H-1B Visa Research Articles

Skilled Immigration, R&D Concentration, and Industry Consolidation

Abstract We demonstrate a novel link between skilled immigration restrictions, corporate innovation, and industry consolidation. Binding restrictions on H1B visas are a shock to firms’ R&D labor supply, leading firms to shift R&D expenditures and employees overseas. Organizationally and financially constrained firms are less able to adjust to the restrictions. They reduce basic research and patenting, are less able to acquire other firms for intellectual property, and are more likely to exit. Industry concentration and firm-level markups increase when firms are better able to adjust. This increase in market power is an unintended consequence of skilled immigration restrictions.

Living and Teaching Internationally: Teachers' Experiences, Prospects and Challenges

One of the primary challenges Filipino teachers face in the United States is the adjustment to a new culture. The adjustment process can be overwhelming, and the teachers may face cultural shock and feel isolated as they navigate the American education system. Working in a different culture can also provide Filipino teachers with opportunities for professional growth and development. Thus, the researcher wanted to learn more about the challenges faced by Filipino international teachers in the United States and how they dealt with them. This study aimed to explore and determine Filipino teachers' experiences, coping strategies, and challenges living and teaching internationally. This study utilized qualitative research to design a term for various approaches to and methods of analyzing natural social life. The study’s participants were the ten (10) Filipino teachers currently living and teaching in the United States of America, specifically in Arizona. They are a J1 or H1B visa holder. Three (3) male and seven (7) female informants participated in the study. This study employed a semi-structured interview to gather pertinent information from the participants. Thematic analysis is a research method that involves identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns or themes within data. In this qualitative study, the researcher utilized in-depth interviews using open-ended questions as primary tools for data collection. From the interview of ten participants, their experiences gave way to four emerging themes with 11 subthemes, which showed how they struggled, coped, learned, and planned as they stayed in Arizona, USA. Filipino educators frequently encounter opportunities abroad that come with challenges they must overcome. Adapting to a new situation is only sometimes straightforward, which presents obstacles for these educators.

H1B Visa Analysis using GANs

The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables foreign employees to enter the country and work there for a set amount of time. The purpose of the study is to analyze the 5 years of data on H1B Visa petitions from 2011-2016 and record the findings. Machine Learning algorithms will be employed to predict if the H1B Application Case status. The project also applies the functionality of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to augment the training data. Tabular GANs are applied to the H1B Visa data and after augmentation, to test it on regular GANs, it is converted to images. These are fed to the generator network of a regular GAN model tested on MNIST data. The results show that GANs decrease the accuracy and increase the randomness of the data: Logistic Regression (before GAN=87.18%, after=73.8%), Random Forest (before=80.5%, after=70%), Gradient Boosting Ensemble (before=87.87%, after=71.3%), KNN (before=85.8%, after =71.4%), ANN (Error score Before GAN = 0.656, After GAN=1.033). Images formed by GANs to match the MNIST data showed satisfactory results after training for 5000+ epochs.

Brain gain from Asia: educational and occupational selection of Asian migrants into the United States

PurposeThis study investigates how working-age Asian immigrants' educational attainment and professional abilities when arriving in the United States have evolved over the past 4 decades and draws inferences on the impact of the US employment based visa policies.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the 1980, 1990 and 2000 census and American Community Survey for 2001 to 2019, the study adopts multivariate regression and regression discontinuity design to investigate the trends in educational and occupation selection among Asian immigrants and the association with policy changes in the H1B visa program.FindingsThe findings suggest that new Asian immigrants were more positively selected for education than non-Asian immigrants and US natives and this pattern of positive selection increased over time. Newly arrived South Asian and East Asian immigrants had the highest share of highly educated professionals than Southeast Asians and US-born persons. I infer that the enactment and changes in the H1-B program might have contributed to the changing patterns of the educational and occupational selection among East and South Asian Immigrants. The results also shed light on how Asian immigrants' skill selection might be related to the size of Asian diasporas in the US and sending countries' income, inequality and education level.Originality/valueThe story of changing the skill profile (educational and occupational profile) of newly arrived Asian immigrants during 1980–2019 can provide valuable policy implications. US immigration policies are routinely criticized for being inefficient and outdated. The economic prosperity of Asian countries over time also provides an excellent opportunity to test the theories pertaining to how sending countries' income, inequality and education level of the population are associated with Asian migrants' education and occupation when arriving in the US. This study can provide insightful perspectives for policymakers and business decision-makers to adapt to the changing demographics of Asian migrant workers. The most recent reports on Asian immigrants in the US highlighted the aggregated trends of migration flow and education. Still, none have provided a longitudinal and nuanced review of Asian immigrants' educational and occupational selection into the US.

Career Mobility and Hiring Bias: Frontiers of Labor Market Research

Career Mobility and Hiring Bias: Frontiers of Labor Market Research

Predicting the outcome of H-1B visa using ANN algorithm

H-1B visa allows US employers to employ nonimmi- grant workers on a temporary basis. This visa only allows specialty workers to gain employment in the United States which means people who have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience are eligible. The duration of H-1B visa is 3 years and it may extend to 6 years. The H-1B visa is the most sought after visa in the world, however it has a low approval rate. In 2019, 200000 people applied for the visa worldwide of which only 85000 people were selected which means an approval rate of only 42%. This fight to obtain the visa is getting more competitive as the US Economy improves. This selection depends upon a number of factors such as employer, wage etc. This paper helps to predict whether an individual can gain the H1B visa or not taking in account all the relevant factors. The proposed system secured a high accuracy of 96% by using ANN algorithm.

Performing Examination on H1B Visa using Data Analytics Techniques to Enhance the Employability Skills

Data is useless without the skill to analyse it. Technology professional’s expertise in Data engineering are in high demand. The number of job postings related to Analytics has increased substantially. This paper provides a complete analysis on the H1B visa applicants. The analysis is based on the job positions, number of petitions filed by industry every year, demanding jobs with hike salary etc. The data set has been collected from The Office of Foreign Labour Certification (OFLC), the department responsible for issuing H1B. The Data visualization technique is used mainly to perform the analysis with respect to various parameters. This visualisation is done with the help of base map, a library in python for data science. The analysis report will provide a better enhancement in providing employability on skill based.

The Implications of the Current Visa System for Foreign Medical Graduates During and After Graduate Medical Education Training.

The current and projected deficit in the physician workforce in the US is a challenge for primary care and specialty medical settings. Foreign medical graduates (FMGs) represent an important component of the US graduate medical education (GME) training pathway and can help to address the US physician workforce deficit. Availability of FMGs is particularly important to the internal medicine community, as recent data demonstrate that internal medicine is the specialty with the highest number of FMGs. System-based and logistical inefficiencies in the current US visa system represent significant obstacles to FMG trainees and have important psychological, emotional, and logistical consequences to FMG engagement and participation in US GME training and in the post-training workforce. In this article, we review the contemporary structure, process, and challenges of obtaining a visa for GME training. The H1B and J1 visa programs are compared and contrasted, with an emphasis on logistical specifics for FMG GME trainees and training programs. The process of and options for J1 visa waivers are reviewed. These considerations are specifically reviewed in the context of recent policy decisions by the Trump administration, with emphasis on the effects of these decisions on FMGs in medical training and practice.

The ethnic migrant inventor effect: Codification and recombination of knowledge across borders

Research SummaryEthnic migrant inventors may differ from locals in terms of the knowledge they bring to host firms. Using a unique dataset of Chinese and Indian herbal patents filed in the United States, we find that an increase in the supply of first‐generation ethnic migrant inventors increases the rate of codification of herbal knowledge at U.S. assignees by 4.5%. Our identification comes from an exogenous shock to the quota of H1B visas and from a list of entities exempted from the shock. We also find that ethnic migrant inventors are more likely to engage in reuse of knowledge previously locked within the cultural context of their home regions, whereas knowledge recombination is more likely to be pursued by teams comprising inventors from other ethnic backgrounds. Managerial SummaryManagers and policy makers around the world face a vigorous debate on whether to hire skilled migrants or hire locals. We argue that if western firms stop hiring ethnic migrants, innovation at these firms would suffer in two ways: knowledge transfer and knowledge recombination would both be impeded. We argue and show that skilled ethnic migrants bring to their employers, unique knowledge from the cultural context of their host country. Also, local inventors engage in “knowledge recombination” by combining their existing knowledge to knowledge transferred by migrants. Our empirical results relate to the patenting of Chinese and Indian herbal formulations at western pharmaceutical firms before and after an immigration shock related to the admittance of skilled migrants from these two countries.

The Influence of Socialization on Citizens of Mexico Working in the U.S. on an H-1B Visa: A Preliminary Investigation

The current study examined the influence that work group and task socialization has on citizens of Mexico in the U.S. on an H-1B visa and is grounded in Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT). The participants (N = 241) were citizens of Mexico in the U.S. on an H1-B visa. The findings indicated that work group socialization was found to be positively related to organizational commitment and negatively related to role ambiguity and work alienation. Additionally, work group socialization was found to be a greater predictor of organizational commitment and negative predictor of role ambiguity, and work alienation than was task socialization.

Predicting digital success

The U.S. talent shortage in computer science is a significant problem which negatively affects economic growth, fuels controversial H1-B visa policies, limits the ability to guard against industria...

In Rural Towns, Immigrant Doctors Fill A Critical Need.

Immigrant doctors have helped fill physician shortages for years. In the current political climate, are they welcome?

South Asian Migration, Settlement, and Sociopolitical Incorporation on the North American West Coast

There are large South Asian settlements in the larger Vancouver region of British Columbia in Canada and in Northern and Central California (from Yuba City to Fresno) in the United States. While the early migration patterns of Sikhs and Hindus to these two areas were similar, they subsequently diverged and the South Asian settlements in the two regions now exhibit very different profiles. This resource paper summarizes and analyzes the literature on factors shaping the migration, settlement, and incorporation patterns of Asian immigrants in these two regions. I argue that the parallels in early South Asian migration patterns to the North American West Coast were due to similarities in the economic and social profile of these regions, Canadian and U.S. policies toward Asian immigrants, and easy movement between Canada and the United States. The divergence between the two regions took place over time largely as an outcome of changes in regional characteristics (e.g., the development of Silicon Valley), differences in the group characteristics and networks of Sikhs and Hindus, and an increasing divergence in Canadian and U.S. immigration regulations (e.g., differences in family reunification, refugee, and H1-B visa policies). The final section discusses how these settlement patterns have led to differences in the identity formation and sociopolitical incorporation of Sikhs and Hindus in the two regions.

Contextual Knowledge and Ethnic Migrant Inventors

We study the role of ethnic Chinese/Indian migrant inventors in transferring contextual knowledge across borders and the role of ethnic networks in further disseminating such knowledge. Using a unique dataset of herbal patents filed in the United States by western firms and universities, we test whether contextual knowledge is codified in the west by ethnic migrant inventors and spread by their ethnic networks. Our identification comes from an exogenous shock to the quota of H1B visas, and a list of institutions that were exempted from the shock. We generate a control group of non-herbal patents that have similar medicinal purposes as our herbal patents through textual matching. Using this framework, we estimate a triple differences equation, and find that herbal patents are likely to be filed by Chinese/Indian migrant inventors and are likely to be initially cited by other Chinese/Indian inventors. We also find that Chinese/Indian migrant inventors are likely to engage in arbitraging their prior knowledge, while inventors from other ethnic backgrounds are likely to engage in knowledge recombination

Visa regulations and labour market restrictions: implications for Indian immigrant women in the United States

This article documents the everyday experiences of Indian immigrant women living in the US on H4 visa – given to dependents of H1B visa holders, that disallows them from entering the labour market. The study is located within the framework of ‘gender and international immigration’ and uses a qualitative research approach to understand how visa regimes that bestow unequal rights on the primary and dependent visa holders shape the immigration experience, and have a bearing on the personal well-being, socialization processes and career graphs. The findings from open-ended interviews point out that the H4 visa affects women’s confidence and idea of self-worth, constrains them financially, disables them in social settings, and provides no opportunities to build economic or human capital and skill sets.

Distribution of Physicians With H-1B Visas By State and Sponsoring Employer

Distribution of Physicians With H-1B Visas By State and Sponsoring Employer

H-1B visas by the numbers [Resources_at Work

H-1B visas by the numbers [Resources_at Work

H-1B Visas, Outsourcing and Body Shops: A Continuum of Exploitation for High Tech Workers

This article analyzes the exploitation of immigrant workers under the H-1B visa program. It analyzes pure H-1B workers that work directly for the company that sponsor the visa; outsourced H-1B workers that work on a visa sponsored by an outsourcing vendor; and body shop workers who work on a visa sponsored by a labor contractor that operates outside the legal boundaries of the law. The article provides a comprehensive survey of lawsuits brought under the visa laws for prevailing wage violations, wage theft, benching, and liquidated damages. It also discusses lawsuits brought as independent causes of action under state tort and contract law; the TVPA; RICO; and employment discrimination statutes. The article argues that even perfect enforcement of existing law will not eliminate H-1B worker exploitation because the program includes systemic inequalities and subordinating structures that are modern manifestations of involuntary servitude, debt bondage and unfree labor. The unfree system of labor created by the guest worker program is based in the ways in which threats of deportation and liquidated damages prevent workers from complaining or quitting; the way in which the visa sponsor's control of the guest worker's labor parallels antebellum slave codes; the commodification of immigrant workers as part of the human supply chain; and the lack of citizenship rights guaranteed to these guest workers.

ВЫСОКОКВАЛИФИЦИРОВАННАЯ МИГРАЦИЯ КАК РЕСУРС КОНКУРЕНТОСПОСОБНОСТИ ГОСУДАРСТВ

The paper reviews the growing impact of highly skilled migration policies on the competitiveness of states. Highly skilled migrants (HSM) are regarded as valuable contributors to the knowledge economy, that the receiving countries are competing with each other for. The increase in HSM number (arriving with an H1B visa) had a positive effect on innovative development at macro and micro levels in the United States. A significant role in creation of innovations is played by foreign students, in particular those studying on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programs). At the same time, an overall contribution of HSM to the innovation development of host countries is much greater than the number of patents, grants and highly cited publications, given indirect effects of immigration which play an equally important role in creating innovations: “the effects of knowledge spillover” from immigrants to colleagues. The author gives an overview of a range of foreign studies which demonstrate a strong positive impact of HSM on creating of innovations, and analyses some successful national approaches to HSM selection (cases of the USA, Australia and Canada). In recent years, Russian government has introduced a set of initiatives in migration politics, aiming at HSM. However, there is still a lack of sufficient public discussion on benefits HSM can bring to the Russian economy. Besides, low attractiveness of Russia for HSM challenges its capacity to compete with the leaders in a “global race for talents”, and therefore, to manage highly skilled migration policy as a source for innovation development. Universities, research institutes and high-technology firms serve as the main centers of innovation creation and attraction for HSM. Therefore, high-skilled migration policy should focus on the involvement of these recruiters through strengthening the internationalization and competitiveness of Russian universities, R&D and business sector. Moreover, the policy will have a highly positive effect if HSM represent different cultures. This implies the necessity to elaborate and introduce effective multicultural practices in education, research and business activities.&nbsp

Do Audit Personnel Salaries Impact Audit Quality?

This study examines the relationship between audit personnel salaries and office-level audit quality. Audit personnel are a key input in the audit process and expectations of personnel have been increasing since the inception of the PCAOB. Despite these increased expectations and workloads, audit salaries have remained relatively flat over the past decade. Using salary data collected from H1-b visa applications obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, we measure audit personnel salaries at the Associate, Senior and Manager ranks for local Big 4 audit offices during the years 2004 to 2013. We first examine the determinants of audit personnel salaries finding that some individuals are willing to trade-off higher salaries for the opportunity to work for offices that are local market leaders and have a history of performing high quality audits. We next examine the relationship between audit personnel salaries and office level audit quality finding a negative association. That is, offices that pay lower salaries to its rank-and-file employees tend to have a higher percentage of clients that experience restatements. Finally, we examine the ability of audit offices to pass the costs of audit labor onto their clients. We document positive and significant associations between salary and fees, suggesting that audit offices pass the cost of labor onto their clients. Overall, our findings provide initial evidence on the role of audit salary and its impact on audit quality and audit fees.