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Indian Companies and abuse of B1 Visa

Last week Infosys founder was crying out loud in public about how US judicial system was victimizing Indian companies by suing Infosys for misusing B1 VISA.  Well lets simply put it that Mr.Murthy is lying. It is a well known fact that Indian companies like TCS,Infosys,Wipro and even US based companies like IBM abuse the B1 and L1 visas.

Sending in 1-2 years experienced guys in the name of Business meetings cant be any further from truth. Most Indian companies send their resources to Onsite on B1  for short term for various reasons like implementation of a System, or a temporary vacancy or even just like a carrot to motivate employees.

In US a candidate is eligible for B1 VISA    ” if the purpose for your planned travel is to consult with business associates, travel for a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or conference on specific dates, settle an estate, or negotiate a contract, then a business” as defined in US Govt  Travel Website. Typically Senior Managers who are negotiating contracts, Business Meetings, attending convention are eligible. Typically anyone with more than few years of management experience will qualify for this VISA, but the list of candidates our companies range from a fresher who cant communicate and some who cant even repeat what was taught as part of VISA appearance training.

In past few years the no of candidates who were getting rejected in US Consulates in India, was getting huge. And despite this most companies were still sending candidates who repeatedly mumbled infront of the irritated interviewers. And with Obama Administration tightening screws, there were more questions in Immigration for all Indians and there were cases where B1 holders were sent back after reaching US, and then started the massive investigation into all major Indian companies, and found several discrepancies.

And the increased B1  abuse  is a result of multiple factors, but ultimately  it points to companies margin. Many of the big companies were always reluctant  to file H1B visas for their employees,  considering the risk that they could leave employers anytime in US. And the increased filing costs was also another reason. Meanwhile in the last 5-6 years number of intra company transfers (L1B VISA)  increased but again, it was meant for skills not available in US, and when companies started sending Mainframe and Java candidates to US through L1B, US did not like the idea. So Indian companies had to easier and faster option of B1 VISA’s.

Though Indian companies are trying maximize profits, the chain of steps US has taken over last few years is part of what Obama promised  and what irked Indian Companies. US is trying to protect its Job market, keep some of its Job within US. By making off shoring costs higher and immigration difficult , US Government is well on its protectionist approach. Well more than anyone else, Indian IT companies will be hoping for a change in Republican fortunes in the upcoming elections.

 

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Should you add your Boss as Facebook Friend?

With the advent of  Social Networking like never before, we tend to add a lot of people into our Facebook or Orkut networks, whether it is a school classmate or College Junior or your neighbor 20 years ago or even a stranger who wants to be your neighbor in Farmville.

But what about your immediate supervisor in office? Facebook is suggesting him as a friend but will you add him?. If he is someone who wants to keep his work away from personal life , by sending a request you might put him in an uncomfortable situation, or if he really considers you as a good friend there will be no issues.

After adding him, will you still be posting all the manager jokes or any office related joke? or will you be conscious, at times it can be irritating. And if you are not the one who is bothered by what others  might think, it still can hurt you like couple of Facebook stories where an employee was fired for a comment on her boss  etc.

For many regular FB users it can be restrictive and after a while irritating to watch out for what you are saying. Personally you can add your superiors in FB, when you are moving out of the project,company just to keep in touch if you had a person friendship with them, and it can even help in future. But  adding your supervisor in your FB can be an avoidable pain.

But if he adds you..well there are very few who I have known to decline the request.

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Apple iPhone for enterprise – Still inconvenient

Apple’s iPhone is  currently the king of Smartphone Jungle, there is  serious push from users in consecrations for its adaptation. And many have written articles regarding the improved security features  etc.

But in terms of usability of some of its basic enterprise  features iPhone is still lacking in a big way. I was quite surprised by lack certain features in the iPhone when I had the opportunity switch from Blackberry to iPhone 4.

When Apple first launched iPhone,  people who live on Blackberry questioned how can you seriously expect someone to type on a touch screen keyboard, but it wasn’t bad after all, and people quickly adapted to the virtual keyboard. But now after a few years if you take iPhone its email still lacks ability fine tuning. Like customizing alert/notifications  for a different mail accounts,  having a different setting for accounts/messages etc. Even  a proper profile management for sounds/alerts , which is available in almost all basic phone is hard to find in iphone.

These are just few examples but there are many little things, and makes me wonder if  Im using a Beta product.For many it might look silly, how could these features affect enterprise usage, but in the competitive world  missing an important message is as bad as getting disturbed by a silly message in middle of a meeting. And these fine nuances will definitely irritate serious users.