SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
For the new political order taking shape in Washington, however, H-1Bs aren't quite welcome. Amid promises of sweeping changes to immigration policy, President-elect Donald Trump and his choice for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), have tabbed the program for a major overhaul, and might even scrap it altogether. In the House, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is on the same wavelength.
Trump has described H-1Bs as a "cheap labor program" subject to "widespread, rampant" abuse. Sessions co-sponsored legislation last year with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) to effectively gut the program; Issa, a congressman with Trump's ear, released a statement Wednesday saying he was reintroducing similar legislation called the Protect and Grow American Jobs Act.
Sessions and Issa's legislation primarily targets large outsourcing companies, such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, that receive the vast majority of H-1B visas and use them to deploy workers to American companies seeking to cut costs. In 2015, the top 10 recipients of H-1B visas were outsourcing firms. As recently as 2013, the Justice Department, which Sessions stands to take over, settled with Infosys for $34 million in a visa fraud case.
If they were smart they'd change the program to maximize brain-drain from other countries by making H-1B a fast-track to citizenship instead of the 6+ year wait for a green-card that it now is. Bring in the best of them rather than the cheapest of them and let them compete on equal footing rather than the indentured servitude of the current H-1B program.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 11 2017, @01:26AM
Which countries are actively recruiting Americans to come work for them?
If India has no reciprocity, then Indians shouldn't be eligible for any program similar to H-1B.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Snotnose on Wednesday January 11 2017, @02:43AM
How many Americans want to live in India, regardless of what they're paid? I see India as a backwater sewer, overpopulated, stupid religions and family issues, combined with shitty class issues. Not to mention the corruption. Why would I ever want to live there?
Trump's Grave will be the world's most popular open air toilet.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 11 2017, @03:02AM
Backwater seweer - check - Detroit
overpopulated - check - Chicago, NYC, LA
stupid religions - check - Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc
family issues - check - we have a drug addict in our own family, and you?
shitty class issues - check - we actually ran a presidential candidate who "deserved" to win
Sounds to me like you're a victim of culture shock, to be perfectly honest. I've walked through a number of cities that seemed pretty alien. Some, I don't really want to go back to see again, others I thought were great. Some of each were right here in the US, some of each were on the European, African and Asian continents. I've not been to India, but given the chance to visit, I'd go. Offer me a two or four year contract.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @04:41AM
If you haven't been to India, please don't comment.
People literally shit in the street and open sewers run like a creek in the road.
Oh, there are nice areas too, but they are surrounded by the most unimaginable poverty in the entire world.
India actually has lepers in this day and age. Sorry if this comes across as harsh; I am just saying the conditions are extreme.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @06:23AM
If you haven't been to Detroit or Chicago, please shut up.
I've seen people literally shit in the street in those cities.
I've lived in Raleigh, where I lived across the street from an open sewer.
America is not Great.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @02:28PM
If you haven't been to Detroit or Chicago, please shut up.
I've seen people literally shit in the street in those cities.
Grew up and still live in Chicago. Often go to Detroit on business. Have never seen that happen in either place.
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Wednesday January 11 2017, @04:10PM
Lived in Chicago my whole life. Only seen someone shit in public twice. Both times they were mentally impaired homeless people. I have friends that worked in India. From the stories they tell me there is really no comparison to the level of filth we respectively deal with (except perhaps in the government corruption).
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 11 2017, @02:40PM
Haven't been to India - I think I said that already. But, I've been to Djibouti, Djibouti. You'll have to go pretty far to impress me with "unimaginable poverty".
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ese002 on Wednesday January 11 2017, @07:20AM
In the States, when the water is not safe to drink (e.g. Flint), it is a considered a tragedy and a crime. Political careers for anyone near are ruined.
I'm not sure what it means when tap water is safe to drink in India. In six months of travel across most of India, I never found such a place. Not even in the wealthy tech centers of Bangalore and Pune.
When food is unsafe in the States, which does happen every now and then, it makes the national news. Stores pull everything from their shelves that could possibly be affected.
In India, that isn't news. Food is assumed unsafe unless known otherwise. That is why so much Indian food is overcooked. It is a safety precaution.
While this may seem OK for those who grew up in this environment and to whom wariness of food and water is second nature, it is hard thing for those with Western origins. As a traveller with nothing to do but live and explore, I managed. It was a significant drain, though and I'm not sure it would turn out well if I had to do so while juggling a career and other stresses of modern life.
I've travelled all over the Third World and I've never seen as much conspicuous illness as I saw in India. The Indians themselves are not immune from the health hazards of life on the Sub Continent. They are better equipped then Westerners but it still catches up to them every now and then.
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday January 11 2017, @07:35AM
I wasn't in India yet, but some (most) of your description would apply for most parts of Philippines as well. I was there only for weeks at a time a couple of times yet, but I think I could manage very well. Drinking water is delivered in huge bottles, food bought in streets can be a health hazard, but if you bring some money to see a doctor in case of need, you can survive. And while many things (many vegetables, dairy products, cars, some electric tools) are more expensive than in Germany (don't know prices in USA), others (entertainment venues, houses, craftsmen, health services) are much cheaper. Given an offer to go there, getting paid the same amount I earn now, I probably wouldn't mind.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @09:40AM
But that's just one issue per place (with plenty of good places to live), while India combines them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @04:59PM
The same reason they move here for a few years under the H1b program -- to make enough money to return home and inure them to the things you wrote of.
Some can go back and live as, one had told me, a maharaja, or at least with a servant or two and no arguments when convincing a pretty girl's parents to let him mate with her.
even here I have difficulty convincing anyone of that!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @03:05AM
There isn't any reciprocity. The American Empire has the money, and the H1Bs want the money. The H1Bs lie to get in and do the absolute minimum work required to extract the maximum amount of money from the Empire. This situation is what happens when one empire becomes dominant. Massive wealth inequality attracts barbarians who are interested in wealth extraction and nothing else.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 11 2017, @03:22AM
You characterize the H-1B workers a little differently than I would, but you do understand what H-1B is all about. Those workers hope to exploit the empire, the empire is definitely exploiting the workers, and their home countries manage to harvest several benefits from the program. If you read TFA, you know that most of those workers return home with training provided by US companies, to promote Indian businesses, or even to start their own businesses. In effect, we have trained our own future competition, and India is quite happy about that.
Individually, those workers range from despicable SOB's, to admirable men and women. As with any other class of people, you have to judge each one on his own merits. Let's not characterize the workers as lazy, or whatever other terms you might use for them, alright? Or, we might have to accept the world's judgement that Americans are lazy, stupid, arrogant, etc ad nauseum.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.