H-1Bs, Immigration Policies and US Jobs

Bill Gates recently testified in front of Congress that the cap of 65,000 on H-1B was far too small. He went on to say that if more highly skilled foreign students are not permitted to work in the country after they graduate from U.S. universities, American high-tech companies would lose their ability to develop innovative products. India, of course, supplies the bulk of this highly skilled productivity, but little is known to those outside of the IT world the legalities, and oftentimes corrupted practices taking place right here in the USA.

On the surface, policies such as the one Bill Gates is advocating for would seem like a win-win situation for both U.S. companies and foreign immigrants, but of course it is much more complex than that. We all know very well the debate against more immigrants working in the U.S., i.e. the loss of jobs to Americans and brain drain in foreign countries. This is all very well documented and I do not wish to engage the reader in such a debacle. I wish to speak of something less spoke of, dare I say, ‘secret’ of the IT world, this being the fraudulent role of small mostly Indian-run recruitment firms. The lawless and unethical practices are something only desis or those working higher up in IT seem to know about, and it would shock typical Americans the way it surprised me when I was let in on the secret.

The Process: Although there are some very big and respectful recruitment firms out there that supply legitimate human resources to big companies specializing in IT, most of them in one way or another resort to smaller privately owned recruitment firms to supply them with links to highly-skilled staff. These smaller firms recruit fresh graduates from U.S. universities or bring over foreign citizens who have been working in IT abroad. The agencies then train the recruits in a specialized area, either concentrating on a specific software, application, or industry. When they are done training, the recruitment firms will assist in the placement of jobs in the specialized area and will take a portion of their salary thereafter. Along with the percentage taken out of their paycheck, the recruits may have to pay a flat-fee for this service and the fee may be quite substantial if the company is filing for the recruit’s H-1 status or any other INS document on their behalf.

The Problem: Although there is nothing illegal outright defined in the above process, the system allows for a plethora of infringements to take place. The first is that the majority of these small firms persuades and even push their recruits to design fraudulent, or fake resumes, giving the applicants five or more years of experience in the specialized field they are applying for when really they have next to none. The companies that hire these recruits mostly frown upon this process and claim they are not at fault as they attempt to successfully sift out these sort of applicants, however I have spoken with a broad range of immigrants that were able to obtain jobs in this way. This seems to be more the norm than the exception leaving in its wake unethical hiring standards throughout the whole of the IT industry. To my knowledge, faking resumes and lying to potential employers is not actually illegal unless it is for the federal government, but there are bound to be traces of illegal activities, such as fraudulent tax forms and false promises to the employees that must occur to maintain the system.

The system unfairly promotes non-citizens because citizens cannot be trusted to maintain the integrity of the fraudulent system. If the immigrants do not oblige in giving potential employers what their recruiters want, they may be sent back to their country, or, per their contract, may be fined. New immigrants rarely have the time or patience to get engaged in the legal system and are mostly pleased to find an easy access to corporate America. One of the extreme cases I have been confronted with was a friend of mine who was entitled to pay $500 each month to his recruiter even though they were not finding him a job. The company that had hired him was an Indian-run company and had found it more profitable to ‘virtually enslave’ their employees while they waited patiently for their green cards. His only option was to leave the country or oblige, as per the INS guidelines, he could not change employers until first receiving a paycheck.

Another contact of mine came here from abroad and returned shortly thereafter. He was brought here under false pretenses from his recruiting agency and was unwilling to lie or beef up his qualifications to find a position even though he had more relevant experience than any other of the recruits. This system rewards lying and unethical behavior and can even leak into national security measures. When these kinds of recruits get a position, they may have access to materials and documentation that they should not be privy to because they do not actually have the pre-determined experience and have instead created a fraudulent persona.

The Solution: When I find fault in something America does, the first thing I do is look over the pond. Europe is much more advanced at socialized systems and maintains more government control over processes such as this one. America has decided on many issues to circumvent government oversight in favor of lower taxes. In many European countries, there is a national board, such as the U.S’ Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which regulates issues on employment and can bar recruits if they are found to be fictitious in nature.

The EEOC’s role in the U.S., however, does not go much beyond making sure discrimination does not occur in the hiring process. The reason the U.S. may not want to initiate this type of oversight seen in Europe may have to do with the fact that the U.S. would have to open up certain employment sectors to foreign nationals. Contractors for many government agencies in the U.S. right now require their employees to be U.S. citizens, for example. Also, at this moment, foreign nationals having extensive experience overseas are not given any type of preference over those with the same or lesser experience obtained in this country. These things would have to change and would create a more even playing ground for foreign nationals in these sectors.

One thing for sure here is that desis are incredibly resourceful when it comes to Information Technology and they will find a way to dominate this field, legally or otherwise. I am not against more H-1 visas permissions any more than I am against recruiting firms in general, but I don’t believe in corrupt systems that promote lying and unethical behavior. I also believe that U.S. educational institutions are partially to blame for these trends. Most universities and technical colleges in the United States do not have enough competitive edge to supply their students with the most up-to-date technology that is directly translatable to the workplace.