SJS6 Chasing Dreams and Dollars: India and the H-1B Visa

Source: Ghosh, Padmaparna. "Chasing Dreams and Dollars: India and the H-1B Visa." San

    Fransico Chronicle. N.p., 29 Apr. 2016. Web. 6 May 2016. <http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/

    Chasing-dreams-and-dollars-India-and-the-H-1B-7382822.php>.

Author: Is a native Indian freelance writer.

Summary: The H-1B visa a temporary work visa reserved for skilled-technical workers and grad students to work within the U.S for a period of 3-6 years without citizenship or residency. The program has been running since 1990 and currently accepts over 75,000 new workers every year. Most of these workers are part of the entry level IT industry which is for the most part concentrated on the west coast. This system however is not without its side effects. The system itself is run as a lottery for all applicants who meet the minimum qualifications. This in many instances can result in applicants who may be more deserving of acceptance being denied based off the lottery. Other downsides include the criminal racketeering within the Indian outsourcing industry, discrimination of visa holding employees and anti-indian sentiment in the US under the banner of stolen jobs.

Analysis: This relates to our unit in the respect that it reflects upon the darker side of the economic globalization and flattening between the US and India. While many a time we only look at the tangible aspect that some Indians are earning better money and the US corporations get cheap labor. We fail to address the envy it causes amongst the rest of the Indian populations and the repercussions it has on them and the distaste it creates in America for foreign workers and effect that has on ethnic relations. So in the end the true power of this article does not lie in its’ inherent argument but rather in the reality that it shows how not very often do we ever fully see the whole picture of any situation.