Work visas may work against the U.S.
America’s visa program for temporary workers was originally set up to allow U.S. companies to bring skilled workers who are in short supply to the U.S. Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems have been active participants in the program, hiring foreign workers for specialized computer programming jobs and positions managing projects with overseas staff.
The visas, known as H-1Bs, are popular enough that President George W. Bush is calling for an increase in the cap on the number of workers who can come to the U.S. under the program. “We’ve got to expand what’s called H-1B visas,” he said in a January speech. “It makes no sense to say to a young scientist in India, you can’t come to America to help this [country] develop technologies that help us deal with our problems.”
But a review of new information from the federal government suggests that the companies benefiting most from the temporary worker program aren’t U.S. companies at all. Rather, they appear to be Indian outsourcing firms, which often hire workers from India to train in the U.S. before returning home to work. Data for the fiscal year 2006, which ended last September, show that 7 of the top 10 applicants for H-1B visas are Indian companies. Giants Infosys Technologies and Wipro took the top two spots, with 22,600 and 19,400 applications, respectively. The company with the third most applications is Cognizant Technology Solutions, which is based in Teaneck, N.J., but has most of its operations in India. All three companies provide services to U.S. companies from India, including technology support and back-office processing.
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Comments
H1 B and L1 is being totally abused. The small/big agencies aren’t bringing the brightest rather anyone willing to shell $3000 for H1 B. I have never seen anyone addressing problem— too political I suppose.
Having headquarters based in US doesn’t matter as all the agncies who are abusing the program do have headquarters in US.
I little respect for companies that want to hire foreign born citizens in the name of paying those cheap salaries. As a consumer, I rather do business with a company that are doing their patriotic duty of hiring Americans.
Of course we are living in an increasingly global economy as a result of the Internet. There are alternative and creative ways to keep your labor costs in check while remain loyal to your country.
[...] But detractors abound. For example a recent a U.S. government review of the program said U.S. companies aren’t really the ones reaping its potential benefits. Data for the fiscal year 2006, which ended last September, show that seven of the top 10 applicants for H-1B visas are Indian companies. Infosys and Wipro took the top two spots, with 22,600 and 19,400 applications, respectively. The company with the third most applications is Cognizant which is based in the United States but has most of its operations in India. The only U.S. companies in the top 10 are Deloitte & Touche and Accenture. They rank seventh and ninth, with 8,000 and 7,000 applications, respectively. [...]
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I believe that there is true value of the H-1B visa but agree that it is being abused. Maybe not so much as by the 3 India firms you mention but instead by the hundreds of small agencies who bring in foreign engineers for the sole purpose of contracting them to US companies for contract labor openings. Generally, these companies will pay the H-1 candidates as hourly workers (which is not legal) but the H-1 workers won’t complain because they are afraid they will have to leave the US if they turn in their company for not abiding by the US Immigration rules.
I think much more value would be obtained by the H-1B program if it was only available to companies who have headquarters based in the US. For the companies who have their headquarters outside of the US, there are B-1 and L-1 visas available for them to have their staff work in the US without having to use the H-1B visas.