Communications of the ACM
Top Users of H-1b Visas Are Offshore Outsourcers
Credit: Life's Early Adapters
The biggest users of H-1B visas are offshore outsourcers, many based in India, or U.S.-based companies whose employees are mostly located overseas, according to new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data. This data is certainly controversial for the supporters of the skilled-worker visa program, who are pushing to increase the H-1B cap from 85,000 annually to 300,000. The new data suggests the major beneficiaries of an increase in the H-1B cap would likely be offshore outsourcing companies, not domestic technology companies. So does the H-1B visa undermine career opportunities for American tech workers or not?
Not all major H-1B users are India-based. Microsoft, the primary public face in the U.S. for H-1B supporters, is the 11th largest user of H-1B visas. IBM is also a major user, but a significant number of the H-1B visas it is granted go to its India-based unit. According to the 2012 USCIS data, initial H-1B approvals, those for first-time applicants rather than renewals, jumped 35% year-over-year. With that big increase — which surprised many analysts — the number of new-use approvals broke the 100,000 mark for the first time. Some observers who reviewed the numbers speculate that the higher H-1B count may be the result of a shift away from use of the L-1 visa, which is used by companies with offices in the U.S. and abroad to transfer employees.
From Network World
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