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    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Indian Techies, IT Firms Fret As Trump Orders U.S. Visa Review

    Indian Techies, IT Firms Fret As Trump Orders U.S. Visa Review


    FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump smiles after signing an executive order directing federal agencies to recommend changes to a temporary visa program used to bring foreign workers to the United States to fill high-skilled jobs during a visit to the world headquarters of Snap-On Inc, a tool manufacturer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., April 18, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque


    April 21, 2017
    By Sankalp Phartiyal and Rahul Bhatia

    MUMBAI (Reuters) – For Grishma, an Indian software designer, President Donald Trump’s review of the visa programme for bringing highly skilled workers into the United States comes at a bad time.

    Fresh from gaining a master’s degree in Europe, and with an offer of employment from a well-known U.S. design firm, she was well on her way to fulfilling the ambition of many young Indian IT workers – a dream job in America.

    But as she waits in the H-1B visa queue for the green light, she is caught in a bind.

    “It’s a weird time to be applying, with all the scrutiny,” said Grishma, who gave only her first name for fear of jeopardizing her chances of getting a visa.

    The United States has already suspended the “expedited processing option” for applicants, under which she may have received a visa in weeks.

    More broadly, uncertainty over the review announced this week has unsettled Grishma and many others like her.

    She will have to wait until at least around August to learn her fate, but having accepted the U.S. job offer she is not in a position to apply for positions elsewhere, including in Europe.
    “It’s pretty debilitating,” Grishma told Reuters. “I’d like to start work to mitigate the financial damage.”
    Trump’s decision was not a huge surprise, given his election campaign pledge to put American jobs first.

    But the executive order he signed, though vague in many areas, has prompted thousands of foreign workers already in the United States or applying for visas to work there to re-think their plans. Companies who send them also face huge uncertainty.

    The concerns are particularly acute in India, where IT firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd are top beneficiaries of the H-1B visa programme, using it to send computer engineers to service clients in the United States, their largest overseas market.

    COMPANIES AND STAFF REALIGN

    Experts say Trump’s order to review visa processes is aimed at firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro, which from 2005-14 snagged around 86,000 H-1B visas, roughly equivalent to the number of H-1B visas the United States issues in total each year.

    Two industry sources said Infosys, India’s No. 2 information technology (IT) services company, is applying for just under 1,000 H-1B visas this year, which one of the sources said was down from 6,500 applications in 2016 and some 9,000 in 2015.

    It was not clear whether the sharp reduction in 2017 was in direct response to Trump’s presidency, although the company has said for some time it wanted to cut dependence on “fly-in” staff.

    TCS, Infosys and Wipro said they would not share data on the number of H-1B visas they had applied for this year.

    With fewer visas going to Infosys, more might become available for smaller IT companies and big U.S. tech companies, like Facebook and Microsoft Corp, that typically send in fewer H-1B applications each year.

    U.S.-based immigration lawyer Murali Bashyam, managing partner of Bashyam Spiro LLP which advises and works with small to mid-sized Indian IT firms, said clients had been in contact seeking clarity, while the number of visa applicants had fallen.

    “I think the reason for that is they get the sense that it’s going to get so much tougher to comply with all of the changes … that it might not be worth their money,” he said.
    “There is a fear that radical immigration changes are coming, and if those radical immigration changes come then it could completely change the way IT staffing companies do business.”

    Bashyam said the number of people on H-1B visas already working in the United States who were considering returning to their home country had risen.

    An engineer working at Cisco, who has been in the United States since 2011, said that three months ago he would not have considered returning to India.

    But the review of the visa system, and any rule change that revoked the right for his wife to work in the United States on a dependent visa, could force him to change his mind.

    “If that happens, then I would definitely be interested in going back to India. Even though I’m secure, I don’t want to be in a situation where my wife cannot work,” said the engineer, who declined to be named.

    “Those who have heavily invested here, who’ve bought houses, property and are still on visas, are afraid.”

    “I’M LOOKING EASTWARD”

    According to Bashyam, some Indians on H-1B visas were cancelling plans to return home to visit their families in case they had problems getting back into the United States.
    “With everything that’s going on, traveling outside the U.S. is the biggest fear for a lot of the H-1B workers working in the IT staffing industry,” he said.

    And the uncertainty is not limited to IT.

    Trump’s campaign rhetoric around tighter visa rules has led some Indian students considering studying abroad to look beyond the United States, which typically draws in over 100,000 Indian students annually.

    One Canadian official said the number of student visa applications for certain courses in Canada had spiked over 250 percent since Trump’s election win in November.

    Akshay Baliga, a management consultant with a H-1B visa that is valid until 2018, said he was not considering returning to the United States for work any time soon.
    “As a professional I’m looking eastward,” said Baliga, now based in India but who earlier studied and lived for years in America.
    http://www.oann.com/indian-techies-i...s-visa-review/

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    Senior Member Scott-in-FL's Avatar
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    Trump’s campaign rhetoric around tighter visa rules has led some Indian students considering studying abroad to look beyond the United States, which typically draws in over 100,000 Indian students annually.
    Wonder if they have to pay tuition....
    Noticed many universities' PHD programs have one token American, the rest are foreigners.

    But the review of the visa system, and any rule change that revoked the right for his wife to work in the United States on a dependent visa, could force him to change his mind.
    obama made sure that happened - anything for non-Americans. Another country that is receiving mega remittances - the IT workers pay their parents' mortgages & usually treat them to a month long visit to America.

    You can also thank cheapskates zuckerberg, disney, microsoft and many, many others - anything for cheap labor. Don't know how they sleep at night being so un-American.
    Last edited by artist; 04-21-2017 at 04:18 PM.

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    Indian techies, IT firms fret as Trump orders US visa review

    Indian techies, IT firms fret as Trump orders US visa review

    H-1B visa holder or applicants from India face a bind as Trump reviews program
    Some looking to stay in India to avoid uncertainty

    3 Hours Ago Reuters
    April 22, 2017

    President Donald Trump signs an executive order to try to bring jobs back to American workers and revamp the H-1B visa guest worker program during a visit to the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-On on April 18, 2017 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

    President Donald Trump signs an executive order to try to bring jobs back to American workers and revamp the H-1B visa guest worker program during a visit to the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-On on April 18, 2017 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

    For Grishma, an Indian software designer, President Donald Trump's review of the visa program for bringing highly skilled workers into the United States comes at a bad time.

    Fresh from gaining a master's degree in Europe, and with an offer of employment from a well-known U.S. design firm, she was well on her way to fulfilling the ambition of many young Indian IT workers - a dream job in America.

    But as she waits in the H-1B visa queue for the green light, she is caught in a bind.

    "It's a weird time to be applying, with all the scrutiny," said Grishma, who gave only her first name for fear of jeopardizing her chances of getting a visa. The United States has already suspended the "expedited processing option" for applicants, under which she may have received a visa in weeks.

    More broadly, uncertainty over the review announced this week has unsettled Grishma and many others like her.

    She will have to wait until at least around August to learn her fate, but having accepted the U.S. job offer she is not in a position to apply for positions elsewhere, including in Europe.

    "It's pretty debilitating," Grishma told Reuters. "I'd like to start work to mitigate the financial damage."

    Trump's decision was not a huge surprise, given his election campaign pledge to put American jobs first.

    But the executive order he signed, though vague in many areas, has prompted thousands of foreign workers already in the United States or applying for visas to work there to re-think their plans. Companies who send them also face huge uncertainty. The concerns are particularly acute in India, where IT firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd are top beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program, using it to send computer engineers to service clients in the United States, their largest overseas market.

    Experts say Trump's order to review visa processes is aimed at firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro, which from 2005-14 snagged around 86,000 H-1B visas, roughly equivalent to the number of H-1B visas the United States issues in total each year.

    Two industry sources said Infosys, India's No. 2 information technology (IT) services company, is applying for just under 1,000 H-1B visas this year, which one of the sources said was down from 6,500 applications in 2016 and some 9,000 in 2015.

    It was not clear whether the sharp reduction in 2017 was in direct response to Trump's presidency, although the company has said for some time it wanted to cut dependence on "fly-in" staff.

    TCS, Infosys and Wipro said they would not share data on the number of H-1B visas they had applied for this year.

    With fewer visas going to Infosys, more might become available for smaller IT companies and big U.S. tech companies, like Facebook and Microsoft Corp, that typically send in fewer H-1B applications each year.

    U.S.-based immigration lawyer Murali Bashyam, managing partner of Bashyam Spiro LLP which advises and works with small to mid-sized Indian IT firms, said clients had been in contact seeking clarity, while the number of visa applicants had fallen.

    "I think the reason for that is they get the sense that it's going to get so much tougher to comply with all of the changes ... that it might not be worth their money," he said. "There is a fear that radical immigration changes are coming, and if those radical immigration changes come then it could completely change the way IT staffing companies do business."

    Bashyam said the number of people on H-1B visas already working in the United States who were considering returning to their home country had risen.

    An engineer working at Cisco, who has been in the United States since 2011, said that three months ago he would not have considered returning to India. But the review of the visa system, and any rule change that revoked the right for his wife to work in the United States on a dependent visa, could force him to change his mind.

    "If that happens, then I would definitely be interested in going back to India. Even though I'm secure, I don't want to be in a situation where my wife cannot work," said the engineer, who declined to be named. "Those who have heavily invested here, who've bought houses, property and are still on visas, are afraid."

    According to Bashyam, some Indians on H-1B visas were cancelling plans to return home to visit their families in case they had problems getting back into the United States.

    "With everything that's going on, travelling outside the U.S. is the biggest fear for a lot of the H-1B workers working in the IT staffing industry," he said. And the uncertainty is not limited to IT.

    Trump's campaign rhetoric around tighter visa rules has led some Indian students considering studying abroad to look beyond the United States, which typically draws in over 100,000 Indian students annually.

    One Canadian official said the number of student visa applications for certain courses in Canada had spiked over 250 percent since Trump's election win in November.

    Akshay Baliga, a management consultant with a H-1B visa that is valid until 2018, said he was not considering returning to the United States for work any time soon.

    "As a professional I'm looking eastward," said Baliga, now based in India but who earlier studied and lived for years in America.

    http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/22/india...sa-review.html
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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Oh Boo Hoo. Where are the sob stories for all of our wonderful, brilliant, unemployed American IT Workers? 2 million of them. No more tech visas. None. Zero. Zip. Tech workers are not a specialty skill that should qualify for work in the United States. It's outrageous that tech workers somehow got included in the H1B visa program that was set up originally for specialty skills we don't have in the US. We have IT workers all over the place. We invented the damn subject to begin with. Saying the US needs to import tech workers due to a shortage is as absurd as saying "lets import some capitalist bankers due to a shortage". No more teachers, no more doctors, no more nurses, no more of any skill that we have plenty of and if there is a shortage, then train and educate more of them. After all, we invented all these jobs to begin with.
    Last edited by Judy; 04-22-2017 at 12:18 PM.
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    Senior Member 6 Million Dollar Man's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    Oh Boo Hoo. Where are the sob stories for all of our wonderful, brilliant, unemployed American IT Workers? 2 million of them. No more tech visas. None.
    Good, I hope the door doesn't hit them in the ass on the way out. And you're right, Judy, we have an enormous number of IT people who are out of work because they can't find a job......AND WE'RE HIRING ILLEGALS FROM INDIA FOR THESE JOBS? It's insane. The more I read stories like this, the more hatred I have for Democrats for destroying our country and treating our citizens as second class citizens in their own country while putting illegal aliens up on a pedestal for coming here and raping us of our jobs. Democrats are surely going to destroy this country, along with their powerful tool, the media, which hates Americans and loves illegal criminal invaders of this country.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Yes, it is insane. It's pure madness what's been going on in our country. We must be resolute and stop it. All of it. All the insanity, all the madness. We have to get back to the common sense, intelligence and loyalty that are the bedrocks of the true character of our nation.

    If these aliens, legal or illegal, and their sponsoring governments sucking the life out of our country, really want to go up against 250 million pissed-off Americans, then I say: Bring. It. On.
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    Quote Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man View Post
    Good, I hope the door doesn't hit them in the ass on the way out. And you're right, Judy, we have an enormous number of IT people who are out of work because they can't find a job......AND WE'RE HIRING ILLEGALS FROM INDIA FOR THESE JOBS? It's insane. The more I read stories like this, the more hatred I have for Democrats for destroying our country and treating our citizens as second class citizens in their own country while putting illegal aliens up on a pedestal for coming here and raping us of our jobs. Democrats are surely going to destroy this country, along with their powerful tool, the media, which hates Americans and loves illegal criminal invaders of this country.
    Unfortunately Democrats aren't the only problem. There are also plenty of Republicans that carry water for corporate America because they depend on those big corporate donations. Their reasons aren't always the same as the Democrats, but the end result is the same.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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