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Westerners Migrating to India for Jobs
Posted by
michael
on Thu Nov 25, 2004 11:42 AM
from the going-south-for-the-winter dept.
from the going-south-for-the-winter dept.
shonagon53 writes "The BBC reports that quite a few young European tourists stick around in India to work for eSolutions companies who contract outsourced work from European companies. The salaries are mediocre, but you get free housing, great food, snacks à volonté and a free taxi ride to work each morning.
Is this the first wave of the much anticipated reverse-migration which will be a hallmark of the 21st century?"
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Work Visas (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Work Visas (Score:5, Informative)
Welcome!
The company (Score:5, Informative)
Even if 'the company' is supposed to take care of your visa, it pays to follow up on your own. This advice courtesy the guy who left Ecuador at the unpleasant end of a gun because the company he was working for FUCKED UP!.
In addition to Ecuador, I've worked in China, Japan, Phillipines, Fiji, Tonga, Hong Kong, and Singapore. I hired on outside the USA. Most friends who are working or have worked expat. have hired on outside their home country.
Want an overseas job, take a vacation, get to know the place, visit the company you want to work for. Hang out in the right bars.
Big difference in the results. (Score:5, Insightful)
The kids going over there are working for a salary and, eventually, will be sent back to their home country. It's easy to explain with two examples.
#1. Euro-kid goes to India and works for 2 years. He makes a "mediocre" wage (1/10th what he'd make back home). He banks it all and lives on cheap rice, curry and lentils. After 2 years he goes home with $X (or whatever his currency is). $X is 1/10 that he'd make in 2 years at home under the same conditions.
#2. Indian guy goes to the US and works for 2 years. He makes a "mediocre" wage for a US job (still 10x what he'd make back home). Banks it all, eats rice, curry and lentils. After 2 years he, goes home. He now has 10x the money he'd have after 2 years of working in India.
The effective difference is 100x between the two.
Work visas are only good for making money in a wealthy country and then going home to a poor country. They suck for working in a poor country and then going home to a wealthy country.
Great... (Score:5, Funny)
I'm Australian. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've worked in the U.S., Japan, and now Germany. In a few years time, I hope to move to India to work for a little while, then head back to Australia to do what I can to build up the national market for technology
Globalization is a reality, folks. You can either:
a) pretend it doesn't exist,
b) complain about it, or
c) live in it, as a globalist individual
I chose c). If big-corp's are gonna go multi-national, so am I. The days of stick-dwelling are over
Move or die.
Re:I'm Australian. (Score:5, Insightful)
Who says you cant have a life... (Score:5, Interesting)
A nomadic lifestyle isn't for everyone, so if you prefer to put down roots somewhere there is always telecommuting--that is essentially what workers in India, Ireland, Canada and other outsourcing hotspots are doing for their parent companies anyways.
The Aussie is right--this is an era of globalisation and you'd better get used to it. It is sad that the US, a country historically known for its pioneering spirit and innovation, has become more whiny, inward-looking and reactionary than the average country with respect to immigration. The US got where it is today beause of immigration from all over the world. It seems selfish in this day and age to expect the rest of the world shouldn't be able to benefit from immigration as well.
Hey, if Darwin's theory works in nature expect it in the economy as well. The US will adapt or die. India and other developing nations have been closer to death and have simply started adapting faster. In the end it'll all even out--unless of course politics unduly interferes and fouls up the balance of things.
walkabouts (Score:5, Insightful)
Amerians are so hard up about working and consuming they miss the important things in life.
US, Japan and Germany. (Score:5, Insightful)
What you're talking about is NOT "Globalization". You've only been hitting the 1st world countries.
Globalization is about exploiting the 3rd world countries. Go and live there for a few years and see if your attitude doesn't change.
Re:I'm Australian. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but life is too short to have my life dictated by some politician/multi-national company.
Re:I'm an Australian troll ... (Score:5, Insightful)
there working in India -- most Western medical
plans will not cover your overseas "deployment".
(Well, you could rely on the herbal remedies
available locally -- just put enough money aside
to have your body shipped home to Mum and Pop.)
Actually, India is becoming somewhat of a medical tourist destination, [washingtonpost.com] you probably won't have to worry about medical bills and health insurance so much if you "self-insure" -- the health insurance companies don't seem to have their claws in the system over there like they do in the US so medicine is still reasonably affordable, especially for someone with a decent (indian) job.
Recently heard in downtown Mumbai (Score:5, Funny)
Where do i sign up? (Score:5, Interesting)
Good.... (Score:5, Funny)
Hippes (Score:5, Interesting)
I doubt they're making a huge dent in the overall world of outsourcing. Here in Canada more than 10% of the company where I work is people from outside of Canada, but that's not considered odd. Why would it be considered odd for there to be foreigners working in India? There's probably a lot going for those Indian cities. And has anyone ever eaten out in Switzerland? The food alone would motivate me to leave the country. I like cheese, sure, but come on - a whole meal consisting of cheese? No wonder all those Swiss kids are going to India.
Expatriates, this is nothing new (Score:5, Interesting)
A friend of mine, a Rwandese educated at Harvard, worked for a US legal firm. One day he was asked to go on a long-term mission to Nigeria for an oil firm client. He balked, quoting Nigeria's reputation for danger. He was offered a nice bonus, travel costs, and so he went. When I visited him in Lagos, he had installed himself in a nice house, with a cook, driver, security guards. He played golf twice a week, spent the weekends at the beach, and too many evenings at the clubs in Victoria Island.
Every few months he would return to head office, and make a report. His report would inevitably end with remarks about the insecurity in Lagos, the need for constant armed protection, the power cuts and the lack of facilities. Since his work was bringing in lots of money, his firm inevitably gave him a pay rise and extended his mission.
Expatriates tend to suffer from diseases of luxury. They don't pay taxes, their savings go 10-100 times further, they get privileged positions, and if good, they are valued for their expertise and cultural baggage.
The only problem: they tend to die divorced and alcoholic. Decadence is too cheap in some places!
Needs some codification (Score:5, Interesting)
I've sugested on
I for one could go for a summerhouse in Kashmir.
As the article points out, raw salary isn't everything.
Re:Needs some codification (Score:5, Funny)
South-Eash Asian recruitment of Westerners (Score:5, Interesting)
If I had to choose between a stressful job/high payment and an offer from there, I could still easily be tempted to go to Malaysia
Globalization (Score:5, Funny)
I also would like to make a call now to solidify our position as the world leader in strippers.
Government Subsidize Gold Poles NOW!
I dont think this is a trend (Score:5, Insightful)
getting outsourced.. (Score:5, Interesting)
The large corporation I work for is currently outsourcing all UK development to India.
One interesting facet is that people whose roles are being relocated to India have the option of joining the Indian company involved. Their role would still be in India, and so they would be based there, but they would keep their UK salary.
We're all currently discussing:
- how good your standard of living would be in India on a UK salary
- how long it would take for the Indian company to make you redundant (currently guess: 4 hours)
- what the Indian employment laws are like
All good fun,
~Cederic
Re:A Shame (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A Shame (Score:5, Funny)