Wipro warns of H1-B visa cuts

18 Dec, 2008, 1654 hrs IST, Indiatimes Infotech

NEW DELHI: Several leading IT companies have warned investors of a cutback in H1-Bs. In their US Securities and Exchange Commission filings, these IT companies, which includes Indian IT major Wipro, have alerted investors that it may become more difficult to obtain these visas in the future, reports a leading technology site.

In an SEC filing shortly after the US presidential elections in November, Bangalore-based Wipro warned investors that the "increasing political and media attention" directed at outsourcing may lead to legislation that restricts visa use or "imposes disincentives" to expanding offshore programmes.

Its rival Infosys Technologies also repeated warnings made in earlier filings that it’s "reliance on work visas for a significant number of technology professionals makes us particularly vulnerable" to changes in visa laws.

Infosys said that almost 7,000 of its employees held H1-B visas at the end of September. In addition, Infosys said that 1,500 of its workers held L-1 visas. L-1 visas are used by multinational firms to transfer employees. A year earlier, 7,700 Infosys employees had either an L-1 or H1-B visa, the company said.

Incidentally, several small US IT firms too have expressed concerns that change in visa laws could hurt them. Pittsburgh-based IT services provider Mastech Holdings Inc, which has operations in India, said in in an October SEC filing that unless Congress "substantially increases the annual H1-B quota," its pool of workers could be reduced. The company added that about 40 per cent of its US workforce have H1-B visas.

Many companies are unsure if they will get adequate number of visas under President-elect Barack Obama. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to "stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas" and to provide incentives that help companies keep jobs in the US. However, though Obama promised to stop tax breaks, he never linked the H1-B visa to this issue.

More: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/Wipro_warns_of_H1-B_visa_cuts_/articleshow/3857664.cms

:nopity:

Maybe I'll actually be able to get an IT job.

We have plenty of skilled IT people in our area, it's just that companies find it cheaper to bring in H1-B people.

:nopity:

it is right that both programs be completely re-worked or eliminated altogether.

This abomination, wrought by Clinton, has resulted in a collapse of wages for those that managed to keep their jobs, and the outright elimination of millions of good paying, tax contributing, solid careers.

A dramatic rise in college loan defaults, which means less money for those who wish to attend now, and making it much harder to get a job upon graduation for those that did get in, is another consequence of bowing to the unbridled greed of a few billionaires.
:grr::kick: & R

I know too many talented people in the tech industry who are out of work. When there's full employment among US techs, then MAYBE we can re-visit the H1-B visas.

The party's over guys, boo hoo hoo. :cry:

Time to get out of the predatory gouging businesses. Bummer, huh? They thought they had some God-given right to get away with it forever.

... not continuing to try and artificially lower them.

This should actually be a good thing for them if they think about it. Because if they continue to push congress to increase H-1B visas it is just a matter of time before high tech laborers here ALSO start organizing unions. And that will be a lot harder for Democrats and Obama to fight than the Republicans might have before.

H-1B program wasn't sold as a means to get "cheap labor". Time you started living up to that standard. Unless you can show that you are increasing higher at a helluva rate to exceed the domestic labor supply, you will have NO sympathy for trying to increase these visa quotas. Doing so only exposes that your TRUE aim is to get cheaper labor, NOT trying to find people with necessary skills. They are there. They just don't want to work dirt cheap like you want them to.

program. There has been backlash before and nobody does anything about it.

I work in the tech sector focusing on Call Centers and I am still dumbfounded on the amount of jobs being filled by foreign workers.