Posted on 01/29/2004 1:57:20 PM PST by sarcasm
Aurobindo Dasgupta is hiding his optimism under a cloak of nonchalance, but he knows he has a great chance of bagging a hot, hot post in the US with the financial services company he works for.
His employers are considering picking him ahead of American competitors, simply on merit, for a job that would normally be held by someone who’s spent several years working in the US . The job involves planning for the US market, after all. But Dasgupta is the favourite for the post because he seems to be the best person for the job out of his globe-spanning employers’ huge workforce.
If he gets the post, though, Dasgupta will not be working on a H1-B visa. Instead, his company will simply take him over on an L-1 visa. From Dasgupta’s perspective, it makes no difference: he’ll be earning what his company thinks he’s worth, not a figure at a huge discount that an American in the same position would get.
That’s a win-win situation for both the company and the professional, because the L-1, unlike the H1-B, is not subject to any kind of cap. As employment consultants point out, that means there is no competiton for the limited number of permits allowed under the H1-B.
Indeed, with only 21,500 of the 65,000 H1-B visas allotted for October 2003-November 2004 still up for grabs, companies looking for overseas talents, especially from countries like India , are expected to resort to the L-1 instead. For those who came in late, the L-1 visa is used for intra-company transfers: typically, a Wipro or an Accenture will hire you in India and then post you temporarily in the US , using the L-1 visa.
Right now, tech companies in the US are rather worried about the possibility of not being able to bring in Indian programmers if the H1-B quota runs out. Projects are expected to be stalled midway once the cap is reached, which is now likely to be as early as April. That means no company will be able to hire fresh global talent on the H1-B for as much as six months between April and October this year.
Can their projects afford to be put into cold-storage? Especially since, in an election year, the last thing that the Bush Administration is likely to do is to lift the H1-B quota back from 65,000 to anywhere near the 195,000 level at which it stood in the past two years.
Ironically, it was US companies’ inability ot hire that many people on H1-Bs over the past two years – thanks to the tech downturn – that led to the curtailing of the quota in the first place. In 2003, only 78,000 H-1B visas were issued against the cap, and in 2002 only 79,000 were, according to government figures. But now, just as companies are ready to hire, the rules won’t allow them to bring more people over on H1-Bs.
Indeed, one form of hiring that is likely to seem less attractive to Indians as a result is campus-hiring in April. As companies hit US B-Schools and technical colleges for fresh recruits, they’ll have to pass over Indians since the H1-B quota will likely have been exhausted by then.
Enter the L1. The advanages for employers are obvious: there is no cap on the overall number, which means a company can bring in as many L-1 pros as it likes, even in groups. There are no stipulations such as paying market salaries or ensuring that an American citizen couldn’t have done the job. Best of all, clearance takes as much as six to eight weeks less than for the H1-B.
All that a company has to do is to hire you in India , either directly or through a subsidiary, affiliate or parent company, and transfer you to the US . The only pre-condition: you must have worked for at least one year out of the three years prior to getting the visa with the company that’s sending you or taking you over. In other words, you needn’t even be employed by the company at the time – you could be rejoining after a gap of up to two years. Don’t expect salary parity with people in the US , however, unless it’s an honourable company – and there are many of them – that’s hiring you.
However, for all its advantages, the L-1 has not been used as widely as the H1-B, which is probably the reason it hasn’t attracted a cap yet. In 2001, for instance, the 59,384 L-1 visas issued were way short of the 161,643 H1-Bs. In 2002, the corresponding figures were 57,721 and 118,352. Last year, 54,817 L-1 pros started work in the US , compared to 100,969 H1-Bs. Like the H1-B, Indian pros are the biggest L-1 species, too, receiving a quarter of the visas issued in 2002.
But all that could change now. The most interesting aspect of the L-1 visa is the nuance that differentiates it from the H1-B. On the face of it, the two are similar, but actually, besides the regulatory caps, the spirit behind the application is quite different. The H1-B is for professionally qualified people who fill jobs for which no American candidate can be found: thus, in theory it is meant to bridge the gap between demand for and supply of human resources. It’s also renewable.
The L-1 actually comes in two categories: the L-1A is for managers and executives who needn’t have any special higher educational qualifications. It’s applicable for five years and cannot be renewed. The L-1B is for other professionals who are considered to have an intricate understanding the processes and technologies used by the company hiring them. This version runs for seven years.
For both these sub-categories, the idea is that companies operating in the US – whether American or foreign – can bring over people who can transfer knowledge from their parents’ affiliates’ or subsidiaries’ operations, and can add value to American operations. These are not meant to be jobs for which Americans could have been hired – they are meant to utilise the talents of specific individuals. And the champions of the L-1 argue that the visa is key to improving the competitiveness of American as well as foreign companies doing business in the US .
Of course, whether employees really look at the L-1 that way is another matter altogether. It’s true that it would be easy for companies to simply substitute the H1-B with the L-1 when getting Indians to work in the US . But although those protesting against the so-called loss of American jobs to Indians and others have included the L-1 in their targets, this 34-year-old visa has, on the whole, escaped censure in a way the H1-B hasn’t.
If you want a US assignment, therefore, better start reading the fine print of the requirements for a L-1.
There's not much call for that kind of work as it is.
And now, Indians take advantage of the L-1. Will it ever end?
If we displace blue collars who make furniture and textiles to China, and we displace white collars with engineering and technical degrees to India, et al... then WHO IS LEFT? Management, I suppose. And plumbers, electricians, convenience store workers. Americans are have difficulty filling American jobs these days, while Bush wants to import Mexicans by the metric ton.
And yet, my conservative, capitalistic principals tell me there is no easy answer to the problem. Stop illegal immigration for one. Beyond that, should the government really impose regulations regarding the employment of Americans exclusively? I dare say so-- already the trend in is place and most companies won't be able to compete with other companies that use the cheap labor.
America will simply continue to consolidate the wealth further into fewer hands at the top of companies and into the company treasury, leaving a starving white and blue collar middle class to rot. Once they smell rising wages in India, they will move to Indonesia. Or Siberia. Pick the second world economy of your choice. Although that may sound like a liberal speaking, it's merely an observation of the effects of these trends.
"Retrain" is often heralded as a solution. Even Greenspan mentioned it. But for what field of endeavor? Hundreds of thousands if not millions of competent engineers, scientists, programmers and analysts will become.... plumbers? Electricians? Landscapers? Whatever isn't portable overseas?
I'm struggling to see the solution. Maybe I'll sign up for auto mechanic 101 at the local community college. Indeed, such is better than working midnight shift at the local 7-11.
P.S. - Thank you, Mr. Bush for proposing to pump gov't dollars into those schools. Where is your mind, exactly? I suppose the word "retrain" has been bantered about the oval office. >removing tongue from cheek<
Regardless, a conservative will adapt... despite my extraordinary dissapointment with the prospect of losing the work I was "Called" to do, and do well.
There is no "may" about it. The word is "will".
Excellent point. Myopia from the top of the mountain is a disease that offers no treatment. Unless Bush and others afflicted go broke and have to work their way through a master's program while waiting tables. Naw-- Won't happen.
I'm sorry but those will be taken up by illegals "doing jobs Americans won't do."
In my area, we have Bulgarians, Romanians, and other eastern europeans doing skilled construction work. Im not sure why, but construction companies seem to prefer aliens, maybe because they are bending rules and codes, and maybe union regulations, and the eastern europeans wont complain, dont care, and wont report it. But I do agree with your point, that foriegners over here will take over construction jobs. With asians flooding the medical profession, Im not sure what jobs will be left for american citizens.
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