
Ask HN: How do I help my Indian coworker get a raise? - ShowMeTheRupees
I have an Indian colleague who is smart, articulate, and very technically capable. His work products are excellent, and he’s a delight to work with.<p>I recently learned that he has not gotten a raise in the time he has worked for our present employer, in spite of his increasing responsibility and consistent good results. When I probed him on why, and why he hasn’t been negotiating for one, he explained to me that he is dependent on our employer for his visa. My understanding is that it’s very challenging to both change jobs and stay in the USA under this visa due to the burden placed on the employer to get this visa.<p>Strategically, that puts him in a really bad negotiating position: ultimate leverage over your employer in this scenario stems from the threat (implied or not) that you might leave. This appears to be a trump card he doesn&#x27;t have in his hand, as he wants to stay in the US.<p>What can I do to coach him to getting paid more? What sort of strategy can he use to show his value and demonstrate his leverage?
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vsskanth
Since you mentioned he is on a visa, there might be a few cases here:

a. He is on an L1 visa, which is highly restrictive (cant change employer).
Here, there isn't much you can do to help until the company converts him to
H1B (after L1 runs out).

b. He is on an H1B visa. If this is the case, ask him if his I-140 is
approved. If it was approved for more than 6 months, he can safely change jobs
without visa running out (new employer needs to sponsor for an H1B, but you
can get indefinite 3 yr extensions). See if you can refer him to your friends
working in other companies, or encourage him to apply for other jobs (since
you think he is good at his job). Once he gets a competing offer, he will have
the leverage to negotiate a raise or move to a new position.

c. He is on an H1B, without an approved I-140. If the company isn't filing one
for him yet or delaying it, he needs to leave ASAP, or he will have to leave
the US after 6 years on his H1B runs out. This is a very stressful situation
to be in. The best you can do for him here is to refer him to another job
where visa workers aren't being exploited.

As another Indian on H1B, I really thank you for your concern for your
colleague. There are so many Indians out there stuck in bad work situations
due to their perma-temp work visa status.

~~~
dudul
Wait that doesn't sound right. Unless H1B legislation changed drastically
since I had one, you cannot change jobs "safely" on a H1B. You can change job
if your new employer files a petition to hire you. This petition is almost
always approved and not impacted by the CAP, but you need it to work for them.

Again, I'm not a lawyer and I was on this visa more than 10 years ago, so
maybe a lot has changed since then. Can you link to official documentation
explaining this?

~~~
triceratops
> This petition is almost always approved and not impacted by the CAP, but you
> need it to work for them.

I'm confused what you mean by "safely". The only way it could be safer than
that is if there were no approvals required from anyone to transfer.

~~~
dudul
While a petition for a worker already in the H1B status is almost always
accepted, there is still a chance that it doesn't work. There is a chance that
it takes a long time to go through (usually a month or 2, but we're talking
about the USCIS here :) ).

I changed employer twice with an H1B, and both times I made damn sure that the
petition was approved before giving a notice (also, back then there was no
official grace period, but I would have done the same).

~~~
eq_sd_
My team hired a Chinese engineer a little over a year ago. It took almost 4
months for them to join after my lead first mentioned giving her an offer.

------
omosubi
This happened to a really talented Indian engineer on my team who was
dependent on the company for her visa. Her work was stellar and she often
worked 60+ hours when the rest of the team worked 40-50 regularly. Our manager
was kind of a jerk who wasn't particularly fond of showing appreciation for
ones work. Eventually I and several other people went to a new manager who was
also Indian (I'm white, fwiw). She moved over a short time later and was
promoted quickly. Obviously not everyone has this option so I would suggest
you do everything you can to highlight your coworker's contributions.

Thank them for their help in standup, highlight their work in your 1-1s with
your manager and tell them that you think this person deserves a raise or
promotion. Tell higher ups that you think this person has been doing really
well, etc. One thing that can be helpful is showing how much work that person
did. In this case she compiled the numbers of how many stories, incidents and
defects she closed relative to other people on her team, which showed her at
almost double the average. Of course this is an imperfect metric and can be
gamed, but having data is valuable. Good luck

------
dccoolgai
You should probably realize how unfair of a position your friend is in due to
how poorly the H1B program is (assuming that's what he's on). Your company can
send him back to India - make him leave the country entirely - on nothing but
a whim. It hurts you, because you are in the same labor pool as him. Buy him a
beer and watch cricket with him. That's about all you can really do. Vote for
candidates who want to end this.

~~~
foogazi
> Your company can send him back to India - make him leave the country
> entirely - on nothing but a whim.

That is not true - h1b holders can switch jobs and transfer the visa to the
new employer

~~~
organsnyder
Assuming the worker can find a new employer willing/able to handle the
transfer.

~~~
srivapal
And H1B/Visa Transfer getting approved.

~~~
dbancajas
This can be done confidentially. The old employer won't ever know you are
trying to transfer jobs. Source: I was H1b in semicon.

------
fsloth
I'm sorry if the below sounds harsh, but even in the best of circumstances, I
can't come up with a better angle on this.

I don't think you are in a position to help your colleague. What you are
suggesting would be a complex task even without the colleague having Visa.

Not complex in the sense that asking raise is complex, but complex in the
sense that you would affect 1. the behavior of your colleague 2. how your
employer values your colleague 3. how your employer assigns raises.

Your message does not give enough context to verify you could "coach" him.
Coaching generally requires the experience of successes and failures in
similar situations. If this is an unfamiliar situation to you, then you are in
no position to coach him.

It's well-meaning, but at the same time a bit condescending to think that you
can assist him by some techniques picked up at an internet forum.

In addition, based on what you told, you don't know if he already has asked
for a raise, and been denied.

~~~
PostPost
"but at the same time a bit condescending to think that you can assist him by
some techniques picked up at an internet forum"

I don't think it's condescending to show empathy for, and attempt to learn how
to help a colleague.

At worst, it's naive, because OP may not understand what a complex
circumstance it can be - but I've worked with a number of Americans who do not
understand work visas at all and have no intention of learning more. It's good
to see OP asking; this industry could use more people looking out for each
other.

~~~
fsloth
I think you are correct, naive would have been a better word.

I was not trying to shame empathy, but I felt it would be cruel not to point
out the difficulty of the situation. "Move fast and break things" does not
apply when you have only one shot.

There are some situations (for example medical conditions) where a simple
checklist approach can provide tremendous value. These are situations where
most of the variables are fairly known, and none of the steps are likely to
have bad consequences.

I don't think there is a good checklist unless someone has been in the exact
position as the friend (same industry, same skill base, same visa, etc) and
can come up with helpfull pointers.

~~~
PostPost
Maybe OP's use of the word "Coach" instead of "help" is not great here, but I
read this as a coworker trying to help an under-appreciated colleague.

I do not think promotions or raises are a "one shot" situation, and I don't
think having an advocate on your team is going to result in bad consequences,
not unless they force the issue or management is truly awful.

As to coaching/checklists - I don't think someone has to be in the exact same
situation to help. Every good coach starts from zero coaching experience, and
it's easy to advocate on behalf of a teammate. I've had a lot of help from
lots of people with different backgrounds, skills, etc. in my career - I would
hate for them to think they couldn't help me because they haven't been in the
exact same position.

~~~
laughingbovine
I think we're trying to avoid a situation where OP's advice to his colleague
will be bad because OP has little experience with the myriad of things that
need to be considered when dealing with job switching on a visa in the US. In
that case, no advice and no coaching would be better.

------
34679
You don't say what type of visa your friend has, but if he's on a H1B, he (and
you) should be aware of the reasons for its existence, and how it's abused.

"The H-1B visa program should help U.S. companies recruit highly-skilled
aliens when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country."[1]

"Examples of H-1B fraud indicators may include:

..There is a wage disparity between H-1B workers and other workers performing
the same or similar duties, particularly to the detriment of U.S. workers.

..The H-1B worker is not performing the duties specified in the H-1B petition,
including when the duties are at a higher level than the position description.
"[1]

The H1B visa was designed to fill talent gaps but has been used to keep wages
down. Your friend isn't the only one getting screwed.

[1][https://www.uscis.gov/report-fraud/combating-fraud-and-
abuse...](https://www.uscis.gov/report-fraud/combating-fraud-and-
abuse-h-1b-visa-program)

------
ab_testing
Actually this is by design. If he has his I-140 approved, that means that the
company has applied for his green card .

Now if the company gives him a promotion and that results in material change
to his job duties, then the company has to restart his green card process .

Usually that implies trying to find an American for the job and convincing the
government that they could not find a suitable candidate and they need to
sponsor him at the newly promoted position.

Also that process for new Gc takes from 6-15 months and about 5-10K USD that
no company wants to spend again for each promotion

~~~
lucasmullens
I'm confused, couldn't you increase pay without changing the job duties?

~~~
ab_testing
Usually companies have bands for pay structures like Jr. Engineer - 80-100K,
Engineer 100-120K. If they need to jump to a differnt band, you need to give
him a promotion.

------
avgDev
I'm sorry to say this but this is how business operates. When an engineer
comes to his manager requesting a raise, they will think how likely the
employee is to leave the company and how much they are willing to increase his
salary to keep him there.

If he is on H1B he will be exploited because his bargaining power is low. If
you are a citizen your leverage is much higher and you are more likely to seek
more.

However, if your friend has not pushed for more, it is his fault. Sometimes,
we must ask for more because honestly it is in our interest. Some businesses
are better at giving raises to their top performers, others are hoping to save
money because some employees will stick around anyway and maybe become lifers.
If an employee delivers and negotiates aggressively during reviews, the
employer knows this and might be more likely to give them annual raises. It is
a game.

~~~
inerte
H1 is bad but if the visa is L1 this situation is worse. You don’t even have
the option to switch employers.

~~~
foogazi
But it’s a different intent visa. L1 is for workers of multinationals being
brought to the US for a specific period of time.

You were already employed in a foreign country and get transferred to the US
division

~~~
rk06
"the specified period of time" can be upto 3 years and can be extended for 3
more years.

It is significant enough to make a difference.

I have a colleague on L1 visa in US. His visa is from Capgemini and so, he
can't even change project due to Visa restrictions

------
returningfory
I'm on a H-1B visa, which sounds like the same visa your co-worker is on.

H-1Bs are permitted to change jobs, and if they are laid off from their
current job they have 60 days to find new employment before having to leave
the United States. Even if they have to leave, they can continue to job hunt
remotely (really hard, I know) and if they get an offer they can return to the
US on the same H-1B (no lottery). In NYC at least, medium to large employers
are very happy to process the H-1B transfer paperwork because good engineers
are in such high demand.

If your co-worker is as good as you claim he is, he should start looking for a
new position. It's not as hard as many people think it is on this status. The
main thing is to get beyond the mentality that you're beholden to your
original sponsor - you aren't.

~~~
dudul
You also need to find an employer that understands how trivial it is to file a
petition for a worker who already has an H1B. It is cheaper than paying a
recruiter and the success rate of getting the candidate is much higher.

------
highhedgehog
Can't help, just happy to hear that you care about your coworker, such a nice
thing to do ;)

~~~
huhtenberg
I won't be so sure. The post reads like someone's describing his own problem
in 3rd person.

~~~
zarmin
You're a delight.

------
pkrotich
Unfortunately this is very common when you're dependent on employer for Visa -
I was once in his position myself... even found out that I was the lowest paid
engineer in the team. My direct manager raised hell and I got a little raise
but the damage was done. I moved on as soon as I got my green card... and
founded my own company, never to be employed again.

~~~
100-xyz
I was also in this situation 25 years ago. I was 25% under the market. During
the green card process, the visa official reviewing my application made the
comment and they raised my salary! That's the world - people will screw you if
they can.

------
jogjayr
It largely depends on the actual visa your colleague is one. I suggest you
learn more about his situation - it might be informative in understanding his
worldview.

If he's on an H-1B there's only one thing _you_ can do for this particular
coworker. Help him prepare for interviews and get a better job offer. He
should be able to have his work visa transferred over to the new company in
5-6 weeks. There's no reason he can't ask for a raise too. I've done it, on an
H-1B, and sometimes I've gotten it. No one's going to fire a good performer
for asking for a raise, especially if the job market is good. But some people
find that too confrontational - getting a better offer is easier, in that
case.

(BTW, if the company is underpaying him, I'd encourage you to shop around a
bit too. Maybe you aren't at market rate either?)

If he's on an L1 visa (i.e. transferred from an overseas branch of your
company, rather than being hired directly) then I don't know if there's much
you personally can do for him. He has to find a new job that pays more money,
applies for an H-1B for him, and is willing to wait until October, which is
when it starts. Or he can ask for a raise - see above.

If he has an I-140 in process, it's possible he wants to stick around until
that's done (although what's the rush really? Indians applying today won't get
a green card for 40+ years at current rates). If the company isn't doing that
for him, or if it's already done, he has no real reason to stay.

~~~
dudul
> There's no reason he can't ask for a raise too. [...]. But some people find
> that too confrontational - getting a better offer is easier, in that case.

Wait what? That's an interesting take because I think the exact opposite. I
find that showing up at your manager's desk with an offer in hand is way more
confrontational than just asking for a raise. Asking for a raise is cheap, it
takes 15 minutes. If it's denied you can start a conversation around goals,
how to get there, etc.

Showing up with an offer means that you already spent hours finding a new job
and you're basically coming to the table with an ultimatum.

~~~
triceratops
I think that means "get a better offer and leave". Ultimatums are considered a
bad idea regardless of what your visa status is. For a person on an H-1B it's
basically impossible because they can only make demands after their visa
transfer is successful. But if they were to stay at their current employer
after having a visa transfer approved, the other company is going to be
(rightly) pissed off - not a smart move.

------
social_quotient
I would think the person should ask for a raise or maybe what would need to be
done to get a raise. I don’t see how the visa status needs to play in to good
old expectation setting. The boss might say “never” or they might surprise
both of you and have a real reason. Something wild like, we barely meet
payroll obligations now and we know we can’t lay you off without you getting
booted from the country so we pay you less to ensure your long-term employment
here... not sure but as a general rule don’t pretend to know why someone else
doesn’t get a raise. The reality can be surprising (good or bad)

Next you should advocate for the outcome you really want. “Fair and equal
treatment of our visa employees”. This you can champion without getting ahead
of yourself. I tend to find that pushing for the principle can be better than
the specific instance. If you win, you accomplish more than your original
intent and you’ve done humanity and your workplace a good deed. If you lose,
you can sleep at night knowing you tried.

------
Pfhreak
One thing that I don't see in the comments so far is pushing for collective
bargaining or unionization. If workers are all looking out for other workers,
you can establish salary minimums and make this sort of behavior unacceptable.
Standing up for your coworkers is noble, and collective action is a great way
to achieve that.

------
galacticaactual
Frankly, he needs to just ask for one. If denied, he should ask what
milestones he should hit to get one. All this pontificating about
unionization, visas, etc is noise as it pertains to the core of your question.

~~~
bsanr2
That's easy for you to say. Essentially, his ability to stay in the country
rests on being well-liked by his employer. We have no idea if they're in any
way vindictive or otherwise looking for a reason to push him out.

~~~
galacticaactual
It’s not easy for me to say. It’s predicated on decades of going through the
gauntlet myself.

You’re correct. We have no idea where the employer stands, because he hasn’t
taken any action to find out.

------
nojvek
L1B and H1B are restrictive visas. When you change jobs life is difficult.

This gives employers a lot of leverage to overwork and underpay.

I feel sorry for your friend because I was in that position in Microsoft. Once
I got my green card, I got a 75% raise by going somewhere else.

My advice would be for him to talk to his boss and explain his case. If the
company really wants him then they’d give a raise.

It’s really hard to get raises at an existing job. That’s been my experience.
Sure they’d level you up, but % increase is pretty meh. Switching jobs usually
results in a higher % compensation.

------
alakky2
He needs to find a leverage. Start looking out and find a job which will
transfer his Visa. That will help him to know his market value and gives
options to ask for raise or join new company.

------
Ididntdothis
Ask him if he has even asked for a raise. A lot of people negotiate in their
heads against themselves to the degree that they don’t even ask. In a lot of
companies you won’t get a raise if you don’t ask but you will get a raise if
you just ask. He won’t get fired for asking. Worst case that can happen is to
hear “no”.

------
peterburkimsher
There might be managers reading this thread who want to help, but can't offer
a higher salary/different position for visa reasons.

Compensation does not have to be financial. As a foreigner, simply getting to
live in the country I chose is already a form of reward.

Other things that would make a huge difference to the lives of immigrants like
me are payments for things like children's education, healthcare, or permanent
contracts. If money is too short, consider allowing them to have more time off
to spend with family, or on side projects. Many people move country for more
important things in life than money, and therefore some immigrants don't even
perceive getting a "raise" or having "career progression" as a goal: instead,
it's all about providing a better, stable, future for a family.

------
chin7an
Asking for a raise in a tactful way is something only your friend can do, best
you could do is coach him.

That said, if you think that's never happening at your employer, then they
have some options IF they're here on an H-1B. IANAL & I don't know anything
about other visas either.

If your friend has a degree from a reputable US school and your employer is
also reputable, they should have no trouble finding a new job and transferring
their visa. GC applications may be redone as well, with the caveat that you
don't hit H1 renewal after your previous employer revokes their application
and the new one is approved. You could help coach them for interviews and with
referrals, but that's about it.

There are risks involved in all these steps of course, so weigh the current
salary with potential rise.

------
spuz
The best chance you have to help him is if you become involved in the hiring
process. Is your company currently having trouble finding quality workers? Do
they they pay through the nose to recruiters for new placements?

If your colleague were to ask for a raise and imply that he'd be willing to
leave the company without one (no need to commit to anything in a
negotiation), and your company cannot identify the value he is providing then
they may be persuaded by considering the cost of replacing him. If you are
involved in the hiring process and explain how difficult it is to find quality
candidates and how expensive the good ones are then that might help the
company see that giving him a raise is the cheapest and lowest risk option.

------
mcv
I would suggest that you talk to your manager and point out the excellent work
your colleague has been doing and what a valuable team member he is. Tell the
manager your colleague deserves a raise even if he's reluctant to ask for it
himself, due to circumstances.

------
zaptheimpaler
\- He should understand his position carefully. There is a 60 day grace period
between leaving an H1B and not needing a job. There are further tricks to get
even more time. Push him to _really_ understand his legal situation by reading
the law carefully or talking to a lawyer who understands this stuff well.

\- He can always search for a better job while employed.

\- Leverage is like poker. The facts are only half the game.

\- Although he can minimize the impact, it will always hang over his head as a
migrant unless he gets a citizenship. It might be worth seriously considering
other countries that offer much faster & secure routes to green
cards/citizenship.

------
smt88
Your coworker can and should ask for a raise. Your boss may say no, but no one
gets fired for asking for a raise.

Either way, you should limit your helpfulness here. I understand how you feel,
but your coworker's pay and your boss's desire to pay him are not your
responsibility.

You will work with many underpaid and overpaid people in your career.
Underpaid people will teach your kids and pick up your garbage.

If you want to help your coworker, put the energy into systemic change
(donations, political activity, voting) rather than trying to take the
steering wheel of his career. It may be less welcome than you assume (or he
lets on).

~~~
LeifCarrotson
Strongly disagree with this attitude, enough to think you may be trolling or
playing devil's adovcate - please explain if not.

> _Your coworker can and should ask for a raise. Your boss may say no, but no
> one gets fired for asking for a raise._

H1B visa abuse does result in people getting fired and their visas dropped for
asking for a raise. No one will say that outright, but other reasons can be
found after someone disturbs a stable situation.

> _Either way, you should limit your helpfulness here. I understand how you
> feel, but your coworker 's pay and your boss's desire to pay him are not
> your responsibility._

People should absolutely work together to help each other. If someone is being
harmed because they lack protections or abilities that you possess, and you
have the ability to remove or reduce that harm, I feel strongly that you have
a moral responsibility to help.

> _You will work with many underpaid and overpaid people in your career.
> Underpaid people will teach your kids and pick up your garbage._

Don't confuse the way the world is with the way the world ought to be.

> _If you want to help your coworker, put the energy into systemic change
> (donations, political activity, voting) rather than trying to take the
> steering wheel of his career. It may be less welcome than you assume (or he
> lets on)._

Do both. It's true that this local situation is the result of larger systemic
factors, but and individual has little power to make systemic change and great
power to make local changes. You can't "Take the steering wheel of his career"
but you can assume your coworker is being honest if he's asked for your help
and be intentional to publicly compliment the good work he's done with the
goal of being his advocate where he cannot do that.

~~~
Ididntdothis
“H1B visa abuse does result in people getting fired and their visas dropped
for asking for a raise. No one will say that outright, but other reasons can
be found after someone disturbs a stable situation.”

I have never seen such a thing and never heard about it happening. I have only
heard about people being afraid of it. But if your company really does this
kind of stuff it’s time to look somewhere else. it will be a miserable with
H-1 or without. And it’s very possible to change jobs H-1. Especially in big
companies it’s not a big deal.

------
yumraj
1) first of all thank you for even thinking about this. In an environment of
general negativity you even thinking about this is greatly appreciated.

2) the best course of action is for that person to look for a job, get an
offer and then decide if they want to stay here and negotiate. If they have
green card in processing, there are kinda SOL

3) as some others said, he should still ask. I'm a strong believer in: if you
don't ask the answer is always no.

------
jpm_sd
Next time you're offered a raise, ask your boss to give it to him instead.
Raises aren't quite a zero sum game, but there is a shared budget for them.

------
gnopgnip
There is a lot of discussion on the visa aspect, but not as much on the
general advice relating to raises and promotions. Is he currently under paid
for the position and responsibilities relative to others in the company? Or
more generally to the market at large?

Another tip is to take credit for the work that makes a difference to the
company, and in the bigger picture to be doing work that matters.

------
Turing_Machine
Does your friend already have a master's degree? I understand the visa
situation is somewhat better (though still not great) if you have an advanced
degree. If he could pick up his master's degree on a part-time basis, that
might help some, both with the current employer and with potentially getting
work with a different one.

------
srndh
I appreciate your effort and I am just sharing a piece of information I have,
in the hope that it will help you strategies a good plan of action. I don't
mean to discourage you with my comments.

I was speaking to an Indian guy who now has is US passport & good job in NYC.
He came to US on an on-site assignment with TCS. He said that this is how TCS
& all Indian companies work, IT companies in general.

When hiring fresh graduate(beginning) in India, the first requirement to start
working is a passport. Then the chance of on-site is the carrot that they
(company) uses to squeeze. If the managers sense that you are close to giving
your papers to resign, they will say that you are in the top list. Plus these
companies flood the h1b system with applications of all their employees.
Basically the companies need a carrot to whip the employee and the ultimate is
a green card, after which the employees are free and is a matter of time
before they quit. If you are that valuable to them, then you they pay you well
to keep you. So, the companies do everything to delay the green card process.

So, this is the system that he gamed to get his freedom and now his brother is
close to getting his green card at Infosys.

This is the game.

------
throwaway13000
It depends on whether the person is on L-1 visa or H-1 visa. If L-1, I can't
help. But if its H-1, In all probability, the guy is just afraid of
interviewing outside. As someone mentioned below, changing job is tough but
not very tough.

Please tell them to seek outside jobs.

------
dv35z
Very happy to share what worked for me, when I had a close Indian colleague
who I felt was underpaid/under-appreciated.

Context: This is a technology company (3k+ employees) which offers a SaaS
product to enterprise customers. I was part of the customer-facing account
team (think: sales person, solution engineer, professional services team, and
support team). The support team was often located in "low-cost centers" (such
a euphemism!), such as India. My Indian colleague was on the support team,
where often they would spend long amounts of time diagnosing customer issues.
I was a solution engineer / "CTO for the customer" / technical account
manager-type role.

After some informal phone calls & chats with my Indian colleague, I found out
that he wanted to work more closely with the customer as a solution architect
capacity, instead of just performing a more reactive support role. I was
really excited to help him pursue this dream.

Here's some of the the advice I'd offer to others on how to help "level up" an
undervalued overseas colleague:

* Have regular 1:1s with people you find valuable, from all over the organization. In this case, I spent several 1:1 meetings with my Indian colleague, getting to know personal information (what area of India he was from, what the food's like, what's the work-life like, what do you do for fun - soccer, etc). This helped ME build up empathy for who he is, who he wanted to be.

* Find out unrecognized skills — I found out that my colleague used to tutor other students on math & science when he was in university, and loved mentoring people, and was pretty good at ad-hoc presentations. I found out that our company often performs customer-facing classes about our products, to teach customers how to get the most out of the stuff they bough. My colleague was already so familiar with the product at a technical level, so I just had him practice presenting to me in a coaching session, where I'd pretend to be the customer. Later, I had him present a very focused topic to one of my trusted customers (it was something like, "Top 10 diagnostic tips, tricks & tools for Product X" \- showing off the various debug tools, logs, etc available). The customer LOVED it, and actually recorded the session to share around the company. I asked my customer to send me email containing feedback about my colleague's presentation. I got glowing feedback from the customer, which I forwarded to a large internal distribution list - "Check out this awesome presentation Support Engineer X did for Big Customer Y!" (+cc'ing my colleague's manager). The email thread got lots of good attention from "high visibility" people like sales & management, who are happy to see examples of people "delighting the customer". If you think about it, these people are 99% of the time dealing with the fall-out from issues, support escalations, and so on. Positive vibes are a welcome refreshment!

* Develop & be recognized fro subject matter expert (SME)-like skills: Several of my customers were concentrated in a specific customer vertical (e.g. "Media", vs "eCommerce"). My colleague didn't recognize it at the time, but he worked primarily with several large customers which were all in the same customer segment. As a result my colleague was very knowledgeable in a couple product areas specific to that customer segment, and that segment's challenges. I setup some internal "lunch & learns" where 2 people would present some of the use cases for which their customer is using a product, and share out any advice, gotchas, etc. For my presentation - instead of traditionally having the customer-facing solution engineer discuss the technical parts of the presentation - I asked my Indian colleague to co-present with me. When presenting, I would deliberately defer to my colleague for certain areas - to reinforce credibility & trust - but I also had him present the "advice & lessons learned"-part. Afterwards, he got SO MUCH positive feedback from internal folks. I made share to socialize & forward on this feedback around - greatly increasing the visibility of my colleague's name, way outside of his immediate group. From that point on, my colleague was known as an expert in that area, and would commonly be hit-up to answer questions, do presentations for other customers, etc.

* Be recognized as a human being. This might sound obvious, but the unfortunate truth is that in many USA-based technology companies, overseas colleagues can be pretty invisible to the "home office". They are often deliberately hired because their salaries can be lower; they are not physically present in the main offices where informal chit-chat occurs; culturally, there may be barriers like English language fluency, or even the spelling/pronunciation of their names. I made a point to learn how to pronounce my Indian colleague's name (and he even offered a "Westernized" nickname which he liked, which sounded like a cool rapper's name, so we just rolled with it!). In our team, we often had to go onsite with customers ("customer business reviews) - what we're working on, how the product is being utilized, etc. I made a point to include a "Your Team" slide - and it included the names AND PHOTOS of the members of the team aligned with the customer. Instead of boring corporate photos, I included photos with actual personality (e.g. my Indian colleague scaling a rock wall, or him and his family at a birthday party in India). These photos would always invite questions & comments from the customer, and my colleague would get some air time to talk about themselves. Really helped the customer get to know them (and avoid the pejorative, "get me someone who actually speaks English" attitude), and built trust both ways.

* Get endorsement from the people with the money. There were times when there were staffing changes, which might result in a customer-aligned support person to be moved to another customer. I would often give my customer a heads-up that there might be changes to the staffing - and I'd tell them, if you feel strongly about keeping Person X on the team aligned to you, please send me a "strongly worded email" asking to keep the person on your team and why. This would often result in the customer explaining how important person X is to their company, the impact they had to their business, etc. Very good stuff for internal managers to see.

THE RESULT

OK, so I've accidentally written a novel here, and you might be able to te
tell I feel strongly about helping raise my colleague up. So what actually
happened?

* I asked my Indian colleague to help out with a small professional service project for a customer, paired with a senior person advising along the way. This was outside of his typical role, and was OK'd by his manager (I made the sales person ask it, so it was more "unrefusable"). The project went very well, and again got great feedback from the customer.

* An "associate" solution architect role req opened up. Originally it was just for employees located in USA, not remote-friendly. I successfully petitioned that we TRY to do it as a remote-only position, and have my Indian colleague try it out for 6 months, and work with customers who already know & trust him. It worked great. As a result, my colleague got a job title change and a very SMALL pay increase. But since he was on the "revenue generating" team now, he got tons more visibility around the organization - his name was tied to various "high-five" emails and such.

* About a year later, a solution architect position opened in Boston - again, not remote-friendly. I asked my colleague if he'd be interested in the job & relocation - he said VERY INTERESTED, but that from his experience in India, it was nigh unheard of for the company to do that kind of transition. I made a point to speak to some of the highest level people I could find - basically telling the story of this skilled person who's personally recommended by some of our most strategic customers, who's looking to relocate for this role. "What can we do to endorse this move and make it happen?" I actually challenged an executive, I bet you can make this happen. It turns out, we got attention from enough of the right folks, and we were able to hire him in (along with all the legal / H1B stuff required for that) to the Boston slot. He got a huge salary increase, moved to Boston with his wife. I don't work at the company any more, but I stay in contact with my former colleague. He's super happy, and just checking out his Facebook photos, it looks like he's really into snowboarding & microbrewing now :)

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tathougies
You can't do it. If your employer raises the wage, they'd rather hire an
american, because it's easier. You can advocate for sensible immigration
reform or for a stop to the H1B program which creates a permanent underclass
of workers.

~~~
rcfox
Is it still easier after they've hired the person?

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anonsivalley652
Individual initiative doesn't go very far because business isn't a worker's
meritocracy. What would go further would be you and your coworkers walking out
until your colleague gets a raise. Watch how fast it happens.

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known
H1Bs are no different than
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slaves)

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pnako
He doesn't have any leverage, that's the point of his visa.

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tehlike
Is that a faang company? How about greencard status, is thst underway?
Different companies offer help for transfer, so if you are in the bay area
getting a competitive offer might help still.

~~~
HarryHirsch
Are you aware how long a Green Card application takes to be approved, and that
you cannot switch employers once the application is underway? Take some time
to talk to your colleagues from abroad and learn how fucked up the system
really is.

~~~
jogjayr
You can switch employers 6 months after the I-140 is approved, which may take
6-18 months start to finish. A new employer will have to file a new
application but can reuse the priority date (the "place in line") from the
previous application.

~~~
HarryHirsch
You mentioned the rub yourself, the new employer will have to file a new
application. HR will use the fact to their advantage.

~~~
jogjayr
For Indians it doesn't matter that the new employer has to file a new
application. Indians starting the employment-based GC process face a 40+ year
wait to get a GC. If this company doesn't file, the next one you work at will.
Or negotiate the filing as part of your job offer.

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BurningFrog
I guess the obvious needs to be stated:

If he hasn't even asked for a raise, that is the first thing to try.

Until that conversation has been had, nothing else matters, and he/you know
nothing about the situation.

~~~
muzani
It's usually good to have some leverage to ask for a raise. If they don't
normally give raises without anyone asking, it's unlikely they'll approve it.
It also flags to the employer that this employee may be unhappy and to start
looking for a replacement.

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hkon
Hey you know what you can really do to help your friend? Work hard and become
his boss, then give him the compensation he deserves.

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confidantlake
I don't think you can. The entire point of h1b is for employers to bring in
cheap labor.

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dominotw
you are assuming his visa issue is a bug, its a feature of h1b.

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codingslave
Why does it matter that hes Indian?

~~~
jrowley
It’s very relevant because he’s dependent on visa sponsorship by the employer
and being Indian makes his visa sponsorship more challenging than if he were
from another country with fewer people emigrating to the US.

~~~
newyankee
It also makes the difference in the sense that the wait list from H1B to Green
card is the toughest for Indians (and probably Chinese) compared to other
nationalities due to the 7 % limit per country in terms of granting Green
cards.

I think the wait for the lowest priority EB3 is like ~150 years as of now ?

I came back to India after working in USA on an H1B for 6 years due to the
uncertainty. I do miss working there but not much can be done unfortunately.

We cannot do much that we are 1/6th of the world population , hopefully Green
card limit will be raised at least to the proportion of the country's
population (or some other logic that makes more sense). I have known a few
people from Nepal and Bhutan working in easier jobs who are well settled there
now. They got the green cards because they are smaller countries. Nothing they
do is really high skilled but then these things can get subjective so i do not
want to wade in that debate.

It took me 2 years to really negotiate my first salary raise and it was not a
lot either.

~~~
zombieprocess
Could you please talk more about your experience of moving back especially
after 6 years of tech in US?

~~~
newyankee
Not exceptionally good, now thinking of migrating to Canada. But that is
because i do not have a big social circle, finding it difficult to get married
in India too and just love nature and clean air a lot. It is the small things
that make it difficult for me, the driving, the commotion but some people
thrive in that scenario.

It is really a YMMV situation though. I know rich folks have some advantages
in India (nannies, drivers, social status etc.) that they do not get easily
outside. I do not think it is easy for someone who is introvert to adjust
although big cities have changed a lot.

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wolfpwner
I think the best option is to switch to a high paying company. Also, as an H1B
visa holder, I don't think I'm underpaid according to levels.fyi. So it
depends on the company.

