Are companies misusing H1-B Visa?

[dileepp89]

Large companies were misusing H1-B visas to deflate the costs of workers by bringing in workers from India, citing an ongoing whistleblower investigation case against Infosys. Says a report published in The American Bazaar. Is this true?

The report: http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/201 ... 1-b-visas/

[VR]

dileepp89,

Not only H1b Visas but also L1 visas were misused indiscrimately by the Indian companies across the board except a few.

Having said this things are as tight as tight can be now, with various loopholes that were identified as a result of whistleblowers and other investigations plugged now.

For instance a few years ago a body shopper will take money from a candidate and send him to the US. The address of the Bodyshopper will be New Jersey while after landing the hapless IT worker will be giving interviews and get placed whereever they could find a billing for him. Then there was Bench where IT workers were put up in houses upto 8 living in a room without pay on a meagre subsistence allowance and common Spam.

In addition to such violations Fraud was rampant in securing the visas with fake experience being passed off and a lot of resume engineering to get a billing. Now things have improved tremendously. Things are expected to get tougher when the reforms kick in. Previously in order to get greencards quickly, employees were swapped from H1 to L1 and their files expedited. All this is a thing of the past.

Wherever Indians land they stretch the system so badly that eventually they make it tough for genuine candidates down the line.
cheers
vr

[kantave]

dileepp89,

Not only H1b Visas but also L1 visas were misused indiscrimately by the Indian companies across the board except a few.

Having said this things are as tight as tight can be now, with various loopholes that were identified as a result of whistleblowers and other investigations plugged now.

For instance a few years ago a body shopper will take money from a candidate and send him to the US. The address of the Bodyshopper will be New Jersey while after landing the hapless IT worker will be giving interviews and get placed whereever they could find a billing for him. Then there was Bench where IT workers were put up in houses upto 8 living in a room without pay on a meagre subsistence allowance and common Spam.

In addition to such violations Fraud was rampant in securing the visas with bad quality experience being passed off and a lot of resume engineering to get a billing. Now things have improved tremendously. Things are expected to get tougher when the reforms kick in. Previously in order to get greencards quickly, employees were swapped from H1 to L1 and their files expedited. All this is a thing of the past.

Wherever Indians land they stretch the system so badly that eventually they make it tough for genuine candidates down the line.
cheers
vr

I am an Indian and having worked for an Indian company before, in the US, I feel whatever you have quoted about Indian companies is true.

I cant believe that the USA is being caught unawares while this abuse is going on. I am pretty sure they are very aware of this abuse and allowed it to happen. H-1 policies are supported by big corporations and that is where it becomes murkier. And they are equally guilty.

The problem now is all H-1 quota expired and one has to wait till next Oct. I find this very strange and what if a company needs an urgent qualified person in March or April. I feel the H-1 system is totally flawed.

It should be on the basis of capability rahter than the ancient quota system which would affect both the employers and the H-1 aspirants.

[VR]

Kantave,

For India and China the restrictions will only increase by the day. You can be idealistic and complain about the system.

If a company urgently needs someone, they should recruit locally, the country should create skills to meet their needs. Migration is a temporary solution. But with India and China it is a fact that the threat of altering the demography is REAL. Add to the misuse of the existing system its MIND BOGGLING.

They are plugging the abuse which was happening for years with more whistleblowers coming forward, with more monitoring and mechanisms.

Just look at it in the reverse, will any american be able to come to India and work in the same way as an Indian goes to the US and gets paid for his services? I think not. We have to be objective and practical when we wish for something.
cheers
vr

[kantave]

Kantave,

For India and China the restrictions will only increase by the day. You can be idealistic and complain about the system.

If a company urgently needs someone, they should recruit locally, the country should create skills to meet their needs. Migration is a temporary solution. But with India and China it is a fact that the threat of altering the demography is REAL. Add to the misuse of the existing system its MIND BOGGLING.

They are plugging the abuse which was happening for years with more whistleblowers coming forward, with more monitoring and mechanisms.

Just look at it in the reverse, will any american be able to come to India and work in the same way as an Indian goes to the US and gets paid for his services? I think not. We have to be objective and practical when we wish for something.
cheers
vr

If USA hadnt allowed the migration, it wouldn't have been a superpower. Just look at the numbers of entrepeneurs, doctors, scientists that the migration had brought. Look at the Europen community, Jewish community and the indian community of late and the benifits it had brought to America and it gained immensly because of the migration and you cannot deny that. America is the melting pot and whoever has the ambition and drive would be given a chance to thrive. You cant compare Indian migration with American migration and look at what India has become for not allowing talent to flourish. ( Even Indian citizens were not given opportunities in the name is religion and caste etc).


By migration I mean legal and quality migration not the illegal one's.

Migration is not a temporary solution, it has been going on for ages. Cheers,

[VR]

Kantave,

Migration has been here since the second world war when there was a shortage of manpower in the rapidly expanding industrialised countries. At that point of time in history it was a long-term need/solution.

Today the dimension has changed. Why are western governments increasingly restricting migration.

Answer is they cannot afford to have locals unemployed and migrants coming in and taking up jobs and altering the demographics drastically.

While the American dream is largely intact and anyone ready to struggle, gets a fair throw of the dice, compared to the opportunities and probability of success 30 years ago, things are less lucrative. Polarisation due to migration has had its effects the world over and indirectly affecting the chances of success.

Anyway we can argue on this , meritocracy etc for ages...
cheers
vr