re: W Does CiscoSince I work to one of these companies I cannot vouch for all of them. Since I don't hear from my friends but I can see how much the people reporting to me are paid - and only by chance I found out that some of them are on H1 I can assure you that there is NO difference in pay or work. At least one company in four I guess I mentioned is fair... a good step. In rest I agree with you that more have to be done for the engineers on H1 visa . Bill is definitelly right on track!
re: W Does CiscoUmm, that would be none. The H1B program itself wasn't even created until both the PC and the Internet were between 15-20 years old.
funny! - I didn't know that you have such an old PC and your connection to internet is so slow. I was not talking about the beginings but the huge amount of work which happened in the last 10 years.
I can assure you that there is NO difference in pay between H1B visa holders , green card holders or citizens @ a normal company (Microsoft , Cisco , Juniper , Lucent etc).
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I can assure you that you are wrong. I work at one of these big companies and my friends on H1 make way less than others. I have friends at a prominent networking company in the valley and they are complaining about the same thing.
Also, it is not so much as the salary but other treatment is the problem: for e.g. nature of the work dished out to them etc.
I don't have problems with H1 per se but remove this binding between H1 and the company they work for. Once they get H1 they should be free to leave/join any other company. I think Bill Gates proposed this some time back.
re: W Does CiscoYou think that there is no abuse of H1B? Just Google H1B and 'Abuse' and learn. Here's a recent article: http://www.philly.com/mld/inqu...
Do you really think they are paid the same because 'there is a law to underpay'? It must be nice to be so naive and think the world is so honest.
It's amazing that they are ready to give millions of illegal farmworker immigrants citizenship yet they won't give highly trained engineers and citizens this same citizenship.
It really is a way to tell who's being honest and who's just blowing hot air. When CEOs give long impassioned speeches about how there's this shortage of engineers and they need H1Bs and why aren't students going into the profession, just do this simple test. Are they saying anything about setting up a Green Cards program for bringing in these engineers? If they are, then they are being honest. If they aren't then it is ALL baloney. Guess what? None are talking about any Green Card program.
H1B is a TEMPORARY Visa! It doesn't solve any long term engineering shortage problem. It DOES give the employer the ability to pay less. A Green Card program would let the employee work anywhere. The employer loses its advantage.
re: W Does Cisco"What are your thoughts on the US needing Asian (or foreign) investment to sustain the stock and bond markets when the baby boomers retire?"
Well, it depends on whether the market as a whole is irrational (it's own supply and demand), or has an intrinsic value based on the collective supply and demand of the companies products or services.
The answer is it is often irrational, but always falls to intrinsic sooner or later.
If you depend on it being irrational to have a retirement, you are not going to be able to plan your retirement with certainty.
Personally, I do not plan to retire. I will work until I die on the job, or get too sick to work, in which case I will file for disability.
Failing that I will sell my SillyCon Valley home, take advantage of arbitrage and retire to somewhere (like the Philippines) where I can exchange one American Dollar for 50 of the local Dollars (Pesos) and still buy a BigMac. OK, its made with Spam, but so are the ones made here.
re: W Does CiscoThis is true. I know of multiple engineers with H1 visas, and they are stuck with that employer. They get better pay somewhere else but they can't move.
re: W Does CiscoThis is true. I know of multiple engineers with H1 visas, and they are stuck with that employer. They get better pay somewhere else but they can't move.
re: W Does Cisco"And BTW, "represents" means the same thing as IOU: worthless if POTUS says so."
I was agreeing with everything until the above lines... what about the 'credibility' factor? Can POTUS do it in reality just like that? Without consent of the Congress? And even if in theory that 'can be done' there is no presidence that that has ever been done (and hence ever will be done). Woudn't it be something like denying your credit card balance? Curious what you think...
re: W Does Ciscoou think that there is no abuse of H1B? Just Google H1B and 'Abuse' and learn. Here's a recent article: http://www.philly.com/mld/inqu...
But Tera I read the article and seems to me that the main abuse is done by the congress not helping them. I agree with you that the nature of H1 visa should be adjusted. It breaks my heart seeing and hearing about people who worked long hours , paid taxes helping us to build this powerfull tool called Internet (an American idea I fully agree) and in the end of the day after years spent in US , paying taxes (quite high because all of them were qualifyed engineers) not giving them a fair chance to stay here and join the american dream for which they worked so hard. Afterall we invited them here. We should modify the law and what Bill Gates proposed will be a good start.
re: W Does Ciscoron202: Since I don't hear from my friends but I can see how much the people reporting to me are paid - and only by chance I found out that some of them are on H1 I can assure you that there is NO difference in pay or work. __________________________________________________ There is a difference *by statute*. H1B is normally extendable to 61/2 years. That tenure is not sufficient to entitle a worker for social security benefits. So, an engineer on H1B would contribute to social security during her employment, while being denied any benefit.
The British have a better system - the guest worker can chose to contribute to social security or not. Most chose not to.
At least one company in four I guess I mentioned is fair... a good step.
In rest I agree with you that more have to be done for the engineers on H1 visa . Bill is definitelly right on track!