US blacklists 17 firms from applying H1-B

[justboxing]

This does nothing. The 'little guys' have gotten scape-goated.

I don't see Infosys, CapGemini, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Cognizant, Tech Mahindra or for that matter any of the Top 10 H1B Visa Abusers [1] in this List.

Business as Usual.

It's strikingly similar to the list of countries in the Trump's Muslim Ban wherein countries that sponsored terrorism, but that in which he had business interests in ,were not listed, incl. Saudi Arabia ( 15 of the 19 911 hijackers were Saudi Citizens)

EDIT: Addressing @praneshp's question. Microsoft might be a red herring, but the rest, esp. the Indian Companies like TCS, Infosys, Congnizant are also the TOP 10 Abusers of H1B Visa. Speaking from personal experience here. I've written at length about this on Quora, so don't want to re-hash it. You can read it here => https://www.quora.com/Being-on-H1B-is-it-worth-joining-TCS-i...

Not only do these Indian Companies abuse the H1B Visa program, but they also abuse and underpay the workers they bring on the H1B Program. I've written about this also in my Quora answer linked above.

[1] Source: https://sc.cnbcfm.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/files/...

[praneshp]

Asking because I have no clue: You just linked to the top-10 H1B holders, not abusers, no? I see Microsoft on that list, and find it difficult to believe they are abusers.

From what I know from extended family, firms like the ones in the link do things like faking a job/resume, etc. Do the large Indian firms do that as well, in addition to flooding the lottery pool?

[curiousDog]

Agreed. There's 100s more. I wish there was an avenue to directly report these body shops. Here's one: http://www.ccsiusa.net/ (Corporate Computer Services, detroit). Even their Glassdoor reviews are fake.

[wtf_is_up]

Weren't the countries from the travel ban already identified under the Obama administration as being failed states incapable of verifying documents or nations refusing to do so?

It makes sense that he would do business in nations with functioning government.

[desireco42]

Tata is probably the worst, but InfoSys etc... totally right.

[spydum]

The actual source list: https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/H1BDebarment.htm

"The Wage and Hour Division maintains the list below of willful violator employers under the H-1B program."

One really odd stand out on the list... Popeyes chicken?!?

Yummi Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen 1310 El Camino Real San Bruno, CA 94066

[dylanpyle]

I'd guess this is a single franchise owner abusing H-1b petitions, not Popeye's corporate.

[protomyth]

Strange, I thought hospitality workers were H-2B. I was surprise the local McDonald's had foreign workers here on visas. I think there was an article on HN about shortages of workers under those programs (east coast resorts?).

[santaclaus]

Research scientists to discover that perfect mix of herbs and spices.

[john_moscow]

Strange move given that all you could do to stop the current abuse is to start prioritizing the applications by salary rather than picking them randomly until the cap is reached.

[stale2002]

Agreed!

Or if you really want, the government could just turn it into an auction, and reap the money earned from it.

[adrianbg]

That would penalize startups, giving only large companies access to the foreign labour pool. It's rare that a problem like this has a simple solution.

[nashashmi]

Wouldn't it been better for there to have been a silent blacklist? Won't these companies just rename themselves now to get around this restriction?

[the_rock_says]

I don't see how by only blocking firms will help clean this H1B abuse. The H1B visa abusers and spammers should be screened out before the applications are put into the lottery. Having this process in place, companies like Infosys, TCS etc. can't misuse it as all the 'real' and 'well-deserved' applications are in lottery.

[mc32]

What would keep these affected companies from creating new companies to engage in the same behavior?

[partycoder]

Or outsource to a company that does the visas for them.

[partycoder]

Surprised to not see Infosys on this list.

Business as usual for H-1B cheaters.

[civilian]

Relevant username?

[spinlock]

FYI - native americans aren't white.