It could be any of the things you told. I dont know much about what the real answer is. However, my job, when they recruited me, was a lead position. They told me that they had been trying for a perfect fit for a few months within USA and came to me, through their Indian offices.
I would have thought they are just telling me so, to make me feel better. However after 6 months into the job, I had to expand my team and they asked me to interview. It took me 67 interviews (80% of them non-immigrants) and we found one candidate that we liked. And he happened to be from Russia and was on a H1 !!.
I can tell you that in my case, I was not cheap labor. I was in the top 20% pay bracket of IBM.
And here is my passage into the country.
1) I was interviewd in India to work for IBM research.
2)They (IBM) filed applications with Dept. of Labour in which they had to state my pay and also they had to give the prevailing market rate of this job. And what they pay me had to be more than the market rate (even if marginally so).
3) I get my pay checks and they deduct SS Tax, Medicare tax - But I cannot collect either of them (except if I die or get amputated) because I have to contribute 40 points to SS. But the maximum I can contribute per year is 4 points. So I have to be in the work force for 10 years to get this (4 points times 10 years = 40 points). But my H1 is valid only for 6 years.
4) I spend on buying a car, buying everthing I need for my living from the scratch. So my expenditure in the US (atleast initially) matches closely to my income. You can do the math on how much it would cost to start a life in a different country.
5) I was the Indian geek that all the fellow colleagues amused over, and they were friendly and they respected my work. Just like anyother place in the world.
Slashdot Mirror
It could be any of the things you told. I dont know much about what the real answer is. However, my job, when they recruited me, was a lead position. They told me that they had been trying for a perfect fit for a few months within USA and came to me, through their Indian offices. I would have thought they are just telling me so, to make me feel better. However after 6 months into the job, I had to expand my team and they asked me to interview. It took me 67 interviews (80% of them non-immigrants) and we found one candidate that we liked. And he happened to be from Russia and was on a H1 !!. I can tell you that in my case, I was not cheap labor. I was in the top 20% pay bracket of IBM.
And here is my passage into the country. 1) I was interviewd in India to work for IBM research. 2)They (IBM) filed applications with Dept. of Labour in which they had to state my pay and also they had to give the prevailing market rate of this job. And what they pay me had to be more than the market rate (even if marginally so). 3) I get my pay checks and they deduct SS Tax, Medicare tax - But I cannot collect either of them (except if I die or get amputated) because I have to contribute 40 points to SS. But the maximum I can contribute per year is 4 points. So I have to be in the work force for 10 years to get this (4 points times 10 years = 40 points). But my H1 is valid only for 6 years. 4) I spend on buying a car, buying everthing I need for my living from the scratch. So my expenditure in the US (atleast initially) matches closely to my income. You can do the math on how much it would cost to start a life in a different country. 5) I was the Indian geek that all the fellow colleagues amused over, and they were friendly and they respected my work. Just like anyother place in the world.