Terrorism. Anti-Islam. Anti-ISIS. Should I keep going?



Nah, immigration is our biggest export. We don't want our biggest export to disappear.

And we have plenty of skilled people in India.

India has 800 Million Muslims (officially) and 450 Million by unofficial watered down numbers for political purpose

Your statement will hurt their feelings

 

[HAIDER]

There is no bad news for innovation for the Silicon Valley. This is the right thing to do. Sadly, there is too much fraud and favoritism in this industry across the US. There are many Indian executives now and they flat out refuse to hire from the local population and use Indian / other offshore companies to bring labor to India.

At this time, there is plenty of labor in the US (including naturalized Indian population) that we can easily continue marching in the tech sector without problems. So the Silicon Valley can still grow, by using the locals. Its that simple.

Any nation in this circumstances, will be losing precious revenue and will have a higher unemployment rate. There are dozens of law suits every month on this topic and millions of complaints. So just like in India, China or elsewhere, they want to hire the locals first, the US has a right to ensure that the US citizens and legal residents, who pay a pretty penny in taxes all their lives, will get a fair shot at getting employment. This is a standard process any or every nation would and should follow.

Our kids go through schools and colleges, take out heavy loans, finish degrees and then be jobless, ending up defaulting on student loans, resulting in income inequality and are forced to have financial stress and a lower paying job. While labor from India (and some from other countries) come in and have no student loan and start making the big bucks from day 1. My post isn't about race or "I hate Indians", as I have many Indian and other ethnic friends, they are good and smart people. It is just that as a country, we need to do a better job at putting our own kids to work first. I hope Mr. Trump focuses on it, otherwise, our next generation is doomed.

Well, too much Indianism seen in US IT industry.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Indians tend to abuse the system greatly , sending a Junior guy as a Experienced person they do this quite often and many times Indians hiring H1B and not locals due to salary and that is what Trump will crack down on

US should impose tax on companies that open offshore offices in India , becasue the companies hide 2000-50,000 hirings overseas while hiring may be 2-3 guys in USA

The problem with H1B has been abuse of system Indian companies hogging 99% of visa that are not real (i.e no job exist for it now but they HOG it anyways) anticipating a job to open soon

So when a job does open they don't hire locally they go for their buddy in India

 

[randomradio]

Yes Sir, "Revised" is a good word. A revision down to bringing very selective 1000 workers a year is perfect for me. Another revision to bring back millions of IT, Manufacturing and BPO jobs from India, China, Mexico, Philippines is also much needed. We need to make sure our American citizens are financially well taken care of first, before we worry about bringing the rest of the globe's "middle class" "UP" and crushing down our own middle class to turning this country into a lower tier nation. That's stupidity. Whoever started that shiit was effing corrupt as hell.

Another revision on all these silly billion dollar companies is needed, if you don't hire 80-90% US citizens and residents, and if you don't have programs as a large business to allow the Americans the opportunity to grow, and you prefer to bring in foreign people in 747 jets to replace hundreds of Americans in a day (has happened many times, I know probably a dozen examples and their results from court proceedings), well your corporate tax rate should be 50% . That provision would get all kinds of Americans to get fine paying jobs. Thanks

Do you know that Indians pay about 20% more on the iPhone than Americans do? Similarly, all these manufacturers and outsourcing companies will make their clients and customers pay the extra tariff you want to impose if you don't think things through. If you simply increase corporate tax, then companies will move their headquarters to other countries and continue performing well in the American market. 'Patriotic' companies will be forced to move out because of the competition, taking thousands of jobs with them.

One of the big reasons why outsourcing started.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/1998/dec/30/millennium.uk

http://pib.nic.in/feature/fe0899/f1508995.html

 

[DJ_Viper]

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/11/28/obama-expands-h1b-program/

Many people forget that Microsoft, Intel, Apple etc can continue designing their best stuff even outside America.

Yes sir, they sure can. But if Mr. Trump really revises this stuff, well, to get it done, they'll have to pay the Chinese or the Indians whatever taxes they pay over there. Then, to market that product to the US, it would first be considered a "foreign" product. Then, it would go through certification here, and then, it will be sold and at the end of the day, all taxes combined would make these sharp guys in Microsoft and Google feel like they paid about 45-50% taxes.

And I can bet you one thing, that would put a massive dent into their earnings, but would make the US government much richer, which is great. Knowing some of these bast_ards personally, I can assure you, they don't care about America but their bonus. That's their life line, you put that much tax burden on them, trust me, every needle to the latest software will say "R&D, Designed, Developed and Produced in America" . That is what I and hundreds of millions of other Americans want. We don't need to loan out our country and lose our jobs so we can help others. If we have extra, sure. But with close to half a million kids not finding proper careers, yet foreign Visa workers coming in like there is a mill that produced jobs for them, is total bull crap and it should be a crime in my opinion. Let's see if Mr. Trump fulfills his promises. Thanks

Do you know that Indians pay about 20% more on the iPhone than Americans do? Similarly, all these manufacturers and outsourcing companies will make their clients and customers pay the extra tariff you want to impose if you don't think things through. If you simply increase corporate tax, then companies will move their headquarters to other countries and continue performing well in the American market. 'Patriotic' companies will be forced to move out because of the competition, taking thousands of jobs with them.

One of the big reasons why outsourcing started.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/1998/dec/30/millennium.uk

http://pib.nic.in/feature/fe0899/f1508995.html

Sir, if the Indians pay 20% more for Iphone than they should buy a different product? I am not sure how to answer it. No one's putting a gun to anyone's head to "must buy the IPhone".

Second, Sir, you don't know my past or present. I know everything good, bad and ugly about this H1B visa system. I don't want to come across insulting. But this thing has brought so much corruption to the US, to employ Indian labor. So whatever the reasons may be, at this point, this thing has become number 1 killer of American jobs. Many politicians even sympathize with India and they won't name this (and so do I, which is why I said, let me not talk about it). But if we don't get a handle on our own generation's future, our future will be gone. We'll become like a simple country, instead of a powerful nation. For that, we need to make sure, we take care of our American citizens' careers first, legal residents, etc, that included people of all colors and races.

Second, each corporate spends millions of dollars every year on stupid crap like "Fire Hazard Training" or "How to Give First Aid". I can watch that crap on youtube for free. If the same millions and some more, are sent towards retraining your employees for Tech jobs, or other careers that are "hot, instead of getting foreign labor, you wouldn't need anyone from the outside. At this point, we are pretty self sufficient so we can take care of our future ourselves. When need be (at a 40-45% tax bracket and non-expense write-off), companies are welcome to go get the necessary labor from the Philippines, India, China, etc. No problem with this type of an arrangement.

 

[randomradio]

India has 800 Million Muslims (officially) and 450 Million by unofficial watered down numbers for political purpose

Your statement will hurt their feelings

I doubt you know what million means.

 

[randomradio]

Yes sir, they sure can. But if Mr. Trump really revises this stuff, well, to get it done, they'll have to pay the Chinese or the Indians whatever taxes they pay over there. Then, to market that product to the US, it would first be considered a "foreign" product. Then, it would go through certification here, and then, it will be sold and at the end of the day, all taxes combined would make these sharp guys in Microsoft and Google feel like they paid about 45-50% taxes.

And I can bet you one thing, that would put a massive dent into their earnings, but would make the US government much richer, which is great. Knowing some of these bast_ards personally, I can assure you, they don't care about America but their bonus. That's their life line, you put that much tax burden on them, trust me, every needle to the latest software will say "R&D, Designed, Developed and Produced in America" . That is what I and hundreds of millions of other Americans want. We don't need to loan out our country and lose our jobs so we can help others. If we have extra, sure. But with close to half a million kids not finding proper careers, yet foreign Visa workers coming in like there is a mill that produced jobs for them, is total bull crap and it should be a crime in my opinion. Let's see if Mr. Trump fulfills his promises. Thanks

Doing this isn't as easy as you think. It's because software is not a product that was shipped overseas, it is simply bits in a memory drive. You can't tax it because it has no real value to it. It creates value only after it becomes a product.

For example, let's say a Windows 10 DVD costs $500 in retail. The govt can only tax the profits of the DVD sales after it reaches the retail stores. They cannot tax Windows 10 itself, which may very well be written in India using Indian employment or any other country with local talent because it is company property and has no physical value attached to it.

India isn't a destination for cheap labour alone.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com...investments-beats-us-china/article8780331.ece

Do you know that more than half the R&D for almost all of Intel's processors happens in India?

You can't tax science. You can only tax products. So Trump really cannot do anything to the outsourcing industry, especially if more than half the Republicans have vested interests with companies.

If you tax a company for outsourcing, then they will just create another subsidiary. Say a company wants 5000 new workers, 500 for the headquarters and 4500 for the outsourcing industry. They will create a subsidiary in India to handle the 4500 worker requirement and hire 500 in the US. The US based company will pay lower taxes while their subsidiary will pay a different tax rate in the US which will be incredibly less in total because it did not make much of a profit. So if the entire company's made $1B, with $100M as profits for the US based company and $1M for the subsidiary, then the US based company will pay $15M in corporate taxes to the Federal govt at 15% while the outsourced subsidiary will pay about $500K as 50% taxes, when, in fact, the total tax liability should have been $50M. There will be many workarounds. You basically can't stop outsourcing with taxes.

You can move some types of manufacturing jobs easily though. But tech jobs, that's going to be extremely difficult.

Yes, companies don't care about America, or India, or China or anybody else except their pockets and customers. That's called capitalism. Now that the American public is at the receiving end of capitalism, they want socialism, with protectionism and job quotas.

You see, if you make these companies uncompetitive, then they will shut shop, taking jobs down with them.

That's why Trump is now backtracking.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-carrier-jobs-913348bbf46#.c8qn0g3yc

 

[pakdefender]

Reading various forums around the web , it is clear that many American workers in the High Tech industry ( especially those who lost their job due to cost cutting ) are irked by the H1B program and these voted for Trump for sure.

The H1B indian is seen as a job thief , one who stole an American job

Right or wrong , depends on which side of the isle you are looking at it

BUT one thing is certain that a lot of these H1B indian are 24/7 spewing hate against Pakistan on that other unmentionable india forum so it will be good kick up their back side if Trump bring in measure to have them sent back to reduced their inflow.

Infosys and Wipro are called out as the biggest abusers of the H1B system , since they have offices in US , they apply en-masse for the H1B visas and then sub-contract indian workers to replace American workers for lesser cost.