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Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

computerworld.com

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Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#131

Post by vostok »

bduerst wrote: post #129
mahyarm wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those people are a small portion of H1B visas, if at all, and all it means that instead of a %50 to %100 chance that they get it 'this year' doing it, it's a %100 chance. They also have other options like an L1 visa which is another %100 chance in a year and then can get a green card at the highest priority level as an international executive afterwards. Or they can open a mcdonalds franchise somewhere in a bad part…

Less than 7% of approved H1B visas last year were with Infosys, HCL, and Cognizant - the three major H1B abusers. The remaining 93% were legitimate hires that would be priced out by the wealthy if there were a way for the wealthy to buy their visas. Just because there is a problem that doesn't justify moving to a solution that destroys it. It's better strengthen enforcement so that fines can be used to make it expens…

The wealthy can already buy their way into a US visa. I am in an immigrant community where this happens. Quite frankly, I think those programs should also be expanded.

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#132

Post by vostok »

bduerst wrote: post #124
isoos wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wealthy immigrants can obtain investor visa easier outside of the H1B pool (EB-5). There is no reason why H1B should be distributed fairly, because the US has a green card lottery that is diversified across various jobs and countries anyway.

The EB-5 requires starting a company and employing 10+ at >$50k/yr, meaning it costs $500,000+. Do you honestly think the H1B visa will bid higher than $500k/yr for base pay for the employee? The lottery evenly distributes amongst the positions based on demand. By switching to wealth, you're creating a system that only the highest-paying job categories will prevail.

I am in an immigrant community where the EB5 is used. It does not cost $500k/year and it is an investment rather than a expense so it is not all comparable to the H1B program.

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#133

Post by vostok »

eva1984 wrote: post #127
eru wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An auction system would have far less uncertainty.

Big companies can afford to pay, startups are not.

I don't work for a startup, but I do work for a small business. The current system does not work for us because there is a lot of uncertainty in the application process. An auction system would actually be an improvement for us and many other small businesses.

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#134

Post by gorkemyurt »

bduerst wrote: post #124
isoos wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wealthy immigrants can obtain investor visa easier outside of the H1B pool (EB-5). There is no reason why H1B should be distributed fairly, because the US has a green card lottery that is diversified across various jobs and countries anyway.

The EB-5 requires starting a company and employing 10+ at >$50k/yr, meaning it costs $500,000+. Do you honestly think the H1B visa will bid higher than $500k/yr for base pay for the employee? The lottery evenly distributes amongst the positions based on demand. By switching to wealth, you're creating a system that only the highest-paying job categories will prevail.

That's one way of doing it.

But most of the people use a regional center [1] to park the $500k is a big real estate project like Hunter's Point Shipyard in SF or Hudson Yards in New York with no additional yearly cost.

[1] https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/permanent-worker...

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#135

Post by khare_ashwini »

ninja_to_be wrote: post #106
surfmike wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that helps at least is that the H1B lottery cap doesn't apply to students who got a graduate degree in the US. ie there are unlimited H1B visas for people in that boat.

It is not unlimited, but there is a separate lottery for 20,000 visas for advanced degree holders.

...and the unselected ones from this lot get one more chance in the general pool of 65000

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#136

Post by SilasX »

megablast wrote: post #67
vostok wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If salaries in those areas are not as high as in the Bay Area, it means there is no shortage. It just means the salaries are too low to attract talent. There are plenty of companies outside the Bay Area that pay comparable salaries. I have first or very close second hand experience with LA, Chicago, Seattle, Colorado, and New York. If other companies want to hire foreigners they should be willing to pay more.

No it doesn't. San Fran has higher salaries across the board, to go with the higher cost of living. It doesn't mean other areas don't need devs.

Arguably the effect goes the other way: engineers are more productive in SF, so they're worth paying more in SF. (If that weren't the case, then you wouldn't be able to pay engineers enough to want to live there while still making s profit.)

So the GP's policy would still fit the spirit of the H1B program, which is to allow slots for high-output roles.

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#137

Post by gorkemyurt »

bogomipz wrote: post #91
cplanas wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This essentially ignores the condition of the US (and in particular the Bay area) as the tech capital of the world. The US is not bereft of talent, but the US alone does not produce enough tech talent to sustain its position in the world. In some cases, these American companies "that the H1B folks want to work" were founded by non-Americans or even better, were founded out of the US but moved there as a condition in…

Please show my proof or a citation that the "us does not produce enough tech talent to sustain its position in the world" It seems to me that every year for the last 15 years the US produces new and innovative tech tech companies many very successful. How is this possible then if its not sustainable? That's a straw man that not buying into the nonsense that without H1B visas the tech economy will grind to a halt mean…

Yea lot of them are founded by immigrants..

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#138

Post by gorkemyurt »

eva1984 wrote: post #78
verst wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Are you seriously saying that foreign students subsidize the education of US citizens? That is one of the most absurd statements I've ever read on HN. US student's educations are paid for by student loans, they fund their own tuitions I can assure you. Absurd? Perhaps. However, it is reality and happening in the University of California system. [1] The tuition for CA residents (regardless how they choose to financ…

Just curious, why UC system has such a budget crisis? What leads to this?

Some say its Prop. 13 http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-birgenau-prop-13-...

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#139

Post by praneshp »

pkaye wrote: post #23
_audakel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is yet another point showing how broken our immigration / vIsa program is. This sort of blackmarket style operation would never have existed in the first place if the talanted non US (calling them aliens seems dehumanizing and encourages the us vs them mentality) workers could easily and affordably get permission to work here

This sort of problem could also be resolved by adding whistle blower protection to H1B employees against their employers.

You speak as if those employees are poor folks being exploited. They are "in" on the con, they know exactly what they are getting into.

Re: Judge sends two to prison for 7 years for H-1B fraud

#140

Post by nojvek »

kofejnik wrote: post #84
eva1984 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That will make company like MS/Google/FB/AMAZN, invincible. Startups are going to be starved. They will not have that much leverage to recruit desired talents.

otoh, artificially allowing startups to get cheap engineers means that these or some other engineers are deprived of an opportunity to make a lot more money at Google/Facebook. Engineers are thus being exploited by unethical employers flooding the system

+1 on this. I would really like H1B's to be a bidding system. But guess who lobbies the govt?
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