Just as foreigners have long viewed America as the land of opportunity, Vig's experience demonstrates just how much opportunity the U.S. technology market can present to qualified foreign workers. In the case of H-1B visa holders like Vig, companies sponsor the foreign workers to come to the United States to work for up to six years in a specialty occupation, such as engineering or software development. The process itself is not especially easy. Even to gain an interview, foreign workers must demonstrate they possess special technical knowledge or skills that will justify the potential sponsor companies' time and effort. Vig mentioned that IT workers in India hoping to obtain H-1B visas don't even apply until after they have been working for at least a year or two.
Nobody takes a fresh graduate from India to come over here.
From the company's perspective, Vig described the battles that companies can face in hiring foreign workers. Additionally, companies sponsoring H-1B workers must adhere to a number of standards throughout the hiring and employment period. They must show that they are protecting wages by paying H-1B workers at least as much as the industry average. They must first try to recruit in the United States and must attest that they are not hiring H-1B workers if they have laid off or displaced similarly qualified U.S. workers. Quite simply, it has been an issue of supply and demand, with the perceived need for qualified IT workers in the United States far outpacing is domestic talent pool.