H1-B visas cap for 2007 reached

Hindustan Times ^ | June 3, 2006

[A. Pole]

The H1-B visas, given to skilled professionals, are in demand among many Indian hi-tech workers. The Congressionally mandated cap currently is 65,000 and the Senate recently passed its version of an Immigration Bill that increases the H1-B cap to 115,000 every year with a built in increase of 20 per cent annually.

Jobs Americans will not do.

[mvpel]

Maybe they'll have to start rehiring the hundreds of thousands of technology workers who were laid off after the Dotcom bomb - what a concept.

[ncountylee]

Every position held by a H1-B visa holder should be listed in a published directory to enable Americans to apply. A review procedure would be needed but these are American jobs.

[Tired of Taxes]

The H1-B visas, given to skilled professionals

Oh please. The companies send them to training classes when they arrive here. This is about companies paying lower wages, not bringing "skilled professionals" to do work Americans cannot do.

[Hodar]

Good old law of supply and demand. If the demand goes up, and engineers are needed; artificially increase the supply to keep the company profits high, and the engineer's salary low.

I'm 46, and there just aren't a whole lot of engineers my age or much older out there anymore. Why? Because we are sick to death of being 'out-sourced', 'laid-off' and simply pushed aside. My coworkers have opened McDonald's, Subway and Quiz-nos restaurants; others have gone back to farm, while others have simply gone to school to be a trucker. Frankly, I'm looking at doing the same darn thing.

I busted my behind to get a degree; working full time while attending college for more years than I care to think about. I've been laid off 4x in the past 10 years. It used to be an indication of incompetent management when a company laid off their employees; now it's status quo.

So, now we have a situation at some companies where we hire 15,000 Indians in Bangalore, so we can lay off 500 engineers in the USA - all in the name of 'Globalization'. We ship jobs to China, India and Malaysia; and these countries aren't even our allies. We are training and educating the very people who will eventually be our superiors. Why? Because their culture understands what hard work and perseverance will get; while our culture punishes hard work, and rewards mediocrity.

[nickcarraway]

while our culture punishes hard work, and rewards mediocrity.

That's definitely an important point. We believe in capitalism and merit, so we shouldn't complain if we fail to do what it takes to succeed. We need to have a culture that promotes hard work, education, not settling for mediocrity, etc. We live in the U.S., we have every advantage, we shouldn't waste that.

[Tired of Taxes]

And I just got finished giving my son a "talk" about choosing a career that will earn him a good pay. I told him Engineering was the career to aim for. Do you think that's not true anymore?

[det dweller too]

Amen. Currently the pay rate for an engineering position in India is about $15,000/yr. Of course the cost of living is also about 1/3 of the average US urban location. Is it any wonder those visas fill up as fast as they appear.

[1rudeboy]

Currently the pay rate for an engineering position in India is about $15,000/yr.

Where have you found info. on engineering salaries in India? I've been looking for at least a year.

[1rudeboy]

I usually post the following before these sort of threads get out of hand. Please note that the results are for four-year degrees. My decision not to study engineering a couple decades or so ago was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I’d probably be retired by now.

[det dweller too]

Yes, that is no longer true that engineering is a worthwhile career in the US.. The money people have destroyed it. I have 2 engineering degrees and today that won't get you anywhere. Today I can get a contract position in no time that will last at least 3 months and pay about what I made in 1992.

[TAdams8591]

"while our culture punishes hard work, and rewards mediocrity."

I couldn't agree more! You are absolutely right.

[Tired of Taxes]

Thanks for the info, to the both of you!

I guess that, whether or not Engineering majors are in hot demand, it's still a better bet than what my son is aiming for - professional baseball player. ;-) I keep telling him, yes, you should aim for your dream, but just in case that doesn't work out... there's engineering, computer science, accounting, or a medical field...

[1066AD]

I wonder how many L-1 visas are being abused by near-fraudulent applications as a result.

[Ostlandr]

Really? There are permanent full-time engineering jobs with state worker benefits going begging here in NY. A shortage of engineering graduates in the US has created a tight job market, forcing private companies to raise salaries in order to compete for scarce engineers. Even with state worker benefits and job security, NYS can't compete. In some areas (downstate especially, due to high cost of living) we have trouble filling jobs like truck drivers and heavy truck/diesel mechanics because nobody wants to do those jobs even at state worker pay and benefits.

A buddy of mine got driven out of teaching by incompenent administrators, and went back to engineering. He landed a job with a private firm right away- had two offers to choose from, in fact. He's on the fast track, because he's very good at what he does, and doesn't give his bosses grief.

[KoRn]

Good to see I'm above the average, and I don't even have a degree lol. I do have a few certifications from Cisco, Microsoft, ect. A degree is about as useful to someone in IT as it is to an auto mechanic.

[Tall_Texan]

Jobs Americans will not do.

Jobs Americans taught in government schools are too stupid to do.

[OKIEDOC]

Yep pardoner, jobs Americans will not do for 90,000.00 per year.

What the hell is going to happen if the economy goes into recession later this year or next.

What are Americans going to do for jobs while the Indians work and fed their families here and back in India.

Bad idea.

Let the lazy good for nothing American educational system get off their butts and institute more Math and Science courses.

Couldn't money being used to fund the Ward Churchill types be better spent on a Math or science professor.

[Sunnyvale CA Eng.]

Yes, that is no longer true that engineering is a worthwhile career in the US.. The money people have destroyed it.

Yes, things have changed for the worse but there are still engineering jobs available at all levels. The company I work for needs engineers and offers $5K referral bonuses to employees bring in talent (providing they are hired). I work in an electrical/mechanical environment and it is fairly stable. Its a completely different story for the software / IT types though - mostly done overseas. Lots of the people I work with have been there for 25 or 35 years. Many of the new college grad hires only last 2 or 3 years before they move on - frequently to careers outside of engineering.

The "money people" are inherently in a better position. Those that deal with the money are higher up on the power structure of a company and usually have more opportunities for higher pay.