Is it worth doing an MS in the US and get H1B visa?

After Trump and H1B news, is it worth doing MS in USA? Read our detailed analysis to help you decide whether it makes sense to pursue MS abroad or not

Why is Trump after H1Bs?

Trump has so much political pressure because of his promises during the elections that he is going over board. This has been worsened by Disney’s lawsuit where an American employee who was laid off sued that tech companies are not hiring foreigners because they cannot find that talent in US but they are hiring them because of low wages. Making it too tough will definitely antagonize Tech industry which itself is a non-trivial lobby. Therefore, I see it as a short term issue rather than long term.

Obviously, its a multi layered issue. Lets take a look-

What are the proposed changes to H1B visa norms?

As per HindustanTimes, following changes has been suggested in recent bills (some readers have pointed out that some of these are incorrect which shows how misguiding Indian media can be)-

  • Doubling minimum salaries of H-1B visa holders to $130,000 – BAD
  • Earmark 20% of H-1B visas for small and start-up employers
  • Remove ‘per country’ cap for employment visas to ensure equal distribution
  • Firms hiring H-1B visa holders need to make a “good faith” effort to recruit Americans first
  • Give preference to students educated in the US for H-1B visas rather than computerized lottery system – GOOD
  • Crack down on outsourcing companies that import workers for temporary training and then send them back home to do the same job – GOOD
  • Prohibit spouses of H-1B visa holders from working in the US
  • Prohibit companies with more than 50 employees, of which at least half are H-1B or L-1 holders, from hiring additional H-1B employees – BAD
  • Strict audit and vetting by Department of Labor to clamp down on fraud or misuse

Should international students be worried?

Many of these will negatively impact people getting H1B via TCS/Infosys kind of companies. An international F1 based grad student will only be impacted when-

  1. Min H1B wage is raised
  2. OPT extension is removed
  3. MS quota is removed

First point here is quite negative and if its raised to 130K as per the latest proposal on 31 Jan, it will be brutal. No doubt. In fact, if they clamp down more on TCS/Infosys scenarios, it might turn out beneficial to other H-1B applicants (including grad students) because of reduced competition!

There has been hue and cry over H1Bs in the past as well but anti H1B laws never passed. In fact, OPT 24 months extension was a big boost for international students. But it does not mean that the new law cannot pass. I think we need to wait for what happens with this bill. (as of 1 Feb, 2017)

Assuming it passes and minimum wage is raised to 100K+ will impact recruitment and many employers may cut down on campus recruitment of internationals. As one post here points out about Mech recruitment slowdown even from a school like UIUC – that is possible in other non-IT fields as well. Although to be fair, Mech recruiting has always been more sluggish than CS, EE, MIS/MEM recruitment because many jobs are in defense or state agencies which require American citizenship. It means that a student will have to hustle more for limited jobs. That is harsh reality.

So, there is no doubt that circumstances of finding jobs/internships will get TOUGHER if these laws are passed (only if min wage is increased too much, OPT ext revoked).

Now, is it worth doing MS in that case?

I would still be optimistic about MS but I will be cautious on financial matters. USA, still, remains a better job market than most other countries. For tech fields, it is worth a hustle. For non-tech fields, yes, be more wary. A better strategy can be to:

  • Apply to schools with chances of funding/lower financial burden.
  • Apply to schools in urban areas, metros such as NYC, Silicon Valley, Boston, Chicago – if companies get wary of recruitment, they stop traveling to interior locations.
    At the end of the day, there will always be jobs for people with strong skills (in in-demand fields such as IT, Analytics etc) but those who are relying on getting an easier pass just by graduating from US may have to bite a bullet.

In summary, I am not saying that things are all hunky dory and there is nothing to worry but unless this law gets passed, it doesn’t matter. Just like his ban on 7 nations is still in a state of confusion (with federal court ruling against his ban but executive order still prevailing) – things are murky. Let’s wait and watch. So, please be patient.

What I have heard about campus placements so far?

  1. UMCP MIS has seen decline in companies sponsoring H1Bs.
  2. A student seeing a decline in campus placements and H1B sponsorships at NCSU.
  3. Another student was more neutral about her MSBA program at ASU. She will inform once the fulltime recruitment begins this semester.
  4. A student who recently graduated and is on OPT has not reported any negative news in his company yet.
  5. A Harvard CS student is less fearful – ‘I’ve had emails this week from 3 different companies asking me if I’m interested in full-time positions starting after spring. It will definitely have some negative impact, but if you’re good and try hard enough, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to find a job.’
  6. One ECE student from TAMU – ‘During career fair last week most of the companies were particularly asking about sponsorship requirement which I haven’t heard that much during the career fairs conducted last semester.’

I am not taking sides yet but bracing up for a tough ride if Trump goes rogue 🙂

I mentor students and have been directly helping MS aspirants at Scholar Strategy but I have tried to keep my views as unbiased as possible. The fact is when I went to attend UIUC and graduated, there was no STEM OPT extension. Lottery happened and I lucked out. I could get lucky only because I had decided to take a chance. So, take a calculated risk, an informed decision. Go for MS – not just for jobs but to build your skills and learn. Once you focus on learning valuable skills, job will find you (if not US, a better place) 🙂

This post was originally posted on Quora.

Should you be worried about Trump’s attack on H-1B?

Why is Trump after H-1Bs?

Trump has political pressure to get back jobs for Americans – can act upon that. This has been worsened by Disney’s lawsuit where an American employee who was laid off sued that tech companies are not hiring foreigners on H-1B because they cannot find that talent in US but they are hiring them because of low wages.

H-1Bs are the most coveted work visas: In 2016, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that they received 2,36,000 H-1B petitions within five days of opening the process, more than thrice the number of mandated cap of 65,000 in the general category.

What are the proposed changes to H-1B visa norms?

As per HindustanTimes, following changes has been suggested in recent bills-

  1. Doubling minimum salaries of H-1B visa holders to $130,000
  2. Earmark 20% of H-1B visas for small and start-up employers
  3. Remove ‘per country’ cap for employment visas to ensure equal distribution
  4. Firms hiring H-1B visa holders need to make a “good faith” effort to recruit Americans first
  5. Give preference to students educated in the US for H-1B visas rather than computerized lottery system
  6. Crack down on outsourcing companies that import workers for temporary training and then send them back home to do the same job
  7. Prohibit spouses of H-1B visa holders from working in the US
  8. Prohibit companies with more than 50 employees, of which at least half are H-1B or L-1 holders, from hiring additional H-1B employees
  9. Strict audit and vetting by Department of Labor to clamp down on fraud or misuse

Should international students be worried?

There has been hue and cry over H-1Bs in the past as well but anti H-1B laws never passed. In fact, OPT 24 months extension was a big boost for international students. But it does not mean that the new law cannot pass. H-1B for international students on F1 is a different case from people getting H-1B via TCS/Infy etc (as is evident from some of the proposed reforms above). That said, what can hurt international students-

1. raising of minimum H-1B wages significantly. This directly impacts recruiting.

2. removing OPT extension.

Making it too tough will definitely antagonize Tech industry which itself is a non-trivial lobby. However, it may take some time before we see the opposition able to make a significant impact or pressurize Trump in the opposite direction. I am more worried short term than long term.

In summary, I am not saying that things are all hunky dory and there is nothing to worry but unless this law gets passed, it doesn’t matter. Just like his ban on 7 nations is still in a state of confusion (with federal court ruling against his ban but executive order still prevailing) – things are murky. Let’s wait and watch. So, please be patient.

What I have heard about campus placements so far?

1. UMCP MIS has seen decline in companies sponsoring H-1Bs

2. A student seeing a decline in campus placements and H-1B sponsorships at NCSU.

3. Another student was more neutral about her MSBA program at ASU. She will inform once the fulltime recruitment begins this semester.

4. A student who recently graduated and is on OPT has not reported any negative news in his company yet.

5. A Harvard CS student is less fearful – ‘I’ve had emails this week from 3 different companies asking me if I’m interested in full-time positions starting after spring. It will definitely have some negative impact, but if you’re good and try hard enough, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to find a job.’

6. One ECE student from TAMU – ‘During career fair last week most of the companies were particularly asking about sponsorship requirement which I haven’t heard that much during the career fairs conducted last semester.’

I will keep you updated on what I get to know – I am not taking sides yet but bracing up for a tough ride if Trump goes rogue 🙂

This post was originally posted on our Fb group for MS internships and jobs.

A motivating story for students

As some of you go for your GRE or other exams, this story may help you getting that extra boost of morale.

There was a boy named Masaru in Japan. When he was young, he wanted to learn & master Judo. Unfortunately, he lost his left hand after an accident. He became very sad. When his father saw his condition, he took him to one the Great Masters of Judo in Japan. After thoroughly analyzing Masaru, the Master told him to come from next day for practice. Masaru became very happy after hearing this. On the first day, the Great Master taught him one trick and instructed him to practice it.

After one week, Masaru came back to the Master and asked for teaching him another trick as had practiced the first one long enough. Master replied him to practice the same trick again & again.

Another week passed, months and years passed.

One day, after 10 years of practice, Master informed Masaru that he has nominated his name for the national championship of Judo which will be conducted in Japan, next month. Masaru was shocked after hearing this as he had been practicing only one trick for the last 10 years. Master told him to be relaxed and calm. One the day of championship, Master advised Masaru to remain calm and concentrate on the fight and use only that trick which he has taught him. Masaru won the first fight and then the second one and gradually, he entered semi finals. He couldn’t believe himself. Master again advised him to remain calm and concentrate on the fight and use the same trick again and again. Masaru managed to enter the finals and then he thought that now it’s time to face the best one in Judo in Japan and the opponent will beat him very easily as he knows only one trick. When Master came to know about this, he gave him the same advice.

After the finals, Masaru won and couldn’t believe himself and started crying out of joy. When Masaru went to Master asked him how it happened, the Great Master replied that for the last 10 years, he has been practicing only one trick and he has become master of that. To counter this trick, the opponent has to hold his left hand which which he didn’t have. His weakness became his strength and he won.

Moral: Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Build strategy that will help you succeed and stick to it. A warrior who has practiced one move 10,000 times is more lethal than another who has practiced 10,000 moves one time. 

How does rising DOLLAR impact your study abroad plans?

Rupee has fallen more than 10% in past few weeks. As you or your children plan on applying to schools abroad, the natural concern is how will this impact you.

Here’s my take –

1. Financial Aid becomes more critical – Same school fee is now 10% more expensive for you. So, those who were implicitly relying on financial scholarships  to fund some or whole of their expenses can get more anxious now. This is tough at this point of the process but the good news is that it will only help you being more aggressive in pursuing scholarships. Our insider tips on securing financial aid just became more valuable. We are soon releasing the details of our counseling package, so don’t forget to keep an eye on our incoming posts because we are sure you will be interested in how can we help you easing your financial burden.

2. Career prospects in USA became more lucrative – Right now you are thinking about how much you will have to spend but the good news is that once you start earning (and that begins right when you secure scholarships and start earning stipend), the value of that will be so much more as well in India. So, I want you to look at the positive side and use this forex volatility to your benefit.

3. Let loans help you – Lastly, for those students who are all set to leave for Fall 2013 studies, it might be better to use loans to substantiate your finances. However, do not take out too much extra currency right now and wait for the rupee to stabilize a little if you need more money later on.

4. Be investment savvy and protect yourself against fluctuations – Now, if you are a little money savvy, you can make some investment that can protect you against further volatility in Rupee and Dollar. For details and formal advice, do ask your CA and Investment Advisor to help you plan your foreign expenses.

In the end, do NOT be disheartened. The rise in your expenses is going to be marginal in long run. So, keep focused on your original goal – STUDY HARD and SMART. BUILD a BRIGHT FUTURE. When you graduate and get an awesome job, all this will matter nothing in hindsight.

For specific inside strategies on how to get admitted to top schools, check out our bestselling MS Book: Smart Engineer’s Complete Guide to MS in USA.

Happy Sunday 🙂

Is IIT JEE worth it?

IIT Mains are around the corner and I thought it might be an apt time to talk about the pressure IIT exams cause on engineering aspirants. It is like the be-all of all exams and the holy grail for academically good students. But why are we so blind about it? Lets look at the bigger picture. And then, I’m going to share an insightful post with you from someone who succeeded without caring for IITs.

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