Discussion On The Politics of Immigration Reform (Comprehensive Or Otherwise)

[feedmyback]

Correct me if I am wrong but all it takes for the consulting companies (big or small) to not be treated as a H1-B dependent employer is just to apply labor/I-140 for their employees just to make sure their (H1 + L1) count is less than 15% right? An amendment by Grassley related to this was also defeated yesterday.

So as per CIR as of today, all EC,EVC should be fine as long as the employer makes sure to apply Labor/I140 for at least 85% of his workforce and pays 500$ for each employee that is in EC or EVC model. Am I missing anything here? Agreed that it is not an easy task for any company to make sure that at least 85% of its employees are on GC path. But still it is not a dead end.

Wrong. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/us...pagewanted=all



I fully support these provisions. Will keep bodyshoppers out and the H1Bs that come will be treated better and have more opportunities.

[abcx13]

Correct me if I am wrong but all it takes for the consulting companies (big or small) to not be treated as a H1-B dependent employer is just to apply labor/I-140 for their employees just to make sure their (H1 + L1) count is less than 15% right? An amendment by Grassley related to this was also defeated yesterday.

So as per CIR as of today, all EC,EVC should be fine as long as the employer makes sure to apply Labor/I140 for at least 85% of his workforce and pays 500$ for each employee that is in EC or EVC model. Am I missing anything here? Agreed that it is not an easy task for any company to make sure that at least 85% of its employees are on GC path. But still it is not a dead end.

Um, the PERM has to be approved and then the employee can file 485 immediately if there is no backlog so the EVC loses leverage over the employee and that's probably why they're not going to apply in the first place.

[rupen86]

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/29...than-obamacare

Even though the article is against the reform, look at the last para where Steve king says that they would produce some kind of amnesty bill in the conference which would be put on the floor for up or down vote. This seems like where it is heading which seems a good thing.

[feedmyback]

Agreed... eventually the employee will have the upper hand and that is good.

Um, the PERM has to be approved and then the employee can file 485 immediately if there is no backlog so the EVC loses leverage over the employee and that's probably why they're not going to apply in the first place.

[gs1968]

To abcx13 & feedmyback
The Bill is quite punitive and it appears like the Indian IT firms were foremost in their minds when they wrote this part of the Bill.

http://blog.fosterquan.com/2013/05/

[gcq]

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/29...than-obamacare

Even though the article is against the reform, look at the last para where Steve king says that they would produce some kind of amnesty bill in the conference which would be put on the floor for up or down vote. This seems like where it is heading which seems a good thing.

That article summaries what Steve King is !
Steve King's comments or thoughts has no value in this CIR. He can think whatever he likes, no one is going to care. If they were to consider any of his comments in drafting the bill, CIR will be dead on arrival. The only thing CIR proponents need to watch out is the campaign by likes of NUSA.

[gcq]

Correct me if I am wrong but all it takes for the consulting companies (big or small) to not be treated as a H1-B dependent employer is just to apply labor/I-140 for their employees just to make sure their (H1 + L1) count is less than 15% right? An amendment by Grassley related to this was also defeated yesterday.

So as per CIR as of today, all EC,EVC should be fine as long as the employer makes sure to apply Labor/I140 for at least 85% of his workforce and pays 500$ for each employee that is in EC or EVC model. Am I missing anything here? Agreed that it is not an easy task for any company to make sure that at least 85% of its employees are on GC path. But still it is not a dead end.

Applying for GC was never an issue with small and medium consulting companies. Companies that didn't file GC was Indian firms like TCS, Infosys( They didn't want onsite employees to jump ship) and American consulting companies ( They generally are not immigration friendly).

[gs1968]

A tweet I just saw
"A House Judiciary aide says the committee will hold a hearing on the Senate immigration bill next week."

Link is here-http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/113th/hear_05222013_2.html

[gs1968]

To gcq
I agree with you that people and firms are not potted plants and will adapt to new regulations and move on. The main concern is if the larger firms start changing their business model to decrease boots on the ground here or start hiring US citizens and GC holders and increase off-shoring. This might choke off the steady supply of ship-jumpers to the small/medium sized companies who lure them with the carrot of a Green Card.Also if wait/processing times improve as a result of this Bill then the endless hook of an EB-3 application may not work.It remains to be seen how much of the current restrictions remain in the final Bill and how the USCIS rule-making & implementation affects this

[justvisiting]

I wonder if with the current controversies surrounding the President (IRS targeting the Tea Party, the AP scandal, and the Benghazi scandal) the Republicans "smell blood" and will not pass CIR to prvenet Obama from gaining a political victory of any kind.

[gs1968]

Still negotiating on the H-1B visas


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...ation/2162389/

The article seems to imply more of the "good faith" efforts and some technicalities of the hiring decisions.It does not appear like the out-placement provisions or the H1b dependent vs non-dependent issues are at discussion stage.It seems ironic that the larger US-based tech firms who are not h-1B dependent are being treated more favorably than the Indian IT firms.I believe this is mainly because the Indian firms lobbying efforts were not effective or timely

[abcx13]

Still negotiating on the H-1B visas


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...ation/2162389/

The article seems to imply more of the "good faith" efforts and some technicalities of the hiring decisions.It does not appear like the out-placement provisions or the H1b dependent vs non-dependent issues are at discussion stage.It seems ironic that the larger US-based tech firms who are not h-1B dependent are being treated more favorably than the Indian IT firms.I believe this is mainly because the Indian firms lobbying efforts were not effective or timely

Positive sign IMO. If they can satisfy Hatch's concerns, they should get his vote I would think.

[gcq]

To gcq
I agree with you that people and firms are not potted plants and will adapt to new regulations and move on. The main concern is if the larger firms start changing their business model to decrease boots on the ground here or start hiring US citizens and GC holders and increase off-shoring. This might choke off the steady supply of ship-jumpers to the small/medium sized companies who lure them with the carrot of a Green Card.Also if wait/processing times improve as a result of this Bill then the endless hook of an EB-3 application may not work.It remains to be seen how much of the current restrictions remain in the final Bill and how the USCIS rule-making & implementation affects this

These legislation will help the interest of anti-immigrants, not the pro-union folks like Durbin/Democrat. Net result is even more outsourcing. IMO off shoring companies don't need that many H1s and L1s here. These H1s/L1s are here because they can bill clients at a higher rate when they are onsite. These companies will need only a few managers and team leads here who can be GC holders and citizens. From what I have seen citizens won't mind heading this companies as long as they get a decent paycheck. So more outsourcing, democrats and unions lose, anti-immigrants win.

Another point I see is Grassley and co can better target immigrants when they are fulltime employees of these large corporation. Remember the TARP restrictions on companies for H1s ? Consulting companies were able to bypass these restrictions as they were not funded by TARP but executing their projects.

[kuku82]

Where are we with the standoff between Hatch and Durbin wrt tech visas? Were all issues resolved yesterday or are they working on it behind the scenes?

[rupen86]

Rubio splits with gang on some amendments.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/2...on-immigration

[indiani]

I think the way the battles are fought for this huge and complicated bill, its very unlikely that it gets to obama's desk this year, may be by next summer. the longer it drags on the smaller the chances are that it will ever becomes law.
almost everyone thinks that it can pass senate but passing in house with citizenship clause will be a "miracle".
overall chances this becoming law is less than 50%

[gs1968]

The time has come-make or break tomorrow! Hopefully just posturing

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...ion-91422.html

[bvsamrat]

So be it. IMHO- In fact this single step would reduce all future back logs and numbers will be back to normal without any other provisions at all

If comes back again, let them have a separate route.

H1Bs coming to US ?
Route1: Through the same consulting companies
Route2: Education route ( which is illegal as per the current law)

These laws will block the first route. That is all what it does.
As for consulting companies guts, I will say they don't have the guts to stand up for themselves.
Consulting companies are in consulting business. There is no point comparing against Microsoft/Googles. They are 2 different business models.

[gs1968]

Just to lighten things up-I enjoyed this

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...house-hearing/

On a different note-is being a Yoda a promotion or demotion for me?

[vizcard]

On a different note-is being a Yoda a promotion or demotion for me?

It just means the force is strong within you

[rupen86]

The time has come-make or break tomorrow! Hopefully just posturing

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...ion-91422.html

It is ridiculous that even though they agree on 95% of things, they are ready to let this go for 5%.

[immitime]

Just to lighten things up-I enjoyed this

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...house-hearing/

On a different note-is being a Yoda a promotion or demotion for me?

gs1968

I think this is done by number of postings on forums, You can see after 300 posts everyone is a Yoda. :-)

[immitime]

It is ridiculous that even though they agree on 95% of things, they are ready to let this go for 5%.

That is exactly the politics or Politricks is for.. Nothing is passed, but only debate spending the tax payers money. Wasted time.

[gs1968]

To vizcard and immitime
Thanks for the kind words

To viz
Thankfully we live in the USA and not one of these places

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...ligious-police

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...729865611.html

Also the Senate should move on the Bill fairly quickly according to Sen.Reid

http://washingtonexaminer.com/senate...stom_click=rss

[idiotic]

Also the Senate should move on the Bill fairly quickly according to Sen.Reid

http://washingtonexaminer.com/senate...stom_click=rss

And they will... Sen. Leahy announced at close of today's meeting that next meeting is on Monday(instead of regular tuesday/thursdays) and they will work late evenings to finish all amedments so that the bill can be printed in memorial day weekend