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U.S. Visa Limits Hit Indian Workers
Washington Post ^ | April 6 2009 | Emily Wax

Posted on 04/06/2009 3:59:02 AM PDT by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: h1b; immigration; india
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IBM patent application diagrams method for offshoring employees
The Industry Standard | March 30, 2009
Posted on 03/30/2009 2:33:33 PM PDT by NCjim
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218398/posts


61 posted on 04/06/2009 1:21:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: x_plus_one

Law is crashing at the moment.


62 posted on 04/06/2009 1:29:33 PM PDT by John Will
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To: rahbert

>>>> Maybe it is illegal, but I cannot seem to get on FTE
at MS yet the entry level H1B’s seen to be able to do so. <<<<

MS is the biggest pro-immigration lobbyist in Washington DC.

That’s a fact, not hyperbole. Check www.opensecrets.org.

And they’re NOT on Capitol Hill doing “advocacy” for Central American day laborers. They’re pushing for looser restrictions on Indian (and other) H1B tech labor.


63 posted on 04/06/2009 1:34:44 PM PDT by angkor
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To: angkor

Right, but the preponderance of wealth of Indians in this country has nothing to do with H1B.


64 posted on 04/06/2009 1:36:10 PM PDT by mbraynard (You are the Republican Party. See you at the precinct meeting.)
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To: fremont_steve; freedumb2003

>>>>> quite frankly racist statement (for once the race card SHOULD be played.) <<<<

No, it is not a racist statement but yours most certainly is.

And yes you are playing the race card in exactly the same manner that it’s always played.

Unless I missed something, freedumb2003 said nothing whatsoever about race. He doesn’t like Indian tech workers, check. He doesn’t want more Indian immigration, check. He thinks that Indian H1B tech workers are not good employees, check.

None of that has anything at all to do with race.


65 posted on 04/06/2009 1:39:54 PM PDT by angkor
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To: angkor

“And the H1B visa program is greatly abused by employers largely to the benefit of Indian tech workers”

Heavy recruitment from Asia too.


66 posted on 04/06/2009 1:41:42 PM PDT by ScottfromNJ
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To: reaganaut1

>>>> Thanks, Steve, from a Freeper of Indian heritage (born here). <<<<<<

Since you raised the issue ....

What do you think of Indian entrepreneurs who abuse our H1B visa system and exploit Indian H1B tech workers?

What do you think of your fellow Americans being fired to replace them with Indian H1B workers, illegally and at low expense to the company?

You think this is A-OK?


67 posted on 04/06/2009 1:42:53 PM PDT by angkor
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To: Wpin

>>>>> I guess I just believe in the American philosophy of individual freedom, <<<<<<

Correction: you are thinking not of freedom but of open borders in America, an ideal shared by precisely zero other countries around the globe. Not one. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

My grandfather came to America as a toddler prior to 1900 and he had.....

....A VISA!!!!!

From at least the 1890’s, all immigrants to the U.S. have been required to have A VISA!

And all other countries around the world have strict employment controls which require immigrant labor to have A VISA.

Don’t play your bogus “freedom” and open borders card with me.

My wife is an immigrant!


68 posted on 04/06/2009 1:48:34 PM PDT by angkor
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To: ScottfromNJ

>>>> Heavy recruitment from Asia too. <<<<<

Sure, but in tech I’ve seen a lot more Indian workers than is justified by the job market.

“Are you seriously telling me you couldn’t find an American [network engineer, Java coder, C programmer, Cisco expert] so you had to hire an Indian?”


69 posted on 04/06/2009 1:53:42 PM PDT by angkor
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To: mbraynard

>>>>> Right, but the preponderance of wealth of Indians in this country has nothing to do with H1B. <<<<<

I’m sure that’s true.

But this thread is entitled “U.S. Visa Limits Hit Indian Workers” and is about H1B.

So your comments are really not pertinent.

You understand that, yes?


70 posted on 04/06/2009 1:56:32 PM PDT by angkor
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To: angkor
No, my comments are pertinent given the general anti-Indian comments that have been made in this thread.

Are you capable of understanding this?

71 posted on 04/06/2009 3:03:42 PM PDT by mbraynard (You are the Republican Party. See you at the precinct meeting.)
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To: angkor

What he said was that Indian coders are the worst. That is an all-inclusive statement. With that statement there is no possibility that a single good Indian coder could possibly exist. That is an absolute statement about anyone in that profession from the Indian sub-continent. He has tarred an entire country with a single brush.

Racist -

The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

From my reading - his comments pretty much fall into this description.

By itself the statement is ludicrous. I’ve had personal experience that proves it so.

I can go on for an hour on the subject because I’ve worked at two separate consulting firms that were founded by Indians. They had very different backgrounds. The first company constantly abused the Visa system bringing people here to do work that Americans could/should do (not on H1B’s by the way...) The second company moved an occasional employee between the two countries for training, and then moved them back. The American side of the company was essentially static in it’s head count the 3 years I was there. They did ship work over to India, and due to the makeup of the company employees in India there were only certain projects we would ship over. This ALL had to do with training and experience levels of the team the company had managed to create and NOTHING to do with the raw ability of anyone there.

Most of the employees in the US were VERY capable, thus another reason we kept the tougher work in the US. Oh - did I mention they were mostly Indian. Like I said earlier - I have direct personal experience that the guy’s all-encompassing statement was factually in error.


72 posted on 04/06/2009 3:16:28 PM PDT by fremont_steve (Milpitas - a great place to be FROM!)
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To: angkor

Excuse me, I thought we were discussing H1B VISAS! I do not support illegal immigration. I do support legal immigration and having an H1B is a legal visa...

Maybe you are confused about the issue...but, I am glad your grandfather and wife came to America...bet you are also.

And, don’t feel bad...many, like you, do not understand freedom.


73 posted on 04/06/2009 3:16:55 PM PDT by Wpin (I do not regret my admiration for W)
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To: freedumb2003
Can I talk about the QA work I once did on Indian code?

It's as though they thought they were being paid by tare weight.

Cheers!

74 posted on 04/06/2009 4:05:56 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: mbraynard

>>> Are you capable of understanding this? <<<

Very capable.

But this discussion is about India, Indians, and H1B labor.

To keep saying as you have been that “Indians in America are rich” is completely irrelevant.

So what’s your point?


75 posted on 04/06/2009 4:33:36 PM PDT by angkor
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To: RU88
Ask yourself why the Americans' last task before being laid off is to "train in" their replacements; and then ask why the rationale is that the Americans "aren't qualified".

Then go pour yourself a fifth of scotch...

Cheers!

76 posted on 04/06/2009 4:35:07 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: fremont_steve

>>>> I have direct personal experience that the guy’s all-encompassing statement was factually in error. <<<<<

Yes, I agree it was factually in error.

But you pulled the race card and effectively called him a racist when he made no such comment.

IMO he who pulls the race card owns it.


77 posted on 04/06/2009 4:37:59 PM PDT by angkor
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To: Wpin
>>>>> Maybe you are confused about the issue...but, I am glad your grandfather and wife came to America...bet you are also.
<<<<

Actually I was trying to address your covert and sissified predilection for open borders.

Look libertarian, if you think “freedom” equals open borders, just stand on your apple crate here in the town square and say it. Shout it!

Don't be a little girl and hide it under your transparently false cry of “freedom”. Just say you want open borders and be done with it.

>>>> And, don’t feel bad...many, like you, do not understand freedom. <<<<<

Yes, I don't understand. Explain “freedom” as it relates to visas and H1B.

78 posted on 04/06/2009 4:45:26 PM PDT by angkor
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To: mbraynard
I think the problem is (whether "diversity" or the "all Indians have an IQ of 300" syndrome began it) is that a few Indians gravitated to influential positions in tech industries and began hiring their countrymen like mad.

And (as I have seen repeatedly from experience) they share knowledge and finish each other's work to make sure they *all* look good, much more than Americans. And they "freeze out" those whom they perceive to be a threat.

The catch is, most of the Indians I have seen are good at *absorbing* information, but not at creative, independent thinking. So when you need to go outside the box, they begin to spin their wheels, and blow smoke.

E.g. the whole "capability maturity model" covers management's process for managing the project; it doesn't do anything about whether the code under the hood is any good, or manageable, or easily modified.

As far as managing, by the way, it is not only the lower labor cost, but the fact that all of the higher costs associated with the offshoring/outsourcing get divided among a large number of different accounting buckets:

--more managerial time giving instructions

--rework

--late nights/early mornings for trans-global phone meetings

--missed days caused by a problem arising after the other side of the Earth has gone to bed

--blind alleys where the requirements were not written *EXPLICITLY* and so someone just "took a guess" and never verified

etc. etc.

Cheers!

79 posted on 04/06/2009 5:01:10 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Sir Francis Dashwood
???

Is this a Kurukshetra ping, or something?

Cheers!

80 posted on 04/06/2009 5:02:23 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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