In a hearing this week about the H-1B visa program, Sen. Chuck Grassley cited The Center for Investigative Reporting’s Techsploitation series, which found widespread abuse of foreign high-tech workers in the U.S.
Techsploitation
An ecosystem of fear surrounds the temporary immigrant technology worker program, with labor brokers exploiting employees through financial bondage that relies on humiliation, intimidation and legal threats.
Visa program for ‘best and brightest’ also used to fill low-wage jobs
In the heated immigration debate, America’s temporary visa program for highly skilled workers often is portrayed as a crucial piston in the nation’s economy.
How Obama’s immigration plan will help skilled workers who hold visas
President Barack Obama’s executive actions make it easier for work visa holders to switch jobs and for the Department of Labor to crack down on employers that mistreat skilled immigrant employees.
Visa fraud in US tech industry relies on falsified job letters
Despite government efforts to stamp out abuses in America’s visa program for highly skilled workers, unscrupulous job brokers continue to illegally sell visas – sometimes connected to jobs that don’t exist.
Silicon Valley tech workers locked in jobs with dubious legal tactics
California’s high-tech industry is famous for friendly methods for holding on to talented workers. But it also has become a hub for less generous retention practices: freezing employees in place and depressing wages by pushing legal boundaries.
5 tricks tech staffing firms use to exploit immigrant workers
Here’s a breakdown of the main tactics manipulative job brokers use to treat immigrant tech workers like indentured servants.
Federal tech contracts awarded to job brokers with labor violations
Porous federal oversight has allowed labor brokers to financially exploit Indian tech workers with little fear of detection. And even those that are caught can continue to survive and thrive – including on taxpayers’ dime.
Graphic novel: Techsploitation
This graphic novel tells the true story of an Indian tech worker who has big dreams of a job in the U.S. but finds himself under the thumb of a shady labor broker.
Case study: Saras America
The technology consulting company is among the few niche staffing firms that got into trouble for mistreating Indian workers – yet it continued to survive and thrive.
Case study: Tata Consultancy Services
Former workers at this tech labor broker say the company tried to collect fees from them after they quit.