No change in H-1B “tech” visas is good news for India. Not so much for American workers.
Though President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April to stop “visa abuses” in the skilled-worker program, U.S. officials maintain that it’s business as usual.
“The program is going on as it was. In fact, we have issued more H-1B visas to Indians this year than we did last year,” a U.S. official assured the Indian news outlet NDTV.
Indian workers were awarded roughly 70 percent of the H-1Bs over the past nine months, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
For 2017, USCIS received more than 336,000 petitions for H-1B visas. Via lottery, the agency approved 197,129 applications, including extensions.
The lottery benefits outsourcing firms like TCS and Infosys that flood the system with mass applications for visas for lower-paid information technology workers, largely from India. The Indian “body shops” siphon jobs from Americans, suppress wages and effectively deter U.S. citizens from being trained in tech-related fields.
India’s software industry, a $150 billion-a-year business, depends on the tech visa program to place tens of thousands of programmers and IT staffers annually at stateside operations.
Trump has ordered a review of the H-1B program, suggesting it should focus on the highest-paying, highest-skilled jobs, rather than deciding recipients on the basis of a random lottery. A committee tasked to recommend reforms has been given no deadline.
Immigration lawyers complain that USCIS is requiring more documentation from H-1B applicants. The agency says it has received numerous fraud tips since rolling out its new tip line, but none of the anecdotal cases cited by the immigration attorneys involved Indian tech workers.
Clearly, Trump’s actions fall short of real reform. The flawed, loophole-ridden H-1B program that enables displacement and wage depression of American workers was created by Congress and must be fixed by Congress.
12 Comments
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H1-B Visas to Indians are killing any chance of a white middle class America. FedGov is forcing us into Civil War.
We can train are workers to this type of work. This is just another scam to under
mind are work force and keep wages low.
It is not Trumps fault. I worked at a company that employees many H-1B visas from India. My company did a rush job bringing in as many as they could before Trump took office. I suspect that happened at other companies. Since Trump has been in office, it is has become much more difficult for India folks to obtain a visa to come to the US. Trump is keeping his promise.
High Tech CEOs Had Highschool Diplomas, Ask Bill Gates
Software development is not taught in college anyway, how could Microsoft trade secrets be taught in college?
Its all job experience, so why aren’t NW American high school kids replacing Indians???? They are MUCH BETTER skilled than foreigners at English and culture assimilation….the key to corporate PROFITS.
U r out of touch w reality…..in your generation n time perhaps SwE….not nowadays..
Your are massively incorrect.
If you understood the real n challenging SW development in the Engineering World really u would disagree w yourself. A fact.
Asian countries list as engineers anyone with a couple of weeks training. They have been doing so for decades.
” In fact, we have issued more H-1B visas to Indians this year than we did last year.”
So much for Trump’s claim that because he had not run for political office before he would keep his promises on immigration unlike most other politicians.
You voted for him didn’t you? … so it is your fault.
These numbers are based off times when he wasn’t in office. Gathering this stuff is always 6-12 months after so you can’t see what current situation is having affect