Indian Firms, Microsoft Top H-1B List
Indian outsourcers, along with Microsoft and Google, again lead the list of companies bringing foreign workers to the U.S. on the H-1B visa program.
According to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS), Four India-based companies topped the list:
Infosys Technologies (INFY, India): 4,559 H-1B visas approved in 2008, 4,559 in 2007
Wipro (WIT, India): 2,678 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 2,567 in 2007
Satyam (SAY, India): 1,917 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 1,396 in 2007
Tata (TCS.BO, India): 1,539 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 797 in 2007
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT): 1,018 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 959 in 2007
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG): 248 H-1B visas approved in 2008
Lehman Brothers: 130 H-1B visas approved in 2008
In fiscal year 2007, six of the top 10 visa recipients were based in India; two others among the top 10, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and UST Global, are headquartered in the U.S. but have most of their operations in India, according to BusinessWeek
- The H-1B program, which started in 1990, was set up to allow U.S. companies to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such workers are in short supply domestically.
- The H-1B visa program is currently capped at 65,000 per year, with another 20,000 set aside for advanced-degree graduates of U.S. universities.
USCIS will begin taking H-1B applications for the next fiscal year on April 1 and will distribute the new visas on Oct. 1.
Source: U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS)
Why do Indian companies need H-1B visas - to bring Indians to… India? I am confused.
#2: Indian companies, registered in US, are bringing indians to this country
But if they are Indian companies, why are they registered in the US? Doesn’t that make them US companies? Or vice versa?
This is very confusing!
Why are they opening up H1s .There are so many jobless american engineers in the US where is the need for more h1bs
#3. It’s kind of like the Japanese car take over in the 70’s. But instead selling cheaper cars, India inserts bodies into the U.S workforce that take cheaper wages and give the profits to their Indian companies. Indian workers are not better than U.S workers. Some are good and some are bad like US workers. But the main point is a lot of H-1B’s have fake degrees or some just get a two week training class from Infosys and are sent over to take U.S jobs from people with B.S’s and M.S’s. That’s what we totally disagree with.
Get real guys!! The top 10 doesnt even add up to more than 15k, which is not even 20% of 85k limit. Stop making it look like the only reason h1b existed was for Indians. Get a life!
#5 Why do they need to send Indians work to the US if they take all the profit to India? Wouldn’t it be easier for them just to stay in India and work there and keep the profit there, too? I mean, the US isn’t exactly the cheapest place to keep the workers, is it?
#7 Yeah, that is happening too, it’s both ways.
Ok.. to explain you better, two types of companies from India / China, one is IT Vendors, they place few people at client’s place (for ex. USA) as front end to the business, then 100s of people works from offshore. This is lot of savings and scalability for US business. So, Indian companies need H1B for few employees to place in USA.
Second type of companies are just body shopping, they will have placement service in USA, they hire & sponsor H1B from abroad and send them for a contract of full time position to US employers.
Both the ways, USA companies sees lots of savings… Hope it is clear now.
Friend, Welcome to Globalization… Whole world is one open market now.. Many USA companies are selling products in India and China & 100s of other countries., If everyone decides to not to buy USA products, imagine the situation of US economy… No offense but the reality..
#7 - No that is not cost savings. Cost savings must also increase profit and stock price.
Stock price is down 80% since 2000. The stock is down 57% since 2007. The stock is down today. In the 1990’s the stock price went up.
Clearly,the plan does not work and is not cost savings, it is HUGH EXPENSE and costs companies more for all those legal ramifications.
[...] Indian Firms, Microsoft Top H-1B List [Discussion thread] [...]
Friends,
I saw many people leaving for US on H-1B Visa and working there for year to reach senior positions in their organizations. I know couple of people who are my relatives and a dozen other who are my family friends who are in senior positions in their organizations.
It they were just hired to provide cheap labor, how are they in senior positions now? In the globalized world, there are benefits and pains.
The benefit is that technology and expertise available at once place is easily available and can be used at anyother place of the world.
The disadv is seen when the local people start suffering, like the current layoffs, etc.
I am sure it is not just cheap labor that is encouraging companies to look for expats, but mainly the skills they have and the they bring to the organization.
Imagine there is no way to hire outside workforce. Just take the case of a doctor. If a specialist in a particular area of medicine is required and if the skills are very limited in a country and are abundant in other part of the world. In case some one wants to operated, they need to put in lot of expenses in terms of Visa’s, travel expenses if they want to get it treated. Instead if the professional is allowed to work anywhere in the work, they can be smart enough to identify the place where their skills are short and can move to that places.
Globalization has both benefits and drawbacks..
These days most ppl are looking at drawbacks..
Hope the layoffs disaster will end soon..
It’s a myth that offshoring American jobs saves money for American companies. I worked with a strategic reporting and analytics group at SunTrust Bank, so I got to see all the ROI reports outlining costs and supposed savings. There were no savings. It cost HUGE amounts of money to set up the offshore operations, we experienced very high turnover, dissatisfied customers, and the bank was barely breaking even. When I personally questioned the top person in consumer lending about offshoring via a company wide conference call set up to answer employee questions, I was told they had to do it because everyone else was doing it. Some answer - huh - this coming from someone who was surely making millions of dollars a year in salary, bonuses, and other forms of compensation.
And SunTrust received bailout money — hmmm wonder where it went?
http://www.impactlab.com/2008/12/22/where-did-the-bailout-money-go/
“We’re not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking,” said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.
Orcell - I agree open markets are great for products and services - open boarders aren’t. The H1b program is abused by employers to under-cut wages in this country by bringing in workers from developing nations. I know of 5 people displaced recently by H1b holders from one of the 10 companies listed. One of them was displaced at the end of a contract he had with a small company but was encouraged by the client to apply for a posted job by one of the companies listed above in-hopes of keeping his services. He applied, and was offered a salary that was 40% lower than what he was making for the same work at the same client. When he declined the offer, an H1b empolyee filled the position. The H1b program lacks safegards to prevent this kind of manipulation by large companies who’s entire cost structure is based on importing employees to this country who will work for less. If the work goes offshore - well that’s one thing and I don’t think we can or should do anything about it, but if the work it here onshore, we shouldn’t be dealing with brand-new H1b holders while our unemployment rate tops 8.1%
These Indian IT companies book their H1B visas in advance. I bet out of 4559 visas they received last year, not more than 2000 visa holders would be in USA at any given time. They just send them for 2-3 months in a year and waste the entire 6 year visa limit. This results in the quota being exhausted and other qualified workers not being able to get a visa. They keep the H1B holders in India most of the time and pay them Indian salary.
Offshoring is not just to save money. The US economy is saturated and will not grow at the same rate as before. China and India are growing faster and the potential market there is much bigger. You can continue to harp on the extreme poverty but when the population is greater than a billion, there are plenty of consumers with decent purchasing power. US companies have set up shop in those countries with the expectation that they can eventually tap into the Asian market. Currently, the offshore centers are used to serve mostly US based customers but eventually the focus is going to shift to the local economies. The short term focus may have been to save some labor cost but the long term goal for companies that offshore is to tap into faster growing markets.
from what i’ve seen, Indian companies or engineers have relatively lower innovation. They never take the pioneer to do the challenge things first, yet they can follow your steps well after you’ve figured out the complicated steps or solutions. Then they will try to push out the original contributors out of the loop, making the new field as their own private yard.
You may see many inventors from Europe, Russia, China etc., yet very few from India though they took ~50% H1Bs of the cap
Swiss bank reveals that India has more money than rest of the world
This is so shocking…. ….If black money deposits was an Olympics event…. India would have won a gold medal hands down. The second best Russia has 4 times lesser deposit. U.S. is not even there in the counting in top five! India has more money in Swiss banks than all the other countries combined!
Recently, due to international pressure, the Swiss government agreed to disclose the names of the account holders only if the respective governments formally asked for it.. Indian government is not asking for the details….. ..no marks for guessing why?
We need to start a movement to pressurise the government to do so! This is perhaps the only way, and a golden opportunity, to expose the high and mighty and weed out corruption!
Please read on……and forward to all the honest Indians to…..like somebody is forwarding to you…….and build a ground-swell of support for action !
Is India poor, who says? Ask the Swiss banks. With personal account deposit bank of $1,500 billion in foreign reserve which have been misappropriated, an amount 13 times larger than the country’s foreign debt, one needs to rethink if India is a poor country?
DISHONEST INDUSTRIALISTS, scandalous politicians and corrupt IAS, IRS, IPS officers have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal accounts a sum of about $1500 billion, which have been misappropriated by them. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country’s foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people can get Rs 1,00,000 each.
This huge amount has been appropriated from the people of India by exploiting and betraying them. Once this huge amount of black money and property comes back to India , the entire foreign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt, we will have surplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign debt. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government. So even if all the taxes are abolished, then also the Central government will be able to maintain the country very comfortably.
Some 80,000 people travel to Switzerland every year, of whom 25,000 travel very frequently… ‘Obviously, these people won’t be tourists.. They must be travelling there for some other reason,’ believes an official involved in tracking illegal money.. And, clearly, he isn’t referring to the commerce ministry bureaucrats who’ve been flitting in and out of Geneva ever since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations went into a tailspin!
Just read the following details and note how these dishonest industrialists, scandalous politicians, corrupt officers, cricketers, film actors, illegal sex trade and protected wildlife operators, to name just a few, sucked this country’s wealth and prosperity. This may be the picture of deposits in Swiss banks only. What about other international banks ?
Black money in Swiss banks — Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries :
TOP FIVE
INDIA $1,456 BILLION
RUSSIA $470 BILLION
U.K. $390 BILLION
UKRAINE $100 BILLION
CHINA $96 BILLION
Now do the math’s - India with $1,456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947:
Can we bring back our money ? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind — the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen.
The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear. What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed away abroad into secret bank accounts located in some of the world’s best known tax havens. And to that extent theIndian economy has been stripped of its wealth. Ordinary Indians may not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that go on to govern such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of ‘Swiss bank accounts,’ the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferage from developing countries into rich developed ones.
In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich. In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe.
The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed from some 70 tax havens. Further, augmenting these studies of TJN, Raymond Baker — in his widely celebrated book titled ‘Capitalism’ s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market System’ — estimates that at least $5 trillion have been shifted out of poorer countries to the West since the mid-1970.
It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of the world’s population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing it invariably through these tax havens.
How much of this is from India is anybody’s guess.
If you feel that this mail does not need to be just read, discarded and forgotten, then this is the time to move. Political parties are releasing their election manifestos. Let us cry out in one voice against thiseconomic terrorism and compel all political parties to promise us that they will bring back our National Treasure and restore us to our position as a great Nation.
I am an H1 visa holder like many . There are 2 reasons why H1 are allowed to work in US :
Cheaper work : Greedy companies. Right now we are in a down market ( relatively speaking ) . No sooner the market improves , watch the rise in H1 demands and then just like typing on re-typing on whiteouts ………the laws will be amended by senators being used a company stooges.
Multi faceted and rare Skill resource :
This is the ideal reason why H1 was intended, to fill in those requirement gaps that cannot be filled by US residents.
I believe I fall into the 2nd Category - I have a Masters from US along with 30+ Brainbench + some 12 + Propriety certifications . I believe I fall into the 2nd Category as for the kind of work I do ……for the combination of skills I have , there aren’t many takers. And I NEVER offer my work at wages lower than those that are market and I DON’T remember having a situation where a US Perm resident use to work before me and I walked into this shoes. BUT the opp. HAS ALWAYS OCCURRED. AT THE END of any assignment , I have to do a knowledge transfer to the full timers for the system that I have architected .
If we REALLY WANT TO GET RID OF PEOPLE WHO USE THE visa system for their immigrant agendas, without having what it takes to justify them , THEN THE SYSTEM OF VISA’S MUST CHANGE FROM THAT BEING COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE BETWEEN A SPONSORING COMPANY AND THE APPLICANT TO SOMETHING THAT IS OBJECTIVE WHERE THERE IS 1 LEVEL OF INTERVENTION.
If there is a H1 Visa Aptitude Test that has a verbal component, Logical reasoning component similar to GRE and in addition will access your knowledge in your H1 IT sub-specialty, ALL THE TRASH BAG VISA APPLICANTS WHO MISUSE THE SYSTEM WILL BE STEP BACK.. I would LOVE this kind of healthy competition.
Since most of these skills need detail technical knowledge and thinking these tests can be given in native languages of most of the takers followed by a core English communication test similar to TOEFL the standards of which are pragmatically determined, as a lot of work being done is essentially technically oriented. Also our previous educational background should have NOTHING to do as an asset to H1 qualification, as this kind of exam should be able to ‘measure’ us in and out.
So you can be 10th pass and if you have an excellent score in the aptitude test, your in. That will not only identify you in timely manner as an asset, but it will stir up real competition and the earlier your exposed practically to various life cycle development, better you are at envisioning solutions at a later point of time with the ‘real experience’ . That will ‘fast forward’ everything.
If it takes money, to perform such as assessment, its worth it. This will also reduce the overflowing number of H1 applications and people who deserve to be where they should be would be so .Especially it will, reduce the category of those people who are unproductive manipulators, trying to use some influence & recommendations within their community & within their friend circles projects to get projects. I have seen a section of these type who instead of being resourceful on their work will try outsource it offshore or to their friends, while they move around like rats, trying not to get noticed and choose to go ‘maintenance mode’ most times. One live example of strong community influence will be with those that are Pakistani or Bangladeshi……I have seen THIS GLARINGLY..In many places.. . An actual example Mr Rayeesur Rahman from Labore Pakistan, gets a coveted job position using the influence of a highly placed manager in this company who happens to belong to the same hometown of Lahore. I have never seen Rahman work in the capacity , that he was hired for , and most times, he is smoking out & clubbing and playing hearts online. Well , he got inside the same company another fellow Imran, on the condition..that this person “supports” him, in and out. Imran is just an intern , not even graduated, but Raham has bloated his position to that of a senior with 10 years exp. Well WHO verified that he has the 10 years of exp ? Remember Rahmans boss …the interview was all arranged. THIS KIND OF INSIDER WORK HAPPENS BECAUSE OF THE ABUSE OF “RECOMMENDATIONS” . IN GENERAL ( AMERICAN ) CONTEXT “RECOMMENDATIONS” ARE USED IN good faith when people feel that someone , else greatly deserves some potential offering. BUT IN CASE OF A SITUATION WHERE ONE IS TRANSITIONING INTO AN ENVIRONMENT THAT IS VANTAGED , In terms of pay and work conditions, like this job….RECOMMENDATIONS , SUCH INFLUENCE AND COMMUNITY ‘CARTELLING’ ARE ALWAYS INEVITABLY MISUSED AND IN THIS CASE, AT LEAST 2-3 AMERICANS COULD HAVE FILLED IN THOSE JOBS.
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE FROM MY FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE .
I HAVE SEEN THIS MOST OFTEN WITH CLOSE KNIT COMMUNITIES WHERE THERE IS ALWAYS A “HIDDEN” AGENDA and good example of which is the Islamic Community. More precisely, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. This kind of behavior is the result of insecurity in an openly competitive environment where people feel threatened.
In fact I won’t be surprised that someone has fake posted comments against Indians using those names Raj and Amity.
There SHOULD also be a GC Aptitude test that assesses your overall integrity, and resourcefulness to be a permanent resident of US. As President JFK said ” As not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country” .Especially so when the queue for GC’s is so badly retrogressed, it does not harm giving a carrot, that if you perform within the top 5 Percentile of this exam, your position gets advanced some 5 years, while the rest keep waiting.
This kinda of approach WILL really put things where they should be.
Now coming to Indians being dishonest. Just like US , India too is NOT a parasite country that would depend on others for it resources …well US does exploit other countries to further its business interests but left alone it has enough natural resources to look after itself . Like US , India too has a lot of natural resources but the misfortune , is that the politicians ( to be precise the congress party politicians ) in India will not , have not and are not changing anything for the better.
Most Indians come to US , because they are frustrated with the political system there which works exclusively for minorities and special interest groups. THEY WANT A SYSTEM THAT CAN TREAT THEM WITH THE RESPECT THAT THEY COMMAND, CAN APPRECIAT THEIR WORK AND JUST LIKE THEY ARE RESPECTED, THEY WILL SHOW RESPECT FOR THIS SYSTEM. Most Indians on H1 pay about 30% from their taxes, ( State + Fed + SSN + Medicare ) . They NEVER get back SSN and Medicare benefits and yet contribute to them. If they are really manipulators as people have typified them ….then they won’t have so much contributions to the US Govt as taxes and expect nothing. (unless they have GC which is only like 1-2% of the H1b who manage it)
I hate to be in India because of being so called ‘ Positively discriminated. ‘
So far we have seen general discrimination. in US ..e.g. some country’s folks want a special position by virtue of their belonging to certain ethnicity and other people at large oppose it .
Now just imagine…….for e.g. Bill Gates or Steve Jobs …is discriminated against because
He is White
He is Christian
He has all it takes to Steer that Company .
This is called “positive discrimination” or “reverse discrimination” . The term ‘positive’ is more like an oxymoron for the morons who have created this system. That is discrimination because you are too GOOD AT something. In India the you have to be an Islamic Terrorist or Backward cast person so that the communal and cast govt. can make ‘reservations’ for you in terms of jobs and education.
I come from a country where you can be falsely accused of rape by any women, if she chooses to fantasize it and spend the rest of your life in prison, BUT if you are a ( Islamic ) terrorist and have actually committed acts of terror….the govt. …will acquit you for want of proof.
Hey
They should take your masters away and send you back to India where you belong. You have typed lot
of nonsense. Not even worth for me to answer to your post. Most Indians are cheaters and you know it
very well.
Lawyers in a how-to video: as in how to avoid hiring an American
By Paul McNamara on Tue, 06/19/07
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/16421
See lawyers actively discussing the techniques to “exclude” qualified American workers…..
Lets put it this way, only 20% of H1 visa holders deserve to be in this country, the
remaining needs to be kicked out. As far as ethics concern, these guys (mostly Indians)
have their buddies interview for them over the phone and then they come over this country.
Not trying to be racist, but I have found Indians mostly biggest BS’ers and liars…
#5, I do agree that there may be few fake degrees for H1B, But Infosys is not a training center, It is very reputed company. I worked there before, very ethical. Their hiring process is very best, & they hire very talented people. AND, they sponsor H1B only if the person has at least 2 years of IT experience. It is a fact that US still needs lots of qualified immigrants. These top IT companies are helping US companies to do business efficiently.
US Companies like IBM, Oracle, MSFT hires 1000s of people in India / China and fires in USA. Can you stop that??
That’s what happened to me at SunTrust Bank. I was forced to train my “offshore partner” with Infosys to take my job at the bank if I wanted to get a severance package. We were all told to either cooperate, or be fired. Gotta love globalization - we’ve systematically taken American jobs and given them to foreigners and we wonder how we got into our current economic mess. I’m not saying that this is the main reason where we are today, but it certainly has been a contributing factor, among many other poor decisions that have been made in the past 20 years in this country. What really kills me is that the top wage earners in this country have recklessly put our entire country into a black hole. Yet, you never hear of CEO’s having their jobs offshored due to lack of talent in the US - what a crock of you know what.
Sorry - but I will never, ever believe that America has benefitted from offshoring American jobs. Think about how many people live in this country? To say that there is a lack of “talent” is the single worst insult thrown at Americans. Those of us who are bold enough to seek higher education do so by bringing on an enormous financial burden on ourselves. A financial burden that often carries through the better part of one’s adult lifetime. If companies and America in general think we lack talent, then finance American education so that Americans can obtain the “talent” they seek in Americans. Companies could do what they used to do - bring folks in and offer on the job training and education. I guarantee you there are far more people in America who would love nothing better than to further their education, but are financially prohibited from doing so. Seeking employees outside of one’s own country is a betrayal. Here’s my question that I’ve always asked - what happens when so many Americans lose their jobs that they can no longer be contributing consumers? Do American companies, i.e. banks, think that folks in Baglore are going to conduct their banking business with them in the US? It’s really a very simple question, but clearly illustrates one of the fatal flaws in offshoring American jobs.
Sabbu,
About half of my friends came to the US on an H1b or a student visa. My wife even came here on a visa before she became a citizen. A few nut-jobs aside, I don’t think anyone can argue that the H1b program has benefits and that some of the people are top-notch.
But I dispute your claim that all are in senior positions today - that’s simply not been my experience. Many are - but over the past 5 years, especially when the limit was raised a couple of years ago, the quality of workers declined to where I firmly believe we weren’t bringing in quality employees, but simply cheap labor. Today the consulting work I do has suffered an hourly rate decline of about 30% - part of this is directly realted to the number of technical consulting firms employing fresh-off-the-boat H1b holders who are so green they need training to do their job.
I’m currently lucky to be employed because I have a client who values the experience I bring to my job. But I wonder how much longer as this same client has a contract with one of the companies listed above who employ H1b employees at 60% of the salary of other US citizens I know who do very similar work including me. Now I’ve been training these green H1b holders since that’s part of my job - and some of them will grow into being able to do large parts of my job. But they’ll never see the compensation I see today. And pretty soon - I may have no compensation at all - or will have to work at a compensation package that much lower to put food on the table.
Bottom line is I am one of these US citizens that holds these senior positions and can do this work. And I know many more that can as well. I’m being squeezed simply on cost - not ability. The H1b program is all about finding workers whe we don’t have any - not about saving money at companies - that is what is wrong and that’s why you’re seeing a backlash that could get ugly if the economy gets worse.
Whoops - meant to say people cannot claim that the progam has no merits - meaning the H1b program did at one time have positive benefits.