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Minnesota attractive to many H-1B visa workers
Sheila Lalwani
Star Tribune
Monday, July 9, 2001
While many of his countrymen set their ambitions on a plum technology job in Silicon Valley, Praveen Midhu, a computer programmer from the Indian state of
Rajasthan, cast his lot with a unit of Siemens Inc. in Bloomington.
He's happier and maybe better off for it.
"Even if I were given the choice, I would stay here," said Midhu, who now works for Advanced Web Solutions in Hopkins. He said he earns between $70,000 and $80,000
annually. "I don't like the hustle and bustle of California. I think people there are more materialistic. As far as salary goes, you can get more salary there, but the
expenses are more."
With its steady backroom approach to technology, Minnesota often has been criticized for missing the Internet technology bonanza. But as boom turned to bust,
Minnesota's approach has paid off, especially for many foreign workers who, like Midhu, came here under the program that allows U.S. companies to hire them when
they can't find enough skilled U.S. workers.
"There's not as much turnover" in Minnesota's technology sector, said Toni Heleen, director of employment law at Minnetonka-based ADC Telecommunications. The
company, which makes telecommunications equipment, employs 220 H-1B workers. So far it has laid off only three such employees.
"There is some appeal to staying with a stable employer," Heleen said.
H-1B workers, named after the designation of their work visa, came to the United States in droves as U.S. officials raised the number of such visas to 195,000 last year
from 115,000 just a few years earlier.
The visa allows the workers to stay in the United States for up to six years. India, with its burgeoning high-tech industry but comparatively low wages, led the way,
accounting for 43 percent of the permits. China came in second.
Boom, then bust
Technology stalwarts and upstart dot-com companies alike snapped up the offshore talent voraciously.
Motorola hired 618 of the H-1B workers, Intel hired 367 and Cisco hired 400. Not just fodder for the tech mill, these workers were college educated -- many had
graduate degrees -- and they were considered the cream of their crop back home. They were expected to succeed overseas.
But as the economy turned sour and technology investment swooned, companies sought fewer H-1B visa workers.
For example, U.S. employers applied for 16,000 H-1B visas in February, compared with 32,000 in February 2000. Moreover, several employers that had led the H1-B
visa charge began laying off workers. Cisco laid off 8,000 employees. Nortel Networks got rid of 12,000. In its round of layoffs, Dell Computers Inc. specifically laid off
H1-B workers.
Rajendra Kumar, 29, was one of the daring ones. The company he was working for, Karnaglobaledge, was based in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, and had a branch
office in California's Silicon Valley that provided contract technology workers to local firms. Warned that the tech boom might bust, Kumar nonetheless took a chance
and accepted a job offer in his company's Silicon Valley outpost and the H-1B visa that came with it.
A year later, much of the contract work has dried up and Kumar is heading back home. He's looking forward to resuming his work in India, where he said there's more
stability and the cost of living is more affordable.
In California, he said, "All of the Indian families I have looked at are crying. They can't save anything."
Life's better here
More than 1,000 miles from the coastal centers of technology, foreign workers say life is better and more stable in Minnesota, even if the opportunities might be fewer.
Minnesota employers also might treat workers better than companies on the East and West coasts, which have been accused of violating workers' rights.
While Silicon Valley and other technology clusters are going through a rough patch, Minnesota's need for H1-B workers actually is rising, according to Jane Brown,
president of the Minnesota High Tech Association.
Satya Garg, who is the president and CEO of Advanced Web Solutions in Hopkins, said the privately held company has felt the economic downturn, but not to the
extent that other software companies have.
He employs a handful of H1-B workers. Using his company's offices in India, he handpicks workers to go abroad.
Atul Dua, 29, came to Minnesota from Advanced Web's Indian operations. A programmer, he's been with the company for three years and said he currently earns
between $60,000 and $70,000 a year. He, too, enjoys Advanced Web's stability.
"It's a company that has a solid base," Dua said.
H-1B visa workers also say they believe that their rights are more secure with a stable company. Umair Rashidi, from Pakistan, said he knows that first hand. Rashidi
said he worked for two smaller East Coast companies that ended up owing him $28,000 combined. He maintains that he has records to prove that and has sought legal
help, but has not received any of the money.
"If you're an American, they won't do that to you. The employers are violating the H1-B rules," he said.
He now is working as a consultant with Arthur Andersen in New Jersey, and said he wants to stay in the United States. "I want to see my kids go to a good school," he
said. "Finally they decided, 'Daddy, we want to live here.' If I go back to my country, they will never accept me."
A network to help
The Immigrant Support Network was started in 1999 to assist people such as Rashidi, but especially to advocate for turning visas into green cards or permanent alien
status.
"This group was started because there wasn't anyone representing the interests of H1-B visa holders," said Murali Krishnadevarakonda, a board member with the
support network. "We don't get into the immigration debate. What we're about is [saying that] those who come here should be treated fairly."
Krishnadevarakonda is critical of the U.S. government for allotting more H1-B visas without increasing the number of green cards. The U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) has full authority to demand that a worker leave if he or she loses a job and doesn't find another quickly. The INS has been criticized for
its hard-to-navigate bureaucracy and for taking too long to push paperwork through.
Laura Danielson, an attorney with Fredrikson & Byron in Minneapolis, said that whenever possible, H-1B workers seeking to obtain green card status should live in
Canada or Mexico while their application is pending, instead of going back home.
-- Sheila Lalwani is at slalwani@startribune.com .
© Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. |
