The problem with predicting how the H1B visa program may change in a Trump administration is that there are a lot of political and economic variables in play. One important development that is getting news coverage is the possible appointment of Senator Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General.
Senator Sessions has been an outspoken critic of the H1B visa program due to some of the abuses by either outsourcing firms, or companies that hire foreign workers and displace US citizen job holders. So, how will the appointment of Sessions influence the future of the program? Here are the possibilities:
Issue 1: Overuse of the H1B Program by Large Consulting Firms
Consulting/outsourcing firms such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy (both based in India, a hub for IT workers) have been at the top of the list of number of H1B visas secured each year. Further, the top 10 recipients (sponsors) in 2015 were all outsourcing firms.
This issue is a priority for Senator Sessions, since he introduced legislation last year to restrict outsourcing companies from using the program to sub-contract foreign labor.
It is highly likely that this is one change we can expect: either limited or complete denial of outsourcing firms to sponsor H1B visas.
Issue 2: Offering Lower Pay to Foreign Workers Than a US Worker
A related issue is the rate of pay offered to foreign workers compared to US workers with similar qualifications. One proposed idea that could appeal to the Trump administration is to only award H1B visas to the companies that offer the highest salaries. This could allow elimination of the lottery, since firms simply looking for cheap labor would find themselves shut out of the program by simple economics.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, also founder of Fwd.us, is calling for an H1B minimum wage that is higher, and also suggests giving companies that help workers obtain green cards priority to obtain the work visa.
This is the type of direct and supportive work relationship that could be the highlight of a future H1B visa program, and we can expect tech jobs will still be available for qualified applicants being sponsored directly by companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
Issue 3: H1B Visa Fraud
There are a few well publicized convictions of H1B visa fraud, but less known is the fact that Infosys, one of the chief outsourcing sponsors, settled a visa fraud case in 2013 for $34 million. Any Indian IT workers that feel they may be unfairly singled out with the new Trump policies, have to consider the fact that one of the largest sponsors of H1B visas also actively defrauded the USCIS and violated program requirements.
The Trump administration will not be a friend to the IT outsourcing industry’s attempt to circumvent H1B visa laws. We can expect cases like this to prosecuted aggressively if Senator Sessions becomes Attorney General, no matter what new program restrictions are in place.
The Bottom Line: Apply to Sponsors Offering Full, Direct Employment and Avoid Outsourcing Firms
It appears the days are numbered for outsourcing firms that hire H1B workers and then contract them out. This is the kind of abusive practice that the Trump-Sessions partnership would probably curtail completely. But that should be good news for IT workers in particular, who will no longer have to worry about being ‘benched’ or denied the full pay promised for their H1B positions.
In the future, an H1B visa could only be offered at high rates of pay with committed sponsors, and could be a well-established path to obtaining a green card.
- November 28th, 2016
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hey, i am arifur rahman from bangladesh, please tell me if i can apply this visa program,
Hi Arifur Rahman
Please share your Resume ,i will suggest u the H1B Visa program .
Hello ..
I’m Mohammad Abdul gafoor .from India .. I’m working in a company (software) from last 2 years .i to wanted to apply for h1b visa program. Plz help me !
Why do you want to leave Bangladesh,such a nice place and work in USA.
Bangladesh citizens are easy for apply for lottery GC and get with less or no wait time. Google the process and get started. All the best.
Hi i want H1 Visa program. I am software engineer from India.
You belong to ‘mera bharat mahan’. Why do you want leave a great country?
hello sir my name is sathish from india can i apply for work visa
You belong to ‘mera bharat mahan’. Why do you want leave a great country?
Hi sir, Iam Mohammed zakeruddin from india. Can u please suggest me if I can apply for visa program.
It is about time someone noticed this abuse that is laying off thousands of American workers. Americans have been a victim of this H1b abuse since 2006. If Trump follows thru, this should accelerate the growth of technology innovation 10 fold. US have been the leader of technology before H1b started. Silicon Valley being in the US is proof. If H1b Visa was the source of advance technology, then Silicon Valley would have been in India. Lets get the real US IT workers employed instead of them training lower cost H1b Visa workers. I hope Pres. Trump follows thru and make swift actions.
Yo dumb ass JD immigrants make Silicon Valley great. You should seriously come here and stay. We have people from all over the world contributing to making the world a better place.
I have done master of in math .i have 3 year teaching experience as a math teacher.how i can apply ?
May I know how it will be applicable as per visa process.
I am a US Citizen have 2 STEM masters degrees (GPA 3.93/4.0) and had been working for a large company in the US for 17 years when I was laid off because an Indian IT company took over the entire IT department. I was then hired by the Indian company ‘temporarily’ to virtually train my replacements who are located at their Indian office. I took the job because I had no other opportunities. Abolishing the H1 visa would not have done me any good because, my replacement in India. Any advice for me?
You are doing what they call ‘assissted suicide’ in medical school! Good going!
I am a US Citizen have 2 STEM masters degrees (GPA 3.93/4.0) and had been working for a large company in the US for 17 years when I was laid off because an Indian IT company took over the entire IT department. I was then hired by the Indian company ‘temporarily’ to virtually train my replacements who are located at their Indian office. I took the job because I had no other opportunities. Abolishing the H1 visa would not have done me any good because, my replacement is in India. Any advice for me?
More than half the comments to this article are demonstrating poor written communication skills. Being a person that works with quite a few H1B Visa holders, I need to stress to you all that being able to communicate in the predominate language(s) clearly and concisely will take you very far in H1B visa work. If you cannot clearly communicate in English, both spoken and written, your concentration should be in learning those skills, not looking for a visa yet. Learn how to speak and write English clearly. It will endear you to those who you work for and with. Knowing full well how undereducated these IT professionals(!?) are when they come out of Indian Universities, I seriously doubt they can do anything the degree they have claims they can do. I have only met 1 H1B visa holder that was a pleasure to work with, and he graduated from the University of Colorado. He knows his business and he can communicate very well, sometimes better than some Americans.
H1B visa is on the way out.
If 70% of employees of these startups are Indians on H1B or similar visa then question is how does it help Americans find hitech employment
If these startups by Indians&Chinese were so good at helping US economy grow then how come US GDP is growing at anemic 2% whereas India GDP and China GDP are growing greater than 6%.
Let us ask these Advocacy groups to explain this fallacy!
The replacement of American I.T worker with the H1B replacement from India is a serious mistake. There are so many qualified young Americans who don’t have a job and are still living with their old parents, putting additional financial burden on their American parents.
On the other hand the H1B replacements from India are sending money to their Indian parents so they can buy property in India.
This is broad day light robbery!
All displaced American IT workers. Start a social media eruption against this unamerican
Attacked against qualified us IT workers. Together, your anger can create a tidal wave of disgust against bought off members of congress that kiss the ass of corporate CEOs.
Call attorney general Jeff Sessions after he is appointed and settle for nothing less than a shut down of program. Use the media and launch an all out public outrage of this
Abuse. The guilty players are members of congress who take money from wipro, infosis, Tata consultants, Accenture, cognizant, and other outsourcing companies. Protest in front of White House when Donald Trump is home. Stand up and fight back like our forefathers did and make this corrupt scheme exposed to the world. Get all news networks to do a full story interviewing us displaced workers and reveal the abuse of our fair labor act and mass social immigration of India IT workers who arrive on our shores with no student loan debt gaining an edge on our students who do. I live in Charlotte nc and the India tech workers are invading our communities and taking over. This is an invasion of social integration taking our best paying jobs while destroying the lives of American workers.
Our leaders behind this corruption and unamerican CEOs like Zuckenberg, Ginny from IBM, Disney CEOs, sun Edison, the banks, financial firms, etc…..need to be held accountable. Americans first or leave our country.
Displaced American IT workers need to file class action lawsuits against American CEOs
Involved in this corruption as well as members of congress getting paid by executives of India outsourcing companies. Contact all American news organizations to run stories
Revealing mass immigration of India workers taking American high paid jobs. If you put an enormous amount of pressure on the corrupt actors; members of congress, corporate CEOs, IT consulting replacement firms, the tide will change. Pound the news media to cover story. Pound your congressman’s phone. Assemble all displaced workers together
And start protesting the White House, senate building, and cnn office in Washington.
Fight back against your leaders who are allowing this. Protest in front of their homes, spas, country clubs, and food stores. Americans need to fight back. Force the media to reveal names of corrupt congressman and companies screwing the American I T worker.
All university presidents in the United States need to call the White House and inform our president there is no shortage of qualified stem students. India outsourcing CEOs made up this narrative to suit their agenda. Let’s fight back and remind the world who we are.
India workers should build their own country and communities and not steal ours.
I would strongly support a major protest in front of cnn headquarters in DC near White House. India elites are trying to buy Donal Trump off to support this corrupt theft of us high paying jobs. We have plenty of Americans that can perform these jobs. Donal Trump said Americans first, now he needs to prove it. I would strongly suggest flooding senator Sessions office with letters. I would expose the gag orders issued by these disgusting CEOs against layed off workers and expose the entire corrupt game set up by our corporate CEOs who then paid members of congress to let it happen. The consulting firms also channel cash to the halls of power. Speak out, contact the media, pound your elected leaders phones, and turn the pressure up until they are forced to stop this depletion of American workers. Start today, call your congressman said office everyday
And don’t stop. Corporate America wants to develop India and they extended an olive branch by throwing American IT workers under the bus.
I got my visa last month. Planning to travel in June month due to personnel commitment. So it is fine ? Or to travel immediately due to reformation of h1b rules is in progress. Really confused.
You are really confused because yiu could not have travelled to US before OCT-2016 as per USCIS!
You guys are the culprits whi create Fake News as Donald Trump would put it!
Being a H1b holder – have seen both sides of the coin. Things really need to be re-done with the H1B
* Do H1bs kill american jobs ? Yes they do. Outsourcing companies really underpay Indians and displace good american workers from their jobs
* Does US need H1b workers ? Yes they do, but not the volumes they have now. They need only about 40-50% of what they have now
Ideal option is to increase the min wage for H1B to about 100-150k depending on experience levels. This, I am sure will take care of both the problems