Msn Article On Temp Visas And Jobs

[Suhaas]

Temporary Visas, Meant to Import Talent, Help Ship Jobs Abroad

 

companies grow, creating jobs to expand the economy. Now, though, some companies are bringing in workers on those visas to help move jobs out of the country.

 

For four weeks this spring, a young woman from India on a temporary visa sat elbow to elbow with an American accountant in a snug cubicle at the headquarters of Toys “R” Us here. The Indian woman, an employee of a giant outsourcing company in India hired by Toys “R” Us, studied and recorded the accountant’s every keystroke, taking screen shots of her computer and detailed notes on how she issued payments for toys sold in the company’s megastores.

 

“She just pulled up a chair in front of my computer,” said the accountant, 49, who had worked for the company for than 15 years. “She shadowed me everywhere, even to the ladies’ room.”

 

By late June, eight workers from the outsourcing company, Tata Consultancy Services, or TCS, had produced intricate manuals for the jobs of 67 people, mainly in accounting. They then returned to India to train TCS workers to take over and perform those jobs there. The Toys “R” Us employees in New Jersey, many of whom had been at the company more than a decade, were laid off.

 

A temporary visa program known as H-1B allows American employers to hire foreign professionals with college degrees and “highly specialized knowledge,” mainly in science and technology, to meet their needs for particular skills. Employers, according to the federal guidelines, must sign a declaration that the foreign workers “will not adversely affect the working conditions” of Americans or lower their wages.

 

In recent years, however, global outsourcing and consulting firms have obtained thousands of temporary visas to bring in foreign workers who have taken over jobs that had been held by American workers. The Labor Department has opened an investigation of possible visa violations by contractors at the Walt Disney Company and at Southern California Edison, where immigrants replaced Americans in jobs they were doing in this country. Four former workers at Disney have filed discrimination complaints against the company. The companies say they have complied with all applicable laws.

 

But the Toys “R” Us layoffs — and others underway now at the New York Life Insurance Company and other businesses — go further. They are examples of how global outsourcing companies are using temporary visas to bring in foreign workers who do not appear to have exceptional skills — according to interviews with a dozen current or former employees of Toys “R” Us and New York Life — to help ship out jobs, mainly to India.

 

These former employees described their experience training foreigners to do their work so it could be moved to India. They would speak only on the condition that their names not be published, saying they feared losing severance payments or hurting their chances of finding new jobs.

 

In most cases where jobs have been moved overseas, the positions have been in technology, with employers arguing there are shortages of Americans with the most advanced skills. But in recent years, many jobs that American workers lost have been in accounting and back-office administration — although there is no shortage of Americans qualified do that kind of work.

 

The core purpose of the temporary work visas is to help American companies compete in the global economy. “If employers are able to hire the key people, they can keep jobs in the U.S. and create new jobs here,” said Lynn Shotwell, executive director of the Council for Global Immigration, which lobbies Congress for more visas for highly skilled foreign workers.

 

Read further in the link 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/temporary-visas-meant-to-import-talent-help-ship-jobs-abroad/ar-AAeVtTK?li=AAa0dzB

 

 

 

Sorry for the external link 

 

[Suhaas]

One of the Users Comment to the Article:

 

As an experienced IT professional, who has seen this destructive business model unfold over the years, I am happy to finally see articles that are bringing this to light. I’ve dealt with these divisive meat market companies and I can assure you they have indeed “undercut the wages and working conditions of Americans”. They’ll do anything to place unqualified, dirt cheap hacks with their treasured H-1B in hand. One great phone interview I conducted was with a guy that paused with each question to cover the phone and ask the other people in the room who in-turn you could hear flipping through the pages. Or my favorite was the phone interview with the guy that spoke excellent English and was clearly technically qualified but the actual person that showed up at the door knew about 10 words of English and could barely turn the computer on. So, to the companies that think you’re getting a deal, good luck because you will certainly get what you pay for.

[Suhaas]

Just sharing. Not inclined to any side.

 

P.S: Don't shoot the messenger. 

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[arshad]

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[Allbittarpaalbiskitt]

Let's Accept the fact... it's a handshake business, these guys want the work to be done at cheaper price and the Indian IT Companies have exploited the crap out of H1B business.. You can clearly see how some of these Indian Companies (Infosys, TCS, HCL) are taking over IBM, Accenture and Deloitte in basic IT areas... only reason is cheap implementation cost.. so you can't blame either one... 

[rikki]

nothing to blame on the indian it companies really but the number of h1b applications it is filing although they wont send 80% of it they just file h1b to retain the employees 

Let's Accept the fact... it's a handshake business, these guys want the work to be done at cheaper price and the Indian IT Companies have exploited the crap out of H1B business.. You can clearly see how some of these Indian Companies (Infosys, TCS, HCL) are taking over IBM, Accenture and Deloitte in basic IT areas... only reason is cheap implementation cost.. so you can't blame either one... 

 

[alpachinao]

Let's Accept the fact... it's a handshake business, these guys want the work to be done at cheaper price and the Indian IT Companies have exploited the crap out of H1B business.. You can clearly see how some of these Indian Companies (Infosys, TCS, HCL) are taking over IBM, Accenture and Deloitte in basic IT areas... only reason is cheap implementation cost.. so you can't blame either one... 

 

first 3 lot better than last 2 vomerica companies bedda lafoot companies

[Allbittarpaalbiskitt]

first 3 lot better than last 2 vomerica companies bedda lafoot companies

I meant IBM US, Accenture US.. naaku telisindhii cheppa.. pay sarriga undadhu, benefits sarriga undavu ani vinna India nunchi H1B medha vachina vallu daggira.. aa terms lo IBM, Accenture koncham better, ippudu vaalu kuda IBM India, Accenture India ki jobs ship chesthunaaru anuko... any experience with those companies bhayya???

[rikki]

yes just to retain they do and moreover they send employees on a shift base for very few months so that employee will be happy..and to do that they pretty much file h1's for all employees and send one at a time on a random basis. This should be stopped. Insteading of filing h1's thye should give bonus to those who are eligible and have exp. US kuda rule impose cheyali only x no. of visa for companies out of US. I am not aganist to the indian companies...prime intention is only to not make it worse in the near future 

Yeah, I completely agree man. These body shop companies are filing H1B's mainly to retain employees.

 

I heard a lot of people say that they have a H1 in hand but waiting for a project to go on-site to US.