Companies Sweetening H-1B Deals by Offering Green Cards: Study

[IronLionZion]

https://insights.dice.com/2019/03/19/h-1b-visa-green-card-employment/



As H-1B hiring continues to dog frustrated domestic tech pros, a new study shows companies are offering green cards to foreign workers who agree to come stateside via the visa program.

Envoy Global, a company focused on helping companies sponsor and manage work visas globally, recently published a study showing 66 percent of queried employers say they offer green cards to employees with work visas. The same percentage say they begin the green card process on behalf of H-1B and other visa holders the first year they’re employed with the company.

“Leading companies think about immigration strategically. For example – companies that offer foreign nationals benefits that allow them to remain in the U.S. longer are finding more success in retaining foreign talent,” says Richard Burke, CEO of Envoy Global. “With heightened political scrutiny comes heightened anxiety among foreign nationals looking to work in the U.S. Companies that are able to provide their employees peace of mind by offering them a clear path to a permanent green card are getting ahead of the competition in retaining the best talent.”

Costs aren’t spared, either. Envoy Global found 80 percent of employers who sponsor foreign employees via a visa program like H-1B pay for all fees related to obtaining a green card. Although companies typically have a ‘payback’ agreement if a green card worker quits before the agreed-upon employment time has concluded, less than half (49 percent) require continued employment for H-1B and similarly visa’ed employees.

Envoy points to competition as a main driver for companies offering green cards to visa employees. “Now more than ever, foreign national employees are looking for the peace of mind and security associated with long-term sponsorship,” writes Envoy. “When choosing between competing offers for positions in the U.S., a path to permanent residence is a powerful incentive.”

In addition to the 66 percent who start the green card process within the first year of service, an additional 28 percent of companies hiring H-1B and other visa employees say they initiate the permanent residence process within five years of hiring a foreign worker, drawing a direct path to citizenship.

The war for talent is getting fierce. There are more jobs out there than H-1bs to fill them. American DUers should apply for IT contracting jobs today. You don't need any bureaucratic BS or processing fees so American companies should be happy to hire American workers, right?

[erronis]

1. Sounds like a plan. Get a new job in the IT sector. Let's see - a 65+ yo new employee vs.

an indentured servant (essentially) making minimum wage with living expenses deducted.

[IronLionZion]

2. You'd be surprised

I worked in a place where a dude on Medicare and I were the token US citizens out of 200 H-1Bs. The old fellow peaced out as soon as he could collect social security.

There's only one way to find out for sure. Apply for these jobs.

[erronis]

7. I just "retired" for the 2nd time after starting the last job at 68.

I keep my skills (IT/technical) very up-to-date but I don't have the energy level of a 24yo. I'm not concerned - get one or not but I find the interactions good for me. Thanks for the WoW (words-of-wisdom.)

[Amishman]

15. Indentured servant is right, H1B program is so so wrong

I'm an IT contractor, though I do analysis and project management rather than actual development.

H1B program needs to get shrunk down and rebuilt.

I've seen two, maybe three legitimate cases where bringing someone in from overseas was realistic. All of those dealt with languages or systems that are almost unknown in the US.

I've seen hundreds of foreign contract workers being squeezed into doing the work of two people in jobs that could easily be staffed by Americans.

Making it worse, the availability of these indentured servants suppresses wages and discourages employers from developing talent in house.

The system needs to be fixed and companies like Tata need to be punished. We need to change the program to squeeze out Tata and their peers. All H1Bs should be hourly. No more slapping 'associate' in front of the job title, paying an entry level salary, and loading them up with enough work that they do 10 hour days, seven days a week.

[IronLionZion]

16. Tata definitely needs to be punished

while people grow old waiting for someone to reform the H1B program, American DUers should apply for these IT contracting jobs.

The best way to punish these companies would be to load them up with American workers, American values, and American realism. And if the American workers get used and abused, the companies can experience some all-American legal consequences.

[MH1]

3. LOL, "There are more jobs out there than H-1bs to fill them."

That's pretty much how it works. The program is set up in such a way that employers prefer to hire h-1bs over American workers. Only if they can't get an indentured servant, then they resort to searching for a troublesome American who might not want to work 80 hour weeks.

[IronLionZion]

4. Those entitled Americans can be so difficult

Only one way to find out. Apply for these jobs! Find out exactly how much these companies value their people.

[sdfernando]

5. Companies don't do this because they can't find qualified U.S. workers. There are plenty to fill

the jobs...they do it because they don't want to pay the actual cost of employing people.

I don't give any money or support to Disney (even though they upped their minimum wage)...have since they fired their IT staff at Disney World and replaced with temporary H-1B-ers:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html

[IronLionZion]

8. These companies will hire US citizens when they can't find enough qualified H-1Bs.

In fact some contracts are so desperate for US citizens that they will hire completely unqualified entry level US citizens just to put it on a report to their client or the US government to prove they've hired US citizens.

DUers can take advantage of this situation. Competition for experienced and highly trained IT workers is the best it's been in a decade. I get contacted by headhunters every day. I want DUers in these jobs. But very few Americans apply.

[sdfernando]

11. I am dubious of that claim.

If that is so true then why did Disney fire its highly qualified AND experienced IT staff and replace them with foreign H-1Bs???....and force the fired employees to train their replacements in order to get severance pay?

[IronLionZion]

12. Contracting

Companies replace employees with contractors. Highly qualified and experienced Disney IT staff can apply to whichever company Disney has contracted to do the work. The contracting firms usually recruit as many incumbents as they can when they take on a new contract because they have the right kind of experience.

Americans prefer to be employees because of the long-term stability and don't like being contractors because it is short term and unpredictable. That's the root of the issue. Many contracting firms will offer raises when they recruit incumbents and some folks do it. Others oppose it on principle.

[sdfernando]

13. Which brings us right back to my original assertion

"they do it because they don't want to pay the actual cost of employing people"

[IronLionZion]

14. Of course not! They save money by using disposable contractors

because they don't value their employees enough to keep it in house. It's easier to add and remove contractors quickly.

[FormerOstrich]

6. grrr

it is such a racket. There are recruiting firms that have exclusive contracts with large companies. But the recruiting firms hire only H1Bs. All the jobs are contract (an IT job that is full-time with benies is all but a nice memory).

The H1Bs are in at the largest corporations and the domestic workers can't even get an interview. Furthermore, because they are all contract any IT person with full-time job is reluctant to switch...lest they be out on their butt in 3 months.

[IronLionZion]

10. Contracting firms are desperate to hire US citizens

They'll hire Americans with the completely wrong experience and training, just to report that they hired a US citizen.

Many of these contracting firms act like temp agencies and just want to fill positions. They could care less about experience, training, or where a person lives. And a 3 month assignment is "long-term", there are some assignments where you work at some client's office for 3 weeks. It's a rough life for folks with families, mortgages, etc. but can be a good way for a new person to start out their career or for a senior person to make some money. People in the middle would obviously want a job with more long term stability and benefits so it's not for everyone.

[DFW]

9. Meanwhile, my granddaughter can't get her US citizenship now ten months after being born

She has no big money or Republican pulling any strings, and the US Consulate in Frankfurt is making my daughter, a U.S. citizen, account for every day of her life for the last fifteen years, not accepting as sufficient her school records from 2001 to 2010, when she attended boarding school/undergrad/law school in the USA. It is possible that my granddaughter's first visit to the USA in July will be as a citizen of another country only.

As a contrast, when my two girls were born here in Germany in the 1980s, I went down to the US Embassy with their German birth certificate, a photo, my passport, and a US checkbook, and walked out two hours later with their US birth certificates, US passports and their social security numbers. I don't know what we have accomplished in those intervening 35 years except making for a LOT of very frustrated US citizens abroad.

[IronLionZion]

17. Kick for DUers to apply for these jobs

DUers, every time you feel that H-1Bs are taking American jobs, you should apply for their services contracting jobs. When you hear that some company has outsourced jobs, find out who got the contract and apply to work there. You might be surprised by the outcome.

You won't know if you don't apply.