Comment by at-fates-hands | Hacker News Reader

Comment by at-fates-hands | Hacker News Reader

Having worked in a ton of different large corporations that have large H1-B employee populations, I can say this is completely true from my experience.

In the last three places (including my current employer) there were huge swaths of H1-B's from India. After some long lunches and happy hours, I found out that a) they're being paid significantly less than I was and b) two of the three companies wouldn't sponsor them to stay at the company and come on as an FTE.

This meant several trips and back and forth between the states and Bangalore to get a new visa, then turn around and try and find a new gig somewhere. For the developers who were single it wasn't a problem. Those workers with families, it was quite stressful to have their families moving back and forth on a regular basis and not having the stability of knowing they had a gig lined up or not.

Toss in the fact getting these visa's are incredibly competitive and I can only imagine the stress involved.

Just as a counter-point (not saying your experience is incorrect at all), I've worked in the US on an H1B and was compensated very well, as were my co-workers. The system allows abuse, but doesn't guarantee it.

I do wonder if the employees you mention know that an H1B is transferrable between employers. It's a time consuming process, but I'd love to see more people take advantage of those who abuse the visa by getting one, then immediately transferring it to an honest company that pays a fair salary.

> H1B is transferable between employers

Its not easy as it sounds. Being a single that time, I have transferred my H1B myself and it was a nightmare. I had sleepless nights and uncertainty. My GreenCard process was reset. Any H1Bs who knows about the system really well will not risk transferring because of the risks to their green card process.

There is no honest company which pays a fair salary for H1Bs. If you see the data from here:

https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm

I have a huge circle of friends in many companies. We discuss our salaries and issues openly. Not one of them says that they are paid equal to their American colleagues. Moroever the promotions and salary raises goes to American colleagues, while the H1Bs bears it all to support the family with the income where his/her spouse is not allowed to work (H4 visa)

I agree with your general point here.

> There is no honest company which pays a fair salary for H1Bs.

..

> I have a huge circle of friends in many companies. We discuss our salaries and issues openly. Not one of them says that they are paid equal to their American colleagues.

I am not your friend, just a random person on internet. But I am on H-1B, and if this offers any solace, I know that I am paid par with my American colleagues. My boss is on H-1B; both he and I have American and H-1B employees reporting to us.

and you are one of those random H1B employee in the top percentile & we were not.

The rules have been changed, if youre not aware. Lot of my friends have moved between jobs on H1B. There's no uncertainty there. Moving after approved i140 prevents the greencard process from resetting.

I work in autosector and my salary is definitely equal or higher than my coworkers.

edit: i am on H1B

I have a general understanding of all the nook & corners of the I-140 portability rules. Its very precarious & employees with a family and kids in school will not dare to do this. Its a high risk maneuver.

Suppose an employee did take the risks, think about when he will be getting a greencard for EB2 or EB3 from India/China, 10 years ? If the queue readjusts, 15 years ? What if the portability provisions are taken out by a new government ? Whats the point ? Why should an employee's future be dictated by a broken immigration system ? I believe in fail-fast, so that's why I took the Express Entry path of Canada and I didn't fail.

I have done the transfer. It is not difficult if you find a company willing to pay for lawyers to handle it for you. But yes, if you are only in the first phase of your green card application you will be set back.

And I promise you, there are companies that pay a fair amount to H1B workers. I have worked for four of them myself. I don't know what kind of companies you work for or where in the country you are, but they exist.

I am not in the country anymore. Was in US for 4 years. Left it for Canada as a permanent resident.

Where I've worked we paid H1B similarly. Remember, that the visa process isn't free, it's an additional cost to the company so paying a little less isn't unreasonable.

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