H1B Visa Update & The Issues Ahead For US Companies

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As it currently stands now into May, the USCIS has issued no further update to their April 20 H-1B Visa Update whereby about 45,000 H-1B application have been received along with 20,000 H-1B applications for the US Masters Degree additional quota.

Some are now saying given the slowness of the process that this cap could still be not filled up to the 65,000 H-1B visa quota by September for FY2010. This poses a very real danger.

In 2001, the H-1B visa quota was 195,000 and following the dot com bubble burst, that quota was not filled and a short US recession followed of course with may in the IT sector losing jobs. It was soon after that the quota was reduced to the current 65,000 H-1B visas issued annually level with the later addition of 20,000 for foreigners with US Masters Degree Holders.

At the same time of course the new H-1B visa legislation (and L-1 visa for that matter) which is essentially anti-immigrant in its language and not so subtly seeks to restrict the ability of US companies to hire foreign workers on H-1B visas and L-1 visas.

Chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), said if this proposal passes in the current format then it will have a fairly disastrous impact on the IT sector.

This should give you an idea: the number of H1B visas applications filed by the top-three Indian multi-national IT companies . TCS has reportedly applied for 600 visas, a little less than half of last year’s 1,539 visas. Wipro applied for 1,000 visas this year, compared to 2,500 visas last year. The sharpest fall has been for giant Infosys. It has applied for 400-500 visas for FY09 compared to 4,500 filed last year.

You have to bear in mind this is only 85,000 work visas in total so a tiny fraction of the entire US workforce. For some giant US companies it is not even enough workers to staff just their own entire company. However when giants like this are reducing their intake and H-1B friendly employers like Microsoft are publicly stating their numbers of foreign worker applications to appease bigoted and idiot politicians you there is an issue.

The Founder, Chairman & MD, Head Hunters said “Costs in the immediate short term are going to increase. That is because companies will have to hire more locally, also finding the right kind of talent at the right time is going to be a challenge.”

Industry watchers point out that fewer H1B visas filings could also lead to the shrinking of the H1B visa cap, which at present is at 65,000….similar to what happened right after the dotcom bust when the no of visas shrunk from 195,000 to the present levels.

Over half of the Silicon Valley start-ups were pioneered by foreigners and people like Greenspan called for both a temporary worker program for low-skilled jobs and for an increase in visas for highly skilled workers.

Noting the “very large participation” of undocumented workers in both low- and high-skilled jobs, he said, “if you were to remove either of those groups, the economy would be very much in trouble” and not have any signs of the recovery it is now.

President Obama and the G-20 summit in March stated the US would not become protectionist in their economy but if this H-1B legislation would pass it would do just that as it would essentially restrict the free market and put tarrifs and barriers to hiring talent.

NASSCOM also dispelled the notion that this is not in general a temporary worker program as the average engineer on an H-1B visa spends about 2 years working in the US. Given the taxes they pay, the spending of themselves and often a family plus the skills they employ, the only universal benificiary is the US economy and her citizens.

Of course polticians like Senator Durbin and Senator Grassley would never admit to this!!

An Immigrant’s Actual J-1 Visa Work & Travel Experience

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So many young people from around the world come to the US every year as part of Work & Travel program. Most of them have never been to America and find themselves very excited from the first minute they arrive into the country. So what is so special and unique about Work & Travel program?

First of all, it is the opportunity to see one of the greatest countries in the history of the humanity. I remember how thrilled I was when the plane landed in Washington DC. And even though I still had to switch to another plane (my original destination was Seattle, WA) I could not believe that I officially was in the country of freedom, a country, which was established on the principal of equal opportunities, a country, which produced so many greatest minds.

I read tons of books about America. And here I was in the middle of Washington Dulles airport all overwhelmed with my thoughts and not believing my own eyes. I know for sure that most of Work & Travel students experience the same type of emotions as I did on that day: excited and proud to be in the United States of America.

A week had not passed by since the moment of my arrival as the reality already hit me pretty harshly. Accommodation, which was provided by my employer, was an old piece of junk. For a person, who had traveled around and seen world and stayed at tens of students’ hostels this “apartment” looked like hell: I did not unpack my luggage – I was scared to touch anything in that place.

My job is even worse: a dirty pub, which not only made no money but also had a reputation of one of the most dangerous places in the city. And once again I could not believe my eyes: however, this time questioning myself: “What the hell am I doing here?”

The solution came to me very soon after meeting a couple of other Work & Travel students with similar problems. All of us ended up having the worst jobs, which Americans would never do and all of us wanted a change. Therefore, we moved to NYC. I remember standing in the middle of Times Square at around 10pm on a weekend night all surrounded by hurrying New-Yorkers, thousands of tourists with their huge cameras, busy taxi drivers, tasty Kebob’s smells, dusty air, and of course bright gigantic advertising boards.

That night changed my understanding about America all at once. The next day I found a job very easily and even though I changed my jobs about 5 others times I was the happiest Work & Travel student in the world as I found NYC and MYSELF – ALL AT ONCE AND FOREVER.