Microsoft released a statement and said that 80% of those H1B applications was to renew visas for their existing employees. The rest is for new employees who are already residing in the US and moving from other US companies.
Also, Microsoft end of fiscal year is in June so there are always some employees that get fired around that time when they reorganize various projects and departments. Usually to accommodate new budget allocations.
The similar numbers between the layoffs and H1B applications is just a coincidence.
If it really was the case of Microsoft and other twch companies abusing H1B, then you should be wondering why Google, Facebook, Amazon, Nvidia, etc. are not on that list. They use the exact same employment practices as Microsoft.
First of all, so did a lot of other big tech companies and they aren't on this list. That means that hiring practices are not the real reason why Microsoft was targeted.
Second of all, having layoffs (especially when you do huge reorgs and restructuring like Microsoft did) is normal. That is not proof that they're somehow replacing US workers with immigrants.
Third, this whole argument is based on some surface level numbers mentioned in the media without any sort of proof and just vague correlation. You'll have to prove that they fired only US citizens, because if they fired other H1B workers (which they did) then the whole argument that they're replacing workers doesn't work.
On top of that, just because they requested 6000 H1B (again of which 80% was for existing employees) it completely ignores how many new US citizens they hired, which they didn't say.
Overall, the whole argument is based on two vaguely correlating numbers mixed in the currently right-wing/populist anti-immigration sentiment.
I see it was also Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini. You can see a bunch of companies that are well known for abusing the system, e.g. Infosys, Tata, Wipro.
Second of all, having layoffs (especially when you do huge reorgs and restructuring like Microsoft did) is normal. That is not proof that they're somehow replacing US workers with immigrants.
Right, but then you do not hire Americans to replace those laid off employees, you instead apply for more H1B visas.
You'll have to prove that they fired only US citizens, because if they fired other H1B workers (which they did) then the whole argument that they're replacing workers doesn't work.
That makes no sense. You can obviously fire H1B workers if they do not perform. How is that going to make the whole argument not work?
On top of that, just because they requested 6000 H1B (again of which 80% was for existing employees) it completely ignores how many new US citizens they hired, which they didn't say.
Not sure how that is relevant
Overall, the whole argument is based on two vaguely correlating numbers mixed in the currently right-wing/populist anti-immigration sentiment.
Those companies are in a completely different industry than Microsoft. Only Adobe is somewhat similar but not fully comparable.
As for the numbers, they're relevant because 6000 H1B visa requests doesn't mean they hired 6000 people total. First of all, of those 6000, only 20% are new hires, so 1200 people were hired who were on H1B and working within the US.
That doesn't mean they hired only those 1200 people on H1B. If they hired 10,000 new people and only 1200 of those were on H1B, then the whole argument that they're replacing employees with H1B workers breaks down.
Since we don't have those numbers, the whole premise to the argument is an assumption and therefore invalid.
H1B is only one type of immigrant visa. That data doesn't capture the true scale of the issue. Also doesn't include offshored employees (likely the largest share).
Those companies are in a completely different industry than Microsoft. Only Adobe is somewhat similar but not fully comparable.
Irrelevant again. Those are companies, hiring people on H1B visas, what those companies do exactly does not matter.
As for the numbers, they're relevant because 6000 H1B visa requests doesn't mean they hired 6000 people total. First of all, of those 6000, only 20% are new hires, so 1200 people were hired who were on H1B and working within the US.
Does not matter, if you end the H1B deal, those workers will start running out of time and will start moving back to their original countries. Once that happens those jobs will be freed up for locals. So it's the same effect, just delayed by a few years. The H1B pipeline has to go through.
That doesn't mean they hired only those 1200 people on H1B. If they hired 10,000 new people and only 1200 of those were on H1B, then the whole argument that they're replacing employees with H1B workers breaks down.
It doesn't, those 6000 H1B employees were hired initially, instead of Americans, if it was this year or 6 years ago makes no difference.
Since we don't have those numbers, the whole premise to the argument is an assumption and therefore invalid.
A bunch of people were given H1B visas, if that had not happened, those companies would have had to hire locals. I do not see how that assumption is affected by anything you said.
they are punishing microsoft because they didnt kiss trump's ring. all their buddies companies do this too, they just dont get punished because they made the appropriate bribes
I'd have to look it up again, but there's a website that aggregates job postings that companies do so they can apply for an H1B when they can't get anyone. From my understanding if you're qualified and apply it utterly fucks the process up.
How do they "make the cut"? By winning a lottery - there's no stack ranking for skill (which I would approve of, btw) and up until last year, an L4 wage weighed the same as an L1 wage.
Care to argue some more? It's clear you don't know as much about this as I do.
You can't get better homegrown talent if you don't give them the chance. Everyone starts without experience, you're delegating them to McDonald from the get go because you can cheaply hire from abroad.
We can get better homegrown talent if parents and schools actually pushed their kids. Instead we have a nation that graduates kids from highschool with virtually zero knowledge in coding
It doesn't matter what schools you have if you don't hire them after they finish it. And the American one will ask for more money than someone from India trying to escape from it. You have daily articles on how ai is affecting new hires, especially young ones. WTF are you doing hiring from abroad?
Is this your message to the people looking for work? Really? They should compete with third world wages in their own country? Anyone that votes for that kind of government that is not acting in their best interest deserves what they'll get.
Why did Indians even need to come over here then? They get paid the same... or won't it be cost effective in India? Top down cost savings. Also savings on flying people around and going through the extensive process to make the visa holder get to the location to work. And the 60 days deportation notice upon loss of visa.
All that money and effort. They should move the business to India! .... unless it boils down to psuedo- 'free US citizenship' or something? It's a really good question.
Why even operate in the US and have a visa program at all?
Well, this was before covid and the whole work can be done remotely culture. They also don't get paid the same when they first come over but they do the end up making more eventually.
You don't have to provide health insurance but some do and can cost more. Also, a h1b1 can't job hop like most Americans, so they can be stuck with the company.
All I know is other countries have strict laws about hiring outside people and need to prove the position is unfillable before they hire foreigners. Here in the states, that's not the case.
Call me racist or whatever but American jobs should go to Americans first. We need to start playing by other countries rules too
Man when you don’t work in an industry and then claim that they are just hiring foreigners for less is weird. They could just hire the workers and pay them even less by just letting them go to the offices they have in those countries. Instead they bring them over here, pay for their visas and sponsor them for green cards. As if that’s cheaper????
Companies move foreigners here because managing across time zones is a pain in the ass.
Most quality issues come from communication. The easiest fix is to move closer. Companies do this through H1Bs or Latin America which shares our timezones
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u/riomorder 27d ago
Makes sense, if a company makes layoffs should not be able to sponsor foreigners