"It has become the outsourcing visa," the Indian commerce minister, Kamal Nath, said by telephone this week while attending global trade talks in New Delhi, at which India is pushing the United States for a larger H-1B quota."If at one point you had X amount of outsourcing," he said, "and now you have a much higher quantum of outsourcing, you need that many more visas."
Last year eight of the 10 largest H-1B applicants were outsourcing firms with major operations in India. U.S. SEC filings reveal that Infosys alone had 6,800 U.S. employees on H-1Bs as of September 2006. In 1998, the figure was 231.
Tata Consultancy Services sent Atul Pevekar to Minnesota on an H-1B. His assignment: to work with a U.S. retailer to relay its information technology needs back to TCS's Indian staff, to which the retailer has outsourced scores of jobs. "I am a link between the people who are doing coding in India and the client."Losing jobs and technology to India is not in the best interests of the U.S. or of U.S. citizens. Congress needs to suspend the H-1b program now.
3 comments:
Here's another factor in job loss: India's new-found wealth from outsourcing is causing them to buy companies overseas. In how many of these cases will the incumbent Americans be displaced by their new owners? Here's one to watch, note the hopeful optimism of the American manager: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=9608
US govt should reduce the duration of stay for visa holders. H1 or L1 visa holders should be allowed to stay only for six months in US, and not come back for another six months. Today H1 visa holders can stay upto six years. if they are allowed to stay for shorter durations, Companies can still invite professionals for their help, but at same time, do not allow professional to stay for longer term in US
Frankly, how long they are here doesn't matter to me. At least they are paying taxes and buying services. My concern is that my job can mostly be done remotely and I am being replaced by someone who sits in a chair in india and makes what, a few dollars a day? They pay no taxes. I am an american taxpayer about to be jobless.
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