But, it’s important to look at the actual parameters of the new H1B bill before聽panicking.

According to the new H1B bill, introduced by Democrat Zoe Lofgren, ONLY H1B dependent employers (companies whose workforce in the US consists of over 15% H1B visa holders) are liable to pay a minimum of $130,000 to it’s employees on a H1B visa.

To read more on the new H1B visa, check Part 1 of the blog. Read now!

A quick search on Google reveals that only two companies may fit the criteria for a H1B dependent employer i.e.

And, as an MS/PhD aspirant, are you aiming for a job at any of these companies?

Not really.

Besides, in my opinion, raising the salary indiscriminately without any regard to the job sector, median wages, growth, return of investment etc. While it is possible that the minimum salary might be raised from the current standard of $60,000, it is highly unlikely that the salaries will go up by more than 50% overnight.

Availability of Jobs

Now, another aspect to this argument is the current availability of jobs, irrespective of a salary increase.

From an economic point of view, the Trump administration is targeting an economic growth of 3.5-4% for the next fiscal year. Historically speaking, the engine of any economy is the continuous investment and relentless research in science & technology. The United States of America has earned its superior position as a superpower and economy over the years by prioritizing scientific research and development.

Therefore, there is no doubt that it will continue to do so, especially if the US wants to maintain its current position.

According to the USNEWS/Raytheon STEM Index, in the American market and the numbers have only gone up.

But can you guess the number of STEM graduates produced every year?

• No. of Indian STEM graduates every year – 2.6 million (2015)
• No. of Chinese STEM graduates every year – 4.7 million (2015)

Therefore, there is a huge STEM crisis within the US, which overseas students can fulfill, provided they are allowed to utilize the strong skills they earn through a US education.

Editor & Chief Content Officer for USNEWS, Brian Kelly said:

“While our universities are producing more STEM graduates, many of these students are foreigners on temporary visas. Despite significant public and private investment, we are still not developing an American STEM workforce to fill the jobs of the future. It’s clear that we need to focus our efforts on getting more kids, particularly women and African-Americans, interested in pursuing STEM at a young age.”

If you’re looking for more clarity on your particular fields, take a look at this dynamic comprehensive report compiled by USNEWS in support with Raytheon, called the

Additionally, according to NAFSA, the US receives close to to the US economy.听Currently, about 43% of Master’s degrees and 57% of Doctoral degrees out of total graduate degrees awarded for STEM go to international students.

They also create or support approximately 400,000 jobs.

Based on my analysis, any drastic decision will result in cold feet among students and therefore, lead to a significant loss of skilled professionals to competing countries such as Canada, Germany and Australia. From Trump’s point of view, this isn’t the best deal for him or his country.

However, it is very important to have the right expectations before flying off to the US.

How easy is it to get a job in the US?

Landing a job in the US is relatively harder than it is in India. Without dedicated campus placements or recruitment drives from top companies, finding a job and keeping it depends on your ability to communicate clearly, make connections with industry professionals as well as sharpen your technical skills. Most students try to convert internships or part time opportunities into full time jobs through hard work, enthusiasm and obvious display of skill.

But this is the case in any country outside India.

Take UK for example. International student numbers have been dwindling steadily due to tighter visa restrictions and immense difficulty in finding STEM jobs for students with advanced degrees, not to mention the massive cost of education.

But what about immigrant friendly countries like Canada or Australia. You will find that keeping a job is harder than finding one, that is, if you aren’t picky about the kind of job you get.

This is primarily because every nation prioritizes its citizens first before considering immigrants even if they are talented or most suitable for the job.

But if you’re aiming for a foreign education, a better lifestyle and faster career growth, then you must be prepared to work hard, equip yourself and be determined to find a job.

To sum up my analysis, I believe that while it may be relatively harder to find a job in the US than it is in India, it may not be any additionally harder because of Trump鈥檚 presidency, if you鈥檙e graduating from a good American university.

In fact, the chances are most likely in your favor. So, brush off your fears and tackle all these uncertainties by ensuring you get into a top university. Aim high, achieve a high 91热爆 score and secure your future.

The post H1B Visa Under Trump – What about the $130,000 salary cap? appeared first on 91热爆 Blog.

What is his impact on you, the MS/PhD aspirant?

91热爆 ( …formerly 91热爆edge) seeks to put unnecessary conjecture and speculation to rest and provide an unbiased viewpoint on some of the major issues concerning you, including university admission chances, 91热爆 scores required, H1B visas, job opportunities after graduation, OPT period and the whole 91热爆 + MS + US deal!

After the new H1B bill, how difficult will it be to get a H1B visa?

It is expected that if the new H1B bill (introduced by Democrat & US Representative for Silicon Valley, Zoe Lofgren) is passed, it will become easier for MS/PhD graduates to get a H1B visa. Simultaneously, it will be more difficult, if not impossible, for employees of IT companies that outsource jobs such as TCS, Cognizant, Wipro, Accenture etc to gain a H1B visa.

Before we actually discuss the salient features of the new H1B bill, it is important to quickly understand why the H1B visa program was introduced in the first place.

History & Significance of H1B

The H1B visa program was originally intended to help companies acquire people with highly specialized knowledge temporarily for specialty occupations such as those in the fields of chemistry, biotechnology, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences etc.

To this end, the current H1B Visa Program states that:

1. All employees on a H1B visa must be paid a minimum salary of $60,000 per annum.
2. All companies looking to hire employees on a H1B visa have to submit a legal application citing that they could not find an American worker聽for the same position.
3. All companies can contest for a maximum of 65,000 H1B visas along with a special allocation of 20,000 visas for foreigners with a Master’s degree.
4. H1B visas are allocated randomly using a computer based lottery system, wherein the applicants with a Master’s degree from US universities are prioritized first. Once the quota is filled up, the remaining members go back into the pool along with the other applicants to compete for the remaining聽65,000 visas.

However, over the years, many IT companies have started using the H1B visa to bring in people from India, China, Taiwan and Korea to do regular jobs, which do not require very high levels of skill or knowledge. In fact, according to the official website of the U.S Citizenship & Immigration (USCIS), the . This means that people with a basic degree are being taken into the US using a powerful visa program such as the H1B, which also allows applicants with the intent of obtaining a US citizenship, should they wish to.

Initially, in the 90s, when Information Technology was just starting to become important, providing IT support was difficult, complex and required people with advanced knowledge to rectify errors, if any.

In countries like India & China, education is the cornerstone of development and among all fields of education, engineering is treated with great respect, thereby producing lakhs of skilled, educated engineers every year. Naturally, since demand was high and supply was in plenty in these countries, large amount of immigration took place using the H1B visa in the 90s. It was also aided by the fact that the current H1B VISA program as we know it was put in place by George.W.Bush in 1990.

H1B Visa: Current Scenario in 2017

However, 27 years later, in this day and age, the reasons for which engineers are picked up from India & China are entirely different. They are taken up as low-end software developers, computer programmers, analysts etc and paid to do the job at just the minimum wage described, thereby making it cheaper for top IT companies to hire & fire.

A quick survey indicates that out of the Top 5 H1B sponsors for 2016, namely, Infosys, TCS, IBM, Wipro and Accenture, . In stark comparison, top product companies such as Oracle, Google, Microsoft etc pay their employees much higher salaries i.e. upwards of $90,000 per annum.

Another irritant is that the many of these IT companies flood the system with an overwhelming number of applications. Since the H1B is granted randomly to applicants using a computer-based lottery, the chances of getting a H1B visa for its employees is higher owing to the sheer number of applications in the system.

For example, That is half the number of H1B visas available for an entire year!

As a businessman himself, Trump has admitted to using these loopholes to cut down hiring costs. Therefore, his aim is simple – to reinstate the original purpose of the H1B visa and provide it to those who are worthy of it – i.e. those who have highly specialized knowledge in particular fields.

Impact on you as a MS/PhD Aspirant?

As an MS aspirant, this is good news for those looking at future career opportunities because with stringent hiring rules for outsourcing companies, which currently gobbles up approximately 20-30% of the allocated quota, more number of H1B visas will be available to students pursuing a higher education in the US. Especially since there is no talk of cutting down on the existing number of H1B visas available to students.

Coming to the actual points specified in the new H1B bill, the High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 聽raises the following points:

1. All H1B dependent employers (companies who have more than 50 employees and whose workforce in the US is made up of over 15% of H1B visa holders) are liable to pay a minimum of $130,000 per annum to all of its employees on a H1B visa. Out of the top H1B Visa sponsors,聽from our research, .听
2. Eliminates H1B dependent employers聽from accessing the additional 20,000 H1B visas available to those with a Master鈥檚 degree from US universities. This means that other companies can still contest for the 20,000 H1B visas for students with advanced degrees. This聽is actually good聽news for students pursuing MS/PhD because better companies like Oracle, Google, Facebook, Qualcomm can now access top talent for relevant jobs.
3. Eliminates any 鈥榗ountry-based鈥� allocation of H1B visas as available previously to Chile & Singapore.
4. Makes provisions for a smooth transition between F1 visa & H1B visa to establish 鈥渄ual intent鈥� i.e F1 visas will not be denied solely on the basis of students鈥� intentions to immigrate to the US. (The current regulations requires students to firmly establish their intention to return to the home country)

From the data published so far, our analysis indicates that this move will be extremely profitable to students who are passionate about their fields, aim at becoming specialists and have a dream towards making a successful career with that knowledge!

Move steadfast in your mission towards a better score, buddy! And, we at 91热爆 ( … formerly 91热爆edge), stand by you!

What other questions do you have regarding Trump? Comment below and let us know!

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