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- Path: sparky!uunet!olivea!sgigate!sgi!fido!shankar
- From: shankar@sgi.com (Shankar Unni)
- Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
- Subject: Re: San Jose Mercury News re: B'glore
- Message-ID: <1hb1r5INNi6n@fido.asd.sgi.com>
- Date: 24 Dec 92 00:56:05 GMT
- References: <1hak97INNgks@gorn.hal.com>
- Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
- Lines: 44
- NNTP-Posting-Host: boris.wpd.sgi.com
- X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
-
- Bharat Baliga-Savel (savel@hal.COM) wrote:
-
- > $30,000 here, versus $400 there.
-
- That was $400/mo, not $400/yr.
-
- > This article comes after an EE times article, 2 weeks ago, that body
- > shoppers are bringing people from India on a B-1 and paying them
- > $300 and undercutting competition. The INS and the State Dept. are
- > aware of this loophole and intend plugging it soon, as this job
- > losses. India was specifically mentioned (was infact the only
- > country targeted).
-
- Not true. Both India and China are equally involved in this, and both
- are affected.
-
- Once the new rules are totally enforced (I think they are already
- being enforced now), B-1's and H-3's (which are the most abused
- categories) will be limited to true business trips (mgmt meetings /
- trade contacts; and employee *training*, respectively).
-
- Body-shoppers will have to apply for H-1's, which mean:
-
- (a) a numerical quota - approx. 60,000 per year.
- (b) a requirement for employers to pay "fair market wages", which
- means that instead of getting $20/day and room/transport, the
- contractors will be paid a flat (approx) $30-35K / year.
-
- > The SJM article suggested, that software houses in India are moving from
- > body shopping to develop software.
-
- It's finally becoming easier to do software work offshore. After many
- years, satellite-link technology has been shaken loose from the
- government stranglehold and actually made affordable (Rs 1.5
- million/year instead of the former Rs 5. million or more per year for
- a 64kbps link). So many of the larger shops (DEC, HP, IBM/Tata, TCS,
- WIPRO, etc.) have all established links from India to the US and
- Europe.
-
- Of course, I'd say that, at a conservative estimate, at least 90-95%
- of the software business is *still* body-shopping.
- --
- Shankar Unni E-Mail: shankar@sgi.com
- Silicon Graphics Inc. Phone: +1-415-390-2072
-