H 1b visas

The number of immigrants under the H1-B visa program holding high-tech jobs dropped by 9% in the United States, the highest drop in a decade, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of data from the US Department of Labor. Foreign engineering and mathematics workers on H-1B visas fell 12.6% in the fiscal year ending September 2021 compared to the previous year, it said. This is the second consecutive annual decline for this segment, which had traditionally been growing consistently, and has been largely on account of travel and visa restrictions on account of the Covid-19 pandemic . The combined metric for all job categories totalled more than 497,000 during fiscal year 2021, a 9% decrease from 2020 and 17% decline from 2019. Bloomberg News analysed data from 2011 to 2021. “The drop in H-1B workers is clearly attributed to the Covid travel bans and the inability of non-immigrants to get visas and come to the US under approved H-1B petitions,” said Cyrus … [Read more...] about h1b visa: H-1B visa holders in the US see drop, highest in 10 years

Even as the digital payments conglomerate Visa pooh-poohs any threat to its leadership position in the Indian market by the indigenously developed payments solution provider RuPay , privately, it has complained to the US government that the Indian government's "informal and formal" promotion of RuPay is hurting its market share, according to a report by Reuters citing US government memos. According to the memos, Visa's grudge stems from the push RuPay has received from none other than PM Narendra Modi who has likened its use to national service, saying in a 2018 speech that since "everyone cannot go to the border to protect the country, we can use RuPay card to serve the nation." Visa, which asked for a "level playing field" during a meeting with USTR Katherine Tai, which included Visa CEO Alfred Kelly, cited Modi's speech to support its charges. The push by the government has seen Rupay's share zoom from 15% in 2017 to 63% of the 95.2 crore debit and credit … [Read more...] about Why Visa is complaining about RuPay to the US government

Visa challenged accusations from ecommerce giant Amazon that the fees it charges on credit card transactions are too high, a fresh round in an escalating game of financial chicken - one in which consumers are most likely to pay. Amazon recently revealed it will soon no longer allow UK customers to pay for items using Visa credit cards, citing “the continued high cost of payments”. It later emerged the firm may also end its partnership with Visa on co-branded credit cards in the US. Visa CEO Al Kelly has come out in defense of his company, which he says is committed to resolving the dispute with Amazon. He also illustrated the complexity of Visa’s position on fees, which are subject to a combination of external pressures. “Clearly, we’re in a challenging negotiation,” Kelly told The Financial Times. “What’s different here is that Amazon unfortunately decided to take the negotiation challenges public and oddly has chosen to threaten to punish consumers.” … [Read more...] about Visa slams Amazon over credit card ban

Paytm has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL) has partnered with platforms such as Myntra , Oyo , Domino’s and others, while also joining hands with payment giants like Visa , Mastercard and RuPay. With the partnership, the card on file tokenization service will be available for all of Paytm’s consumers and merchants. It is claimed to be aligned with the Reserve Bank of India ’s guidelines which said that “saved cards” feature won’t be allowed on a merchant network anymore. What is tokenized card transaction A tokenized card transaction is considered to be safer as the user’s actual card details are not shared with the merchant. Instead, tokenization makes way for the card’s details to be stored as a unique, irreversible ‘digital token’ instead of a 16-digit number. This digital token ensures that a user’s card details remain only with the user and is not shared with merchants or any third party payment processor. … [Read more...] about paytm: Paytm’s card-on-file tokenization comes to Myntra, Oyo, Domino’s and others

Security officials in one of China 's largest provinces have commissioned a surveillance system they say they want to use to track journalists and international students among other "suspicious people", documents reviewed by Reuters showed. A July 29 tender document published on the Henan provincial government's procurement website - reported in the media for the first time - details plans for a system that can compile individual files on such persons of interest coming to Henan using 3,000 facial recognition cameras that connect to various national and regional databases. A 5 million yuan ($782,000) contract was awarded on Sept. 17 to Chinese tech company Neusoft, which was required to finish building the system within two months of signing the contract, separate documents published on the Henan government procurement website showed. Reuters was unable to establish if the system is currently operating. Shenyang-based Neusoft did not respond to requests … [Read more...] about china: Chinese province to track journalists, foreign students with surveillance system: Report

Democrats across at least seven states this year sought to ban terms like “alien” and “illegal alien” from state statutes, a report reveals. A review by the Associated Press (AP) of National Conference of State Legislatures records shows that Democrat lawmakers in at least seven states, including Colorado, California, and Texas, authorized legislation to ban terms that accurately describe illegal aliens and border crossers living in the United States. In California and Colorado, the legislation passed and such language will be stripped from state statutes. In Texas, though the legislation passed out of committee with support from Republicans and Democrats, it failed to advance any further. State Sen. Julie Gonzales (D) of Colorado, who helped pass the legislation, has said that terms like “illegal” are “dehumanizing and derogatory” and thus must not be included in state statutes to describe illegal aliens. “That language has been offensive for many people. And some of the … [Read more...] about Democrats Across U.S. Take Biden’s Lead, Seek to Ban ‘Illegal Alien’ Term

Eftpos has switched on a new AI anti-fraud online capability as the Australian debit payments provider continues to expand its security features. The new capability is underpinned by a fraud detection engine that uses AI and machine learning to predict individual behaviour in real time. The feature was developed as part of a partnership with UK-based financial crime prevention firm Featurespace. "The anti-fraud capability has widespread support from banks and fintechs across the country and will scale quickly in the Australian market next year to provide real benefits for merchants and consumers as Eftpos online market penetration grows," Eftpos CEO Stephen Benton said. Introducing the anti-fraud capability follows Eftpos going live last week with its two-factor authentication functionality , ahead of a full rollout next year. The rollout of these features is part of Eftpos' five-year, AU$100 million investment it's making on digital upgrades to its network , designed to … [Read more...] about Eftpos expands security kit bag with new AI anti-fraud capability

President Donald Trump’s tight labor market from 2017 to 2019 pulled many left-behind Americans into work and jobs, setting the stage for higher economic growth in future years, says a report by JPMorgan. “The pre-COVID experience demonstrated that a tight labor market can produce … gains in labor force participation, and, in fact, our forecast looks for well-above-trend labor force growth near 1% in the coming years,” says the report , titled “US: Population slowdown threatens trend growth.” Each percentage gain in “labor force participation” means that roughly 1.6 million Americans are rejoining the workforce after unemployment, training, illness, or addiction. Almost 98 percent of working-age men worked during the 1960s, but the share gradually dropped below 90 percent by 2014. JPMorgan also said that the coronavirus-caused shortage of workers also prompted U.S. companies to raise the wage-boosting productivity of their American employees, such as by providing them with … [Read more...] about JPMorgan: Wages, Productivity Jumped Amid Trump’s Low Migration

According to an investigation published by Axios on Tuesday, top Olympic sponsor Airbnb offers over a dozen homes for rent in the Xinjiang region of China, home of the oppressed Uyghur Muslims – many of whom have been forced from their own homes into concentration camps and sold to both Chinese and foreign corporations as slaves. Airbnb is an online service that offers various properties for rental, famously allowing people to rent out their homes as if they were hotel rooms or vacation resorts. Axios found 14 Airbnb listings in Xinjiang, which China has been increasingly touting as a tourist destination, owned by a company called the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC). The U.S. Treasury Department described XPCC as a “Chinese government entity” and a “paramilitary organization” when it sanctioned the company and two of its officials under the Global Magnitsky Act in July 2020. The sanctions noted XPCC “First Political Commissar” Chen … [Read more...] about Olympics Sponsor Airbnb Doing Business in China’s Genocide Region

Top Democratic staffers met Wednesday with the Senate’s debate referee to demand that she include their parole amnesty for illegal migrants in President Joe Biden’s spending bill. Bloomberg reported that the parliamentarian did not reveal her views: House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who helped craft the immigration language in the House, said he’s optimistic. “This is the third try,” he said earlier Wednesday. “There is no reason that they shouldn’t just accept it.” In a prior meeting, the parliamentarian “kept it very close to the vest and didn’t react when we made our initial presentation,” Sen. Dick Durbin told reporters on November 30. The parliamentarian is Elizabeth MacDonough. She has a lot of clout in the legislative process because Senate rules require the exclusion of policy disputes from the fast-track reconciliation bill process. Democrats are using that process because it allows them to push their government-expanding $1.7 trillion bill through … [Read more...] about Democrats Prod Parliamentarian to OK Amnesty in Budget Bill