#simplyopt

In my previous blog, I have mentioned how Indian firms have seen a massive drop in the number of applications for FY 2016 and how top Indian outsourcing firms in the US are now getting fewer approvals of the US H-1B visa when you compare 2015. An analysis will be presented below for all the companies and who are on the roll.

An analysis by Glassdoor has shown that 9 out of 10 highest paying majors are for US students who are in STEM fields who are out of college by 5 years. There were reports too who said that the figures portrayed in Trump administration are about 80 percent of the H-1B workers were being paid less that the median wage that was paid to other fields.

This statistic is so misleading because the DOL database has multiple applications for the same individual because a new filing will be required generally when the H-1B professional moves ahead to a new job or an area. The median salary that was given in the year 2015 for H-1B related recipients who have worked for 3 years or more were given $7000 higher than the median salary offered in the industry in general.

Therefore, the counts for people who may be double or triple may be working at one or more geographic locations like younger workers who may be sent to work at multiple offices. It may not reflect what the employers may pay the individual workers as only a minimum is required for government filing purposes.

The foundations also argue that the temporary visas like H-1B, OPT USA etc. are very important as they are a practical way for a working professional who is highly skilled and wished to work in the US and for an international student who is educated in the US and who can work for a long term in the US. 77% of the full-time international graduate students belong to electrical engineering and a 71% of them are in computer science stream. opt for international students will help the young graduates to work in the US after graduation.

There are many reforms to increase the labor mobility and increase the green card quota thus eliminating the per country limit that is not currently on the agenda and the new restriction on the highly skilled are more likely to continue. Having highly skilled professionals are a bonus not only to the global economy but also to the companies to get better contracts.

There are many Indian firms who have seen a drop in the approved number of petitions in the year 2016 that is a 37% of approved petitions as compared to the last year according to reports. Many top Indian outsourcing firms in the US have received fewer approvals of US H-1B visa as compared to 2015 and the new H-1B petitions for the top firms that have come for approval are only a mere 0.006% of the US labor force.

IT is said that there are threats of job losses as exaggerated by critics and it will be reaching illogical proportions soon as there are discussions of 10 to 10,000 workers in an economy that employs multi-million workers nationwide. The h1b visa database is seeing more number of applications but fewer visas are being doled out.

The number of approved new H-1B petitions for TCS has declined to 50% from the year 2015 to 2016 from 4K to 2K drop. For Wipro, the petitions have declined by a further 50 % from the same years from 3K to 1K for initial employment. For Infosys saw a decline by 16% overall with 2376 approved petitions for initial employment in 2016 to 2820 in 2015 said the report which was based on the research carried based on the research from government data.

The drop in new visas for Indian companies are expected to continue as the data was released on cases filed in the year 2017 to 2018 is majorly because of industry trends that are moving towards digital serviced such as cloud computing and AI which required fewer number of workers and by choice many companies will tend to rely less on h1b sponsorship and will instead try in building up their domestic workforces in the US.

One interesting point to note here is when employers filed for new petitions for FY 2016 there was a drop in the visa use and this was not due to the new elections but because of newer policies of tech firms. In the past, many US policymakers have used this visa as a political reason and also imposed newer immigration restrictions by not raising the low annual supply of new visas which in reality have been the same for the past 15 fiscal years.

An analysis of the USCIS data on 2016 data shows that approximately 25,000 different US employers have hired at least one highly skilled professional on a new petition and many employers in manufacturing too like Tesla motors have 108 approvals and Cummins had 197. Uber had 121, eBay 115, Mayo clinic at 111.

The unemployment rate in the US for mathematical and computer science occupations are at 2.5% that is a very low rate which is lower that most of the other occupations for other sectors and this illustrates that there is a disconnect between the actual reality and claims which say that foreign workers are preventing US workers are taking away their jobs in tech fields. There will be 1.4 million more software development jobs that the applicants must fill by 2020 and there are 500K open computing jobs worldwide.

continue reading Part2

The new President is acting upon his election promise to reform the US H1B visa system when he signed the executive order for tightening the program. Right now, the visas are being awarded in a random lottery which is totally wrong as they must be awarded to people only who are most skilled as well as highest paid among so many other and must never be used to replace the existing Americans. Such changes will impact the Indian IT firms who bring thousands of engineers and programmers on H-1B visas to work. You can search for latest openings on http://www.simplyopt.com/.

We have few things to that you need to know

1)    Now after the new “Buy American, Hire American” order getting fresh visas will be an issue. It also proposes a shift from the existing lottery system to a system where it is given based on the salary as well as skills. Now a normal employee can’t expect to go and work in the US and must upgrade his/her skills to avail h1b visa sponsorship.

2)    Many of the analysts are not sure if the new orders might be applicable for this fiscal year this year starting October 2017 for USCIS has already the processing of applications and the orders may come into force from next year.

3)    Indian IT firms are now more likely to employ subcontractors to work for US projects. The costs will be lower and the companies need to hire more subcontractors than they usually do as the costs have also come off over the past few quarters. They are more likely to head higher for the 2018 intake.

4)    When it comes to utilization of employees who are on site they are far more mobile and can work in one city for 3 to 4 months in New York and then shift to Ohio whereas a US employee may not want to shift to another location in such short intervals. This problem was highlighted once during an analysis.

5)    The latest executive order on the visas which was quite popular among Indian IT professionals by the new administration is likely to hit visa renewals.

6)    The H-1B visa issue has been hanging over Indian IT firms ever since the election and more than half a dozen of legislation were introduced since January to curb the alleged misuse of the regimen from both Democrats and Republicans which called for higher minimum wages which were double the current levels. But this bill was shot down and not approved.

7)    If the wage is increased from minimum to $130k then the hit for IT firm margins will be substantial and more.

8)    Most of the candidates according to the h1b visa database are being paid a range of $65,000-$75,000 according to the skill sets and location by the Indian companies.

9)    Indian IT firms have already begun local hiring in the US in anticipation of tighter visa reforms and the margins are more likely to be hit.

You have now successfully finished your studies and about to graduate from a US university as an international student. You have emailed your petition to receive the OPT to USCIS and have started applying for jobs. Now you refer to many top portals like http://www.simplyopt.com, opt nation. dice etc. and apply for relevant jobs. It’s the month to start getting calls and attending interviews. You are now super excited as you are about to get a chance to work from New York to Los Angeles. However, you must utilize this time for good thoughts and career reflections for a long term.

Now the goal that you have is to live in the US for the rest of your life comfortably. You don’t want to rush around the decisions about the job or the firm that you are going to work with. You start this with a good job under OPT and you also hope that the firm you work for, sponsors it for the working visa of individuals namely the H-1B for international job seekers. For the non-US students, the dream to live in the US starts during the last months of school, all thanks to whether they are an undergraduate or a graduate.

The most common rule is obvious. You as an international student must apply for the firms that are willing to sponsor you an H-1B visa. When you are interviewing with them and when they eventually offer you a job whether it is contract or full time then you must clearly ask them what is their policy all about and are they willing to sponsor your H1-B or GC.  Since you are now seeking for an entry level job and still in school, it will be challenging for you to present a strong case of sponsorship. You must make it clear to the HR that he/she must honestly answer your question about what they do when they recruit someone who is on OPT.

If your only goal here is to live in the US and make the best career then you must not fail in choosing your first job right after graduation. It must be the OPT job where you succeed well and make a strong impact in the first 8 months of time such that by February then the company will be willing to spend on you and pay money to the lawyer and help in sponsoring the H1-B visa. Be careful when you decide where to do the job or which offer to pick up and don’t compare with your American counterparts or friends. The process for them is quite different as they don’t have any citizenship problem. So it is best if you focus on the priority right now and search for good employers who will be willing to give you H-1B work visa later.