U.S. Shelves H-1B Visa Talks With India

[OhioChick]

India has been voicing concerns that visas for tech workers are becoming too hard to obtain. Now trade talks are postponed indefinitely.

January 10, 2012

Talks between the U.S. and India on high-tech worker visas and other trade issues have been postponed indefinitely, U.S officials said Monday.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk had been scheduled to travel to New Delhi later this week to meet with Indian counterparts, including Commerce minister Anand Sharma, to discuss a range of bilateral issues. Among them was India's claim that rejection rates for applications by Indian IT professionals to work in the U.S. on H-1B or L-1 visas are rising.

Those talks, formally known as the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum, are now off indefinitely. Reports suggest the talks fell victim to American negotiators' belief that India would not yield on their number-one priority: Increased access for U.S. firms to India's roughly one billion consumers.

"While considerable progress on developing the agenda for the TPF has been made, in view of the amount of preparatory work that remains to be done, the United States and India have decided to postpone the TPF until later this year," the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement. "The additional time will allow us to further develop the TPF agenda and related activities."

http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/h1b/232301548

[ChromeFoundry]

1. duh...

Kind of hard to import workers when so many here are unemployed. Didn't India get that memo?

[SixthSense]

2. with employment as it is

we shouldn't have any H1-B visas being issued at all, and the ones that have already been issued need to be revoked

it's so absurd it's maddening

there have to be a million US jobs now held by foreigners on H1-B visas (that's probably an underestimate)

[JDPriestly]

6. +1000

[msongs]

3. India is booming now. must be jobs for all those people there cept they dont like India lol nt

[alp227]

4. GOOD. Businesses, if operating in a country, must be bound by laws that serve interests of citizens.

[Bozita]

5. Plenty of talent here in the IT field. Fuck those H1-B visas!

They've already bled the American IT folks by importing those H1-Bs thereby lowering the wage scale here by a ton.

And, did I mention the permanent lay-offs?

[AngryOldDem]

10. Haven't you heard?

That's because for all these years, there have been NO qualified American IT workers available to fill these jobs. Not a single one. "Not qualified," however, as in not being willing to work for a subpar wage and other basic considerations.

I read that excuse in a magazine article back in the late '90s, and it is just as much crap today as it was then.

[DocMac]

12. And consider this.

Most of the IT jobs use contracting companies and nearly all of them are run by Indians.

They know if the billing rate is $100/hr. that an American may demand $80/hr of that.

So they will find an Indian that will take $40/hr and make $60/hr on that persons work.

Some companies are starting to wake up to the fact that the majority of these Indians are not as skilled as they claim. The old "fake it til you make it" routine.

[geardaddy]

23. I'm a contract worker

and some the worst rates I've ever got were from Indian-run contract houses. Most American-run contract houses will give you at least hald of the billable. If you get a quarter of the billable from an Indian-company, you're lucky.

[DocMac]

24. Well, they play games with the pay rate.

Much the same way used car salesmen do. My brother has been a QA Manager/Directer for 17 years.

They'll call him and say they can pay $50/hr. and he'll say he won't take less than $70.

About a half hour later they call back and agree with the $70 lol. So that's $20/hr less but they can't find too many people with 17 years experience. Sometimes they will call the client and get the billable raised and sometimes they eat the profit to get a high level presence in the door.

It happens for manufacturing and wharehousing too. They are all middle men taking from the workers whatever they can get. But yeah, it's really disgusting when someone can make $30-$60/hr. from your work.

Are you in IT?

[geardaddy]

25. I'm a technical writer

so, I'm in IT, but not really and IT person.

[DocMac]

26. That's a cool job.

I do design work on AutoCAD and I have worked with some Tech Writers on product manuals.

I don't get into much Architectural work, but would be kinda fun. I do drawings and convert them to CNC code for machining and laser cutting.

[whathehell]

18. +1000 n/t

[Skittles]

7. GOOD

they can FUCK THEMSELVES

[Populist_Prole]

8. I'll bet the only ones whose ass is burning more than India's...

Are the US chamber of commerce types...if not indeed the agency itself.

[avaistheone1]

9. Betcha we return to business as usual after our elections.

Then once again we will open U.S. doors to the H-1Bs.

[leftyohiolib]

16. probably true but remember we have all the troops coming home and they will need jobs as well

[DCBob]

11. The H1-B program is obsolete and should be shelved.

There are huge numbers of experienced and competent IT professionals unemployed in the US. It absurb to be allowing foreigners to take these jobs in our current situation.

[sarcasmo]

27. +1

[DWilliamsamh]

13. GOOD!

There is almost zero reason to be bringing high tech workers (at least in IT) from other countries here in H1-B visa's. There are many many more applicants for every job opening in the IT industry now than when the H1-B program was started. Companies simply do NOT have trouble finding talent to fill the jobs due to lack of qualified applicants. They just want to keep the supply high do they can keep wages low.

[HughBeaumont]

14. It's Cost, Not Knowledge. Always has been, always will be.

Screw zero-sum corporatism.

K & R.

[seabeckind]

15. Talks with India?

Why is anyone talking with India about this?

Seems a bit turned around.

[leftyohiolib]

17. they should get the good-ole american one finger salute

[sarcasmo]

21. +1

[lovuian]

19. These talks only go one way...Screw the American Worker

and India has no intention of becoming like the United States who gave up all its jobs and industry to other countries

the H1B program only went one way...Screw the US worker

[patrice]

20. We created & built the U.S. internet. WE gave it life. Corportism kidnapped those jobs & now

they're trying to exclude us from the internet too.

Like the broadcast spectrum, the internet access should be a public resource and that includes a majority of the technology jobs it creates.

[Nihil]

22. "U.S. Shelves H-1B Visa Talks With India ..."

"... until there is a suitable distraction as there are currently too many people
watching what we're doing."