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Comment by paxys | Hacker News Reader

As an Indian - good! This will help the local IT industry tremendously.

Yeah, I don't see how this is bad thing for the Indian government. They can prevent brain drain. However, it's a very bad thing for Indians in the US and US employers.

More like one time elimination of bad blood, imposters and job tourists. A temporary struggle, then a gradual climb back to serious work, with serious people. It might not be at the same scale as it is now. But people will still write code.

Its also good for the freelancing/gig economy. Now even big companies will be forced to look for outsourcing or remote hiring options as the talent pool starts leaving that country.

I wonder, how much do Indians prefer emigration vs remote work? Assuming pay is equal

Remote Work!

Considering IT hubs like Bangalore[1] and Chennai[2] are running out of water, most prefer emigration.

[1]https://www.news18.com/news/india/on-verge-of-acute-water-cr... [2]https://www.livemint.com/industry/infotech/work-from-home-re...

They are not going to run out of water. I was born and raised in Bangalore, Have been in places around Bangalore all life. And water struggles have been forever.

Bangalore has water infrastructure problems, not water shortages. We will fix them in time, like we always have.

I have to agree. The problem is not rainfall. There is plenty of water. Indeed it is expected that global warming will result in greater rainfall not less. The problem is infrastructure. That is a matter of time and money. It will get solved.

Chennai got decent rain today after 196 days. Good rain is expected for 6 more days

https://m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/chennai-rain-after-1...

Even if pay is half or one third, I prefer India (saying as someone who was an h1b in US for 6.5 years). India has a lot of problems-bad infrastructure, crazy traffic, poor air, bad policing and so on. Life in India is basically like playing a game in difficult mode while US is easy mode. But the peace of mind that comes with not having to live in the uncertainty that h1b brings is insanely huge. When it comes to quality of life, while things like good air matters, the "uncertainty" seems to override pretty much everything else, at least in my case. I guess my lizard brain sees it as "US has lot of resources that will get you lot of food, but there are plenty of predators, so you must go somewhere free from those, and until you do that I am going to make you miserable". It may sound stupid, but that's how I make sense of my experience as an h1b.

Based on my rough estimates, when I compare an h1b (earning $100k in midwest per year and paying $1000 per month rent with a stay at home spouse and kids) vs the same person working in India with spouse also working (both earning ₹50-70k per month), the person in India can save more or less same. And if that person were to try in one of the good companies in big cities say Bengaluru, they most likely will save more.

Bankruptcy due to medical bills is another major concern (one of my h1b friends faced this, ended up wiping out all his savings he had from his 1+ year stay in US, and I think some of it went to collections).

Another issue is the one faced by h1b spouses, who are predominantly women. With the proposed removal of h4 work authorization (h4 means spouses of h1b), this becomes an even bigger issue considering that Indians typically have to wait anywhere from 15-20-50-150 years for the green card. Imagine being completely reliant on your spouse on a foreign country with absolutely no support. I wouldn't want to be in that situation, I don't want my wife to be in that either. One can never know when a person will change.

>Sharing her experience while interacting with the victims of domestic violence, Peshawaria said overarching their rather harrowing lives is the fear of social stigma that is particularly intense for the women who come from south Asia. More often than not, they have been told stories about how a wonderful life awaits them in America, the world's richest country, which would be a dramatic improvement for them compared to what they experience in India," she said.

https://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-american-lawyer-aut...

And reports like below makes me suspicious of how great the immigrant life is actually. I am not saying crimes/suicides don't happen in India, but its not that reassuring since I am not sure if its murder-suicide or if they were targeted.

* June 2019-Iowa family of four found dead with gunshot wounds: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/iowa-family-four-f...

* May 2019-'Why haven't they found the killer yet?': Sikh family want answers in West Chester (quadruple) shooting: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/05/08/west-cheste...

* February 2019-Friends reel from suspected murder-suicide death of Sugar Land, TX, couple: https://www.newsindiatimes.com/friends-reel-from-suspected-m...

Based on PPP calculations and the current USD-INR exchange rate, a third of the salary is roughly equal in terms of purchasing power, and half could be a substantial pay hike.

Source: http://salaryconverter.nigelb.me which uses world bank numbers.

Thanks for the link.

When I typed "Even if pay is half or one third", I actually was thinking of savings. I am past the edit window now. But please read it as "Even if the money I can save is half or one third".

As some one who returned from US, this is how I look at US/Outside India stay:

1. Ensure you are rich/have lot of money.

2. Ensure you are healthy.

Even if one doesn't apply to you, life can be hell outside India. This is to an extent you won't even get a shoulder to cry upon. A lot of people think they have a social structure in the US, until they have call upon on in the times of emergencies, and realize they have none. A lot of this depends on a major disease never touching you, and having life long 20% YoY career growth. You have to be lucky beyond belief to fit into this definition, this is regardless of how hard you can or are working.

The problem with this luck game is, no one is lucky enough to be lucky forever. Most people who settle in the US are really having tons of luck going for them in early life. That's the good news. The bad news, is if you plan to toss a coin a billion times, and a straight 10K heads have shown up. Guess what a straight 10K tails are coming sooner or later.

Go figure.

Isn't there a burgeoning Indian community though ?

Most of it won't come to your help. You would be hard pressed to call upon a close friend.

In most cases its colleagues who graduate to being friends. But those generally wither away when you change companies. Others are made at community centers, they are mostly like frenemies.

If you plan to settle in the US, ensure you don't get poor and stay healthy.

> Bankruptcy due to medical bills is another major concern

I thought most of the people on H1b have good insurances to make sure this is not the case.

I was working for an Indian IT company back then. According to my colleague, they offered really good health insurance (I never pay attention to such things, so don't know how good it was compared to others). I got a dental cleaning and wisdom tooth removal done once, and had to pay $2200 from my pocket since insurance didn't cover those. The dentist told me before the treatment itself, and so wasn't a surprise. Another time, I ended up having to go to a hospital couple of times for an issue. Total bill was around $20k. I had to pay only $50 from my pocket. After I came back to India, I got another letter in my US address from the hospital (nearly 1.5 years after the hospital visit). I suspect it could be another bill. I knew about the letter because I still get the USPS informed delivery email alerts!

My friend also worked for an Indian company. His wife had a delivery and there were complications. I am not sure what really happened. He one day called me and told me to have some money ready (around $2-3k) in case he needs to borrow. He said he had to pay a lot of money from his pocket, and that he reached the maximum limit (after which insurance pays everything?). He was in US for around 1 year, and left soon after because the project was over or ramped down. Just before he left, he got another bill for $3 or $4k and he said he is letting it go to collections. After he came back to India, I asked him about it and he said it was taken care off (didn't say if insurance paid or he paid or he ignored it).

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