
Why Silicon Valley Is So Nervous About H-1B Reform - giis
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2017/02/03/why-silicon-valley-is-so-nervous-about-h-1b-reform/#309bafe46648
======
WildUtah
70-80% of H-1Bs are migrant server coolie workers for ultra-cheap mass labor
camp shops. The Silicon Valley companies see the entire quota eaten up by
those el cheapo slave drivers.

With a real salary floor, the qualified engineers that serious companies want
to import will find it much easier to obtain spots under the quota. The low
wage cheaters will be cut out of the lottery and productive businesses will
get those slots instead.

It's probably the best thing that could happen to companies that want to
import actual qualified smart engineers from overseas.

~~~
iraphael
Which is why I'm left wondering, why is it that "Silicon Valley Is So Nervous
About H-1B Reform". Unless the headline is simply clickbait, I don't think the
question was answered...

~~~
advisedwang
What the article was moving towards - but never actually said - is that there
is a fear that reform will "throw the baby out with the bathwater". For
example rather than fixing the rules so that spots go to the right people,
changes may just reduce the overall number of visas.

~~~
nyxtom
Given the approach to the new administration, seems like the generic solution
will be to just reduce the number of visas (ahem after revoking 100,000 of
them).

------
giis
Indian IT companies need to stop using H1-B visas: Narayana Murthy [1]

He said " Our managers will have to learn with non-Indian professionals, how
to get the best out of them, how to work in teams that are multi-cultural, how
to make sure that we understand the rules of crossing cultures,”

\--

I see this as "Its hard to find slaves from other-countries. I know lot of
Indian IT professionals _hate_ their managers. Because they treat them as
'slaves' and force them to work for +9 hrs day regardless of work is there or
not. I bet his (Infy or others body-shopping) managers can't do the same to
non-Indians"

[1]
[http://www.livemint.com/Industry/VtFnghv7Wqu6r5J7M9n3EN/Indi...](http://www.livemint.com/Industry/VtFnghv7Wqu6r5J7M9n3EN/Indian-
IT-companies-need-to-stop-using-H1B-visas-Narayana.html)

~~~
mavelikara
> I bet his (Infy or others body-shopping) managers can't do the same to non-
> Indians

The root cause is not their nationality, but their immigrant status. With a
setup where the employee's stay in the country is tied to her job, abuse will
always happen.

~~~
giis
I agree on the immigrant status point of view. But when the abuse happens in
their own (India) country too. I suspect there is much larger problem -
mindset of IT Managers.

------
purity_resigns
A lot of the diversity data that companies have put together recently doesn't
show the magnitude to which companies depend on non-citizen labor.

~~~
supercanuck
most of them are coming in as contractors via 1099. The Customer (Amazon,
Microsft et al) see it as an invoice and may be paying a market rate, but the
H1-B sees very little on the W2.

I have witnessed two companies simply cut an entire IT Department (The Run, or
Support Org) and insource/outsource it.

------
cognizant10k
Too bad the ultimate client for these "body shops" isn't listed. Would bet
that's heavily represented by those in the fortune 500. I can think of at
least one company in the top 10 that is not going to benefit from paying a
rate that will support 130k/yr salaries.

------
notfried
Why does Infosys and others employ so many in the U.S.? That $70k they pay per
developer could probably cover several in India!

~~~
tristanj
It might help a bit to explain their business model.

Infosys (and similar companies) flood the H1-B lottery system with tens of
thousands of applications. They bring those who win to the U.S. where Infosys
contracts them to U.S. companies in development, onsite techsupport/IT, and
various lower cost roles. U.S. companies pay Infosys a premium to contract
these employees.

Infosys is in the market of selling people. They are gaming the system, and
making it harder for high paid talent at Google/FB/Apple to get H1-Bs.

------
analbeads
If money isn't an issue, then surely they won't mind a higher salary
requirement. $130k is reasonable for the greatest tech talent in the world,
right?

~~~
acchow
Actually, the top companies in the Bay Area are paying _dramatically_ more
than $130k, so they wouldn't mind.

~~~
bhgraham
That was my immediate thought when I heard about this. Raise it up to at least
250k if you really want it to get back to being a program for the truly
unreplaceable talent.

