December 31, 2003

The Indiatimes reports on the reverse brain drain between the US and India A reverse brain drain?. Indeed, the India Times chronicles those in the U.S. attending Job Fairs for work in India. Also discussed are the two prior waves of Indian Americans moving back to India.
posted by CellarFloor 20 years ago
  • A few reasons: New relatively-well-paying jobs (domestic and outsourced) created in the local closer-to-home environment and culture. Perception that there is a backlash against low-wage H1-B workers and/or bias towards American citizens in US IT jobs. However, this Brain Rain in India applies to IT jobs. Not educated research scientists.
  • There is a bias toward H1-B visa workers because that's the legal requirements of the visa - employers must prove, essentially, that no US citizen is qualified to do the job and hence a foreigner has to do it. The minimum income for an H1-B visa holder (at least in the IT industry) is US$50k. I wouldn't call that low-wage. That doesn't help to explain why US workers would go to India, though. Note: the above is based on my experience as the spouse of an H1-B visa holder in the IT industry and numbers may have changed in the past four years.
  • Two year update, anyone?