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Reg H1B

 
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hi,

i heard that US is increasing H1B quota to 95,000.I would like to know wheteher this increase in quote will come into picture from dec-2005 or Oct-2006 yr and i heard this will be approved in the first week of december.IS it true.Please let me know.

Thanks
DBK
 
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Hi bharat !

i heard that US is increasing H1B quota to 95,000.I would like to know wheteher this increase in quote will come into picture from dec-2005 or Oct-2006 yr and i heard this will be approved in the first week of december.IS it true.Please let me know.

I read it too, looked like the 95,000 quota bill was to happen.
But another US institution recently opposed this bill. It is even question to get back to previous cap 65,000 H1B a year with 3 years maximum stay only or 2 times 2 years, with very tight check of decent wages to avoid the many abuses :

U.S. House takes different view on H1-B hike : http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=30025&newscat=Top

New bill tightens H-1B visa norms : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1307528.cms

US-based firm penalised for H1-B violations : http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r429418759

One ironical aspect of this new attempt to bust H1B abuses is that it is inspired by Sona Shah's case, an Indian American who lost her job to much cheaper Indians she had to train to replace her (case subject, not my opinion) :

Indian American drafts bill to amend H1-B : http://planetguru.com/Articles/ArticleDetail.aspx?ChannelId=HotTopics&ArticleId=22341

So in total no increase of H1B cap has to be expected. It seems US officials at least want to blast the very numerous H1B abuses, but H1B principle itself is not threatened, simply aimed to become fair again.

Best regards.
 
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I heard there are some positive moves in US House to push
it through.

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20051126-104242-5774r
[ November 27, 2005: Message edited by: S. Palanigounder ]
 
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Southfield, Mich., Computer Staffing Firm Ordered to Pay $5 Million Back Wages and Fines for Alleged Immigration Law Violations


I would have bet no firm had ever been prosecuted by the DOL for abusing H1-B laws.

The Detroit Free Presscoverage differs from that issued by the DOL.

DOL Statement

Is anybody familiar with the Southfield, Michigan local?
 
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failed to pay them the minimum required wage rate in the areas where they were employed



What is the requried wage ?
 
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Minimum wage varies from state to state.
In Washington DC it's $7 per hour.
 
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Originally posted by Amit Saini:
Minimum wage varies from state to state.
In Washington DC it's $7 per hour.



I think you are wrong, it cannot be 7 $ per hour. You are perhaps confused between federal minimum wage and minimum prevailing wages. Minimum prevailing wage is the wage that H1B holders must get depending on the state they are working. Refer to this link for more info.
 
Homer Phillips
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One of the articles said the fine was $400K for 232 employees. So they were supposed to pay $53K and they were paying $35K. That fine works out to be $400K/232 = $1725 dollars per screwed H1-B. On a job that probably had something like a 50% mark-up, a $1725 per head fine sure seems like chump change for a penalty.

People need to roast Senator Arlen Spector of PA.
 
Jay Ashar
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Originally posted by Homer Phillips:
One of the articles said the fine was $400K for 232 employees. So they were supposed to pay $53K and they were paying $35K. That fine works out to be $400K/232 = $1725 dollars per screwed H1-B. On a job that probably had something like a 50% mark-up, a $1725 per head fine sure seems like chump change for a penalty.

People need to roast Senator Arlen Spector of PA.



hmmm... I think I read an article somewhere, where it said they need to pay something like 2.35 million $ for 232 employees and additional 400k $ fine goes to DOL as penalty. I can't find that article right now.
 
Homer Phillips
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According to the DOL, it's not $2.5 Million it's $5 Million. That's the money they were cheating labor out of. The company has to pay back that money to the workers in installments until something like 2014. I don't know if they have to pay interest to the workers. But if I could borrow that much money at a very reasonalbe interest rate, I could in my mind say that was a reaonable cost of doing business.

So it's the old story of it's very cheap to chance it and break the law. The cost of apologizing is minimal. If you don't get caught, your $5 million to the better.

OTH, 200+ souls who slaved like crazy, plus the 200+ that they displaced got screwed big time. What's the signal it sends to people who want to make a decent living in technology? IMO, $35K in the US is a substandard reward for the investment one has make to be a technologist.

With your $5 Million you can take Tom Delay golfing in Scotland. It will be a really bang up day. Cheers.
 
S. Palanigounder
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Does anyone know the difference between H1B and "Guset-Worker" program?
Can IT professionals use "Guest-Worker" program to work in US?
 
Eric Lemaitre
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Hi S. Palanigounder !

Does anyone know the difference between H1B and "Guset-Worker" program?
Can IT professionals use "Guest-Worker" program to work in US?


The newest "Guest-Worker" program is a pure proposal, no official law, and it is likely not to be ever voted anyway as such, so don't expect anything from it. It is probably a casual doomed-by-advance proposal thrown by Bush so as to justify total inaction of present US government because of the neverending disputes it will provoke, a "bone to chew" as one says, because no choice can be made between the 2 totally opposite immigration demands now struggling in US.

I will use exagerate terms so as to emphasize the idea, but present global immigration situation is : on one side K-street lobbies who fund so command political parties want more very cheap unskilled labor for higer profits, on the other side US citizens who elect the same political parties want to totally stop unskilled immigration by very justified fear for unskilled US unemployment. These totally opposite positions are simply impossible to conciliate, for when one says very cheap labour is needed for the jobs US citizens won't accept as wages are too low, the others reply it is the huge pool of very cheap labour available (in clear illegal aliens) which prevents wages rising to acceptable levels.

You will find a daily bunch of completely opposite law proposals about his matter on : http://www.bmlaw.com/NewDesign/ .

In fact the whole US immigration system is screwed, nothing works correctly any longer because the laws are neither any longer enforced or correcty applied :
_ about 10 millions of illegals with scarce ratailation present on US soil, and number of illegal immigrants, increasing each year, has officially overcome the legal ones from last year onwards.
_ tens of billions $ lost each year between tourists who don't cope any longer with heavy USCIS security demands (biometric passports) or students who cannot get F1 visas on time for US universities.
_ no more strongly skilled labour immigration in practice, only average skilled one to feed the bodyshoppers in US because it maximizes profits (strongly skilled have too expensive wages), hence complete H1B forms deposit exhaustion in 1 single day on 1st april leading to official 18 mounths wait for any H1B alien as all US lawyers state on their web site, delay still increasing each year of course.
_ totally unefficient HDS administration which has become totally unable to perform even its more basic tasks swiftly, as Katrina disaster management proved, for the burden of administrative tasks to apply even for the simplest ones has become too heavy, especially because of security screenings. One even saw alien physicians forced to leave US after 6 years as their temporary visa expired because USCIS had been unable to provide them a GC in 2 years while physicians have a priority processing as US national interest because of huge local shortage in hospitals.

So in clear don't expect anything from such clumsy announces as "Guest-Worker" program or any scrap like it which have a pure pre-election political purpose, wait instead for a real serious reform of whole US immigration system which is totally screwed now.
Meanwhile rather rely on one of the 2 remaining official reliable ways to come to US with labour purpose : either through your networking relationships (works for about 1% of strongly skilled IT people), or through bodyshoppers (works for any average skilled IT people). Others unreliable ones are marriage and DV lottery, nothing else in practice.

Best regards.
 
S. Palanigounder
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New development:
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200602031040.htm
 
Eric Lemaitre
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Hi S. Palanigounder !

New development: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200602031040.htm

True, but it doesn't mean anything, I believe nothing may be expected from Bush's statements.

Labour immigration is a highly political matter before a business one, this is why I even won't try avoiding the political side.
IMHO the current trend leading to a very strict enforcement of immigration restriction, confirmed by the most drastics measures ever decided by HR in US history (700 miles fence between US & Mexico, no more DV lottery, smallest 65,000 H1B cap kept, ...), will be confirmed by congress. Of course the real targeted unbearable thing is the illegal immigration with some 11 millions illegals estimated on US soil, and 1 baby out of ten born in US from illegals (anchor babies) which will allow the illegal parents to stay, but illegal immigration will have too a strong mandatory impact on legal one as a colateral dammage. Nowadays middle class US citizens are frightened by the high rate of jobs loss through offshoring and nearshoring, and clearly the illegal immigration mess has become unbearable in US for everyone. Everyone agrees saying the whole US immigration system is totally broken and must be completely reformed, but public opinions' view and business' view are still totally opposed, the former wanting a heavy break of labour immigration, the later on contrary to increase it.

I frankly believe considering present situation that the former trend will win this year, congress will confirm DV lottery end and keeping labour immigration at minimum, simply because if they don't Republicans will be wiped out at midterm elections. Afterwards, when the real impact of immigration restrictions could be measured, the restrictions could be somewhat loosened to compensate. This is why Bush declarations may be totally ignored, with the worst public opinion polls ever Bush may afford loosing all his remaining credibility by lurking business into a possible H1B cap raise while his party prepares to confirm the contrary because he already has almost none left and won't ever be reelected, so he risks nothing on gambling the very few credibility he still has.

We will see quicly which option is kept by congress, but IMHO the most severe labour immigration restrictions will be kept considering present situation, looks logical.

Best regards.
 
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A recruiter tells me that IT labor market is saturated because of H1B.
There is no shortage of skilled IT workers in US ...
 
Eric Lemaitre
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Hi Matt !

A recruiter tells me that IT labor market is saturated because of H1B.
There is no shortage of skilled IT workers in US ...


Despite there is AFAIK a lack of unpartial national estimation of real skilled alien labour needs (all come from private business orgs so are partial), which would be clearly another US gov failure point as this is national interest matter, this statement is very likely true.

Many US organizations such as FAIR (Federation for American Imigration Reform) made such statements as early as 1998, so in full internet bubble area (http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=leg_legislation4cce).

It is probably impossible to defend the idea of of skilled IT shortage since there should be some 75,000 unemployed US IT workers (roughly about twice the french figures, some 37,000 in France), so considering no attempt to evaluate US citizens skills for upgrade, the almost direct hire of so many aliens is probably a total violation of US labour laws. The main reason should be much lower wages for aliens far below prevailing ones (about 30% lower considering some discrete testimonies).

Please note that situation is quite similar in other countries such as France, for despite the reasons and behaviours are quite different, while some 37,000 IT pros are unemployed there many business organizations carry on demanding massive visa caps for skilled IT aliens because of so said IT shortage, same foul statement.

Best regards.
 
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Originally posted by Eric Lemaitre:
Despite there is AFAIK a lack of unpartial national estimation of real skilled alien labour needs (all come from private business orgs so are partial), which would be clearly another US gov failure point as this is national interest matter, this statement is very likely true.



With respect, but who is best qualified to determine what the true "need" for labour is? I would suggest that the people who are interested in hiring them. We may disagree on the reasons for said need, but if employers say they need foreign labor, then that by and large is the case. Again, the reasons for the need may be open to interpretation, but that's another story.

Again, if the H-1Bs were flooding the US marketplace, then you would not see dozens of job ads that clearly state "NO VISA SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE". Our poster might want to start responding to those ads.

Many US organizations such as FAIR (Federation for American Imigration Reform) made such statements as early as 1998, so in full internet bubble area



Keep in mind that FAIR's explicit purpose is to reduce immigration to the US by 65%, and one of their stated goals is to put in an immediate moratorium on all immigration other than immediate relatives of US citizens. I would hardly call them an unbiased source. These are the folks who believe that the next Linus Torvald, James Gosling, or Andy Grove should not be allowed to move to the United States. As an aside, it's pretty interesting to note how few major programming languages or development environments have been created by Americans in recent years. I look at Java, PHP and Ruby - all of which were written by non-Americans, iirc.

It is probably impossible to defend the idea of of skilled IT shortage since there should be some 75,000 unemployed US IT workers



The interesting question is how many unemployed workers are there (not should be), and how many of them are ready, willing and able to work and have the necessary skills? In what field are they?

A long-time AS/400 programmer who believes that Java is incapable of performing database transactions (I worked with one in 2005, not 1995) is an IT worker, but no one in their right mind would hire him to do Java work today. He may be an "IT Worker" but the investment required to retrain him wouldn't make much economic sense.

Again, just because someone is an "IT pro" doesn't mean that all IT jobs are interchangeable, any more so than an unemployed carpenter can work as a bricklayer since they are both "construction workers".

the almost direct hire of so many aliens is probably a total violation of US labour laws.



If you can identify which labor law is being broken, please let us know.

Cheers!

Luke
 
S. Palanigounder
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New development:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/10/MNGV9HLVAE1.DTL
 
S. Palanigounder
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http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/mar/14visas.htm
 
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Originally posted by S. Palanigounder:
http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/mar/14visas.htm


S. Palanigounder,
Is the increase for the current or the next year?
 
Eric Lemaitre
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Hi Pradip !

Is the increase for the current or the next year?

Simply don't take this announce for granted, it is a pure rumour right now, there are many articles stating a real fight is raging about immigration at congress, and the article you stated might be easily a fake promise to lurk lobbies into a possible visa raise, here is one of them :

Congress split on immigration policy

In fact while the industrial lobbies which sponsor the US parties at congress want much more visas which often if not always nowadays target cheaper labour (many studies show that recent H1B wages are in average 30% lower than US citizens, totally ilegal of course but who cares...), the US public opinion is getting really furious against the illegal immigration (half a million new illegals each year, 12 millions illegals in US, ...), hence against immigration in general since the system has become totally rotten after many years of total laxism. This is why HR voted in favour of toughest anti-immigration laws ever proposed in US last december, and the congress may be complied to follow and confirm because of public opinion exasperation. The present disputes about immigration at congress are the fiercest ever, one spokesman said, with totally opposite camps refusing to negociate anything.
The republicans are right now at an historical low in recent opinion polls (I read 31%) while their leader Bush is at 37% only, which makes near midterm elections higly risky for them, so they may confirm HR's toughest immigration restrictions simply so as to keep their jobs. This week, the republicans refused to allow the acquisition of six major US ports premises by Dubai, which shows that the republicans are beginning to counter their own leader's decision, a first hint which shows IMHO they want to avoid any longer to support Bush decisions when US public opinion is strongly against.

Of course this is a purely political point of view, but probably such is the promise of doubling H1B quotas by Bush : he didn't swear it would be done, he sweared he wouldn't oppose it if congress did it. If congress doesn't do it, it is simply an easy and empty word to please Indian government during his trip there, but nothing more. Don't rely on it. As we say in France "political promises engage only those fool enough to believe in them". Rather rely on you and your skills, looks much safer.

Best regards.
 
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Originally posted by Eric Lemaitre:
Hi Pradip !

Is the increase for the current or the next year?

Simply don't take this announce for granted, it is a pure rumour right now, there are many articles stating a real fight is raging about immigration at congress, and the article you stated might be easily a fake promise to lurk lobbies into a possible visa raise, here is one of them :

Congress split on immigration policy

In fact while the industrial lobbies which sponsor the US parties at congress want much more visas which often if not always nowadays target cheaper labour (many studies show that recent H1B wages are in average 30% lower than US citizens, totally ilegal of course but who cares...), the US public opinion is getting really furious against the illegal immigration (half a million new illegals each year, 12 millions illegals in US, ...), hence against immigration in general since the system has become totally rotten after many years of total laxism. This is why HR voted in favour of toughest anti-immigration laws ever proposed in US last december, and the congress may be complied to follow and confirm because of public opinion exasperation. The present disputes about immigration at congress are the fiercest ever, one spokesman said, with totally opposite camps refusing to negociate anything.
The republicans are right now at an historical low in recent opinion polls (I read 31%) while their leader Bush is at 37% only, which makes near midterm elections higly risky for them, so they may confirm HR's toughest immigration restrictions simply so as to keep their jobs. This week, the republicans refused to allow the acquisition of six major US ports premises by Dubai, which shows that the republicans are beginning to counter their own leader's decision, a first hint which shows IMHO they want to avoid any longer to support Bush decisions when US public opinion is strongly against.

Of course this is a purely political point of view, but probably such is the promise of doubling H1B quotas by Bush : he didn't swear it would be done, he sweared he wouldn't oppose it if congress did it. If congress doesn't do it, it is simply an easy and empty word to please Indian government during his trip there, but nothing more. Don't rely on it. As we say in France "political promises engage only those fool enough to believe in them". Rather rely on you and your skills, looks much safer.

Best regards.



I agree to some extent that it is tough to change status-quo in an election year. But with a Republican majority in both the house & Senate and hi-profile lobbying spear-headed by Bill Gates, you can never rule out anything (just like how the oil companies got away with tax breaks last year!)
 
Eric Lemaitre
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Hi Ganpi !

I agree to some extent that it is tough to change status-quo in an election year. But with a Republican majority in both the house & Senate and hi-profile lobbying spear-headed by Bill Gates, you can never rule out anything (just like how the oil companies got away with tax breaks last year!)

Of course you may be perfectly right, but I believe anyway most of the HR bills will pass, for purely political reasons :

_ the republicans face historical low popularity polls at about 30%, their leader Bush even lower for despite he is at 37% the president in place has some 10% at least simply because of his status, so lower than 20% in fact. with such catastrophic public opinion polls in your favor you simply cannot afford pushing for any new unpopular law without facing practical guarantee to lose near elections. This is why I believe all latest HR bills, which are popular, will be confirmed by congress because republicans have no choice, it will be either obeying industrial lobbies or being wiped out at midterm elections.

_ even if the toughest HR laws pass, industrial lobbies have numerous ways to drift them at their advantage, pretending unskilled people are skilled with fake assets (? who really checks ?), opening subsidiaries abroad which will themselves open subsidiaries in US so as to "import" all needed labour under L1 without any quota issue, and so on... So even tough laws won't be any real issue for lobbies, they simply don't respect US labour laws anyway : simply consider this stating

"The Bush administration has weakened enforcement further. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the number of employers notified of possible fines for illegal hires in 2004 was exactly three, down from an already low 417 in 1999"

from Consternation Over Immigration. Don't attempt telling me only 3 or even 417 US companies hire illegals within a whole year, it is of course immensely much more, considering such figures labour law for illegals is simply nowadays ignored in practice.

No offense to anyone, simple opinion, as I am french (so neither indian nor US) I am not involved so try to remain totally partial.

Best regards.
 
Matt Brown
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I'm posting this from WASHTech

http://www.washtech.org/news/industry/display.php?ID_Content=5043

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your Congressperson
Your Senators

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Stop the H-1B Maddness

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I am writing to express my deepest opposition to the immigration reform bill that is currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate. In particular the provisions that relate to the H-1b visa program.

The bill would allow for an unwarranted increase in this program which would result in displacing domestic workers in favor of guest workers, further stagnate and drive down wages and working conditions. It also does nothing to address the ongoing abuses employees face from the program.

Among the most egregious provisions:
-Mandates a retroactive increase to 195,000 from the current 65,000 H-1B visa cap (exclusive of existing exemptions) for the years of 2004-2006, in effect allowing for a one time visa grab by employers of nearly 400,000 visas!
-Increases the 65,000 visa cap to 115,000?a 60% hike!
-Requires an automatic 20% annual hike in the new cap whenever the visas are exhausted, thus establishing a new annual cap for each successive year. This in effect rips the lid off of any meaningful annual visa limitation.
-Adds still another open-ended exemption from the cap for any foreign national that has an advanced degree in science, technology, engineering or math from anywhere on the planet. At least the previous exemption authored by the committee restricted such visas to foreign graduates of U.S. institutions and limited it to 20,000 annually.

Taken together, within one year over 600,000 new foreign professionals could flood the U.S. market, the result of which would be to inflict serious economic harm on highly skilled, well educated American workers. We view that outcome as well as the underlying proposal as ridiculous in the extreme.

The demand for high-tech workers in this country exceeds the current supply, because of the aggressive exporting of jobs by high-tech employers. This bill would only further increase supply at the expense of workers currently working and displaced in the industry.

Furthermore, if a skilled shortage existed, then it would be reflected in wage increases for workers. WashTech recently reported that at Microsoft wages have been frozen in a majority of its pay grades over the past few fiscal years. If Microsoft faced a shortage as Mr. Gates has claimed then employees at his company would be experiencing be seeing that reflected in increases to their pay.

Again, please vote against any immigration bill that would expand the H-1b visa program.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
 
Luke Kolin
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Originally posted by Eric Lemaitre:
So even tough laws won't be any real issue for lobbies, they simply don't respect US labour laws anyway



The problem with "tough" laws is that they discourage legitimate employers while providing no obstacle for those who do not want to follow the law.

H-1B abuses can be eliminated overnight if instead of being employer-driven, the H-1B petition is filed by the alien employee. So long as he or she works in a skilled field or can demonstrate wages over a certain level, they should be allowed to work wherever they want.

AC21 GC and H-1B portability were good steps in this direction - I remember waiting three months for my H-1B transfer to go through before I could start work for an employer. The next time, I waited 3 days.

No offense to anyone, simple opinion, as I am french (so neither indian nor US) I am not involved so try to remain totally partial.



I am Canadian. Therefore I too attempt to remain impartial.

Cheers!

Luke
 
Ganpi Srinivasan
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Originally posted by Luke Kolin:


I am Canadian. Therefore I too attempt to remain impartial.

Cheers!

Luke



Luke & Eric - I am an Indian and I too try to be impartial ! H1B is an issue concerning not just Indians but skilled workers from other countries too! Needless to say it does concern Americans....

My earlier post was done from a strictly political standpoint - as to how house and Senate Republicans in US pass laws that totally defy common-sense. Lobbying is a big deal in DC after K-Street project and with the right amount(!) of lobbying, any US industry can get a bill passed/modified/rejected to suit its purpose. Be it oil, pharma, tobacco or techy, as Eric mentioned corporations always have a workaround for laws!
[ March 22, 2006: Message edited by: Ganpi Srinivasan ]
 
Luke Kolin
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Originally posted by Ganpi Srinivasan:
H1B is an issue concerning not just Indians but skilled workers from other countries too! Needless to say it does concern Americans....



I would agree, but at the same time point out that there are different issues depending on the country of origin. The whole notion of Social Security contributions is irreelvant to me as a Canadian, since we have had a totalization agreement for decades now, the same as most european nations. I'm less concerned about being "taken advantage of" because coming from a First World country (and having lived in the US prior) I simply wouldn't accept a lowball offer. Anyone not born in India or China doesn't face the same immigrant visa backlogs.

I think one problem with the whole non-immigrant worker (not just H-1B) issue is that it's been defined as an "Indian" or "Asian" thing, when a majority of professional non-immigrant workers come from First World OECD countries.

Cheers!

Luke
 
Ganpi Srinivasan
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Originally posted by Luke Kolin:


I think one problem with the whole non-immigrant worker (not just H-1B) issue is that it's been defined as an "Indian" or "Asian" thing, when a majority of professional non-immigrant workers come from First World OECD countries.

Cheers!

Luke



Well said my friend! totally agree with u on that! Narrowing down the issue of non-immigrant workers to "Indian" or "Asian" makes the whole argument murky!

BTW, on a sidenote, being a Canadian do u get to reap the benefits of Social Security contributions u make in the US? Just wondering!
 
Luke Kolin
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Originally posted by Ganpi Srinivasan:
BTW, on a sidenote, being a Canadian do u get to reap the benefits of Social Security contributions u make in the US? Just wondering!



Yes, there is a totalization agreement so contributions in the US can be counted towards benefits in Canada, and vice-versa.

Cheers!

Luke
 
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A new immigration bill was just passed by US Senate. Does this bill increase
the quota of h1b?
 
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