We 100% Need an H1B Reform – Just Maybe Not the Kind We’ve Been Hearing About

There are countless companies that rely heavily on top talent to get products to the marketplace that will improve the quality of life for millions of Americans – even if that means finding and bringing that top talent from outside the US.

Amazon – Apple – Microsoft – Google – Ernst and Young – IBM – Intel – PWC all count for THOUSANDS of H1B Visas for people from all around the world.

In recruiting, I’ve had the privilege of working with and interviewing people from nearly every continent and to me, it is a lot of fun. I’m not against H1B candidates at all. They are a group of people that have had to go through a LOT just to even GET to America.

Let’s play a game – imagine America wasn’t the country it was today and instead India was the world leader. You work extremely hard to even go to school – you graduate with DREAMS of one day getting a chance to work in India – and then finally you do get that chance.

At that point you’re not only working to prove your talent in your chosen field but you’re also having to navigate the waters of a COMPLETELY different culture with different values and customs and … not to mention a VERY different language. People are constantly judging to see if you really are who you say you are because they’ve been burned a thousand times by the not so honest candidates or companies representing them. Many times – the native-born Indians are angry that you’re even there – thinking that for some reason you don’t have as much of a right to work there as they do.

That doesn’t even come close to naming all the different waters an H1B Visa holding person has to navigate in a foreign land.

One big one that many people might not even be aware of is that for many people with an H1B visa, the American Dream can quickly turn into a nightmare depending on which company they end up working with.

Unfortunately, more times than I want to believe, they end up being in modern day corporate slavery. Here is a brief list of just three of the things that they might go through: (I’m sure there are MANY many more)

1. This is a fairly minor one compared to other’s but it’s still worth mentioning – They are obligated to move anywhere in the country for a job at nearly the drop of a hat which means they aren’t able to ever settle down or build lasting relationships. They’ll have to do this for YEARS until they get their “Green Card”

2. Many 3rd party staffing companies that only hire H1B candidates pay FAR below market rate and barely above what many would consider a living wage.

3. Here’s the one that I find the worst – they are often forced to be extremely dishonest. Throughout my career, I have caught MANY candidates red handed in faking interviews by having someone more senior than them do the phone interview – so then we moved to doing recorded video interviews and we’ve seen people lip-sink (I’m not kidding - just caught another one last Friday) interviews – we’ve had completely fabricated resumes – the list goes on.

At first, I thought it was the candidate that was purposely dishonest (ok they are but hear me out) – I am a person that genuinely believes that people intrinsically want to be good and honest. The more people I spoke to in those situations the more I came to realize that the candidates many times don’t even WANT to be dishonest, but they don’t have a choice. If they don’t do what those dishonest companies that hold their visas tell them to do they’re up a creek without a paddle so to speak. Many times, they are threatened and verbally abused and cornered to the point that they give up and give in. They don’t have the means to fly back to India – maybe that would be embarrassing to face their family after not “making it” in America – maybe after the months or years of threats and abuse they don’t feel like they are “allowed” to look for and switch companies (oh and by the way – many of them signed contracts that are WAY outside of legality and borderline on indentured servitude).

All this to say – I think our focus MIGHT be on the wrong side of the equation. I don’t think that the H1B Visa and the people that seek them aren’t necessarily the problem. In my opinion, there should be some sort of governmental grading scale for companies that DO decide to employ people that need H1B Visa sponsorship. A type of governmental H1B Visa Yelp. The grading should be done internally by the H1B employees – I understand that this isn’t a cure-all but it could be a start. 

This is a long-winded plea for us to see that people that come to America on H1B visas are not the bad guys/gals. Often times, they have gone through more than we know. They are as unable to choose what country they were born in as you and I are.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how to “fix” the H1B issues and what you think they are.

Also – If you have any websites or blogs that you think would be useful to people that might find themselves in a bad situation with a visa sponsor please comment below.

Here’s what I have so far:

HOW TO FIND H1B VISA JOBS & SPONSORSHIP - Live & Work in America

MyVisaJobs.com

**Side note – while this article focuses on the horrible practices of a some companies – I have worked with and built partnerships with several companies that have over the years started to become friendships – I am very proud of those companies and how they treat their employees**