Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

blogs.wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 387 posts

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#11

Post by EduardoBautista »

mjevans wrote: post #7
EduardoBautista wrote: post #2

Honestly, I am all for raising the wage requirement. This will definitely help to reduce the use of H1B for hiring underpaid foreign labor.

I feel like this proposed bill doesn't go far enough. H-1B visas should ONLY be granted for workers that are in such need that they are above the 90th percentile of pay for that role. They should also be limited to no more commitment to the company than their peer workers. Once within the country, an H-1B worker should also be able to leave for other employment (without the top market rate requirement) whenever they…

I agree with everything you are saying. Almost everything about the work visa and employment based immigration needs to be reviewed.

I grew up in the USA (undocumented) and had to leave because I wanted to try to come back legally. Unfortunately, it's not easy even if I can easily get a six figure job or start a business.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#12

Post by serge2k »

edblarney wrote: post #4

It's an interesting paradox ... the top users of H1s are foreign companies, like Infosys and Tata - they bring in people on these visas. So in a way, it's kind of 'insourcing' not 'outsourcing'. I truly wonder if those companies would opt to just leave their staff in India, and to hire mostly just customer-facing support types here otherwise. In that case, the US would lose a lot of tax revenue (and spending) from th…

> the top users of H1s are foreign companies, like Infosys and Tata - they bring in people on these visas

IIRC the top 10 were all consulting companies the last few years. You can look at the pay rates vs google/MS/etc... and see the difference. You can also look at the number of green card sponsorships.

It's really awful.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#13

Post by gopalv »

There are probably some Indians who are celebrating this ... a minimum 100k wage + a cost of living adjustment every 3 years.

If this is like the 2015 bill, that also includes the requirement to sign them up for stock options, similar to a US employee.

However, the rule does have a corner case which allows bonuses to be part of the 100k, so the employers might continue to pay low salaries all year round, with a dangled 40-50k bonus at the end of the year.

Because the tech industry is something with a fairly long lag between demand & supply, the best case scenario is that the wages go up all around & hopefully that is spent in the US, instead of hoarded for a princely return to India.

The worst case scenario for a cost increase is that more work moves overseas, taking the spending side-effects & tax revenue away from the US IRS, while the corporate profits are unaffected, just total revenue cuts down.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#14

Post by learc83 »

edblarney wrote: post #4

It's an interesting paradox ... the top users of H1s are foreign companies, like Infosys and Tata - they bring in people on these visas. So in a way, it's kind of 'insourcing' not 'outsourcing'. I truly wonder if those companies would opt to just leave their staff in India, and to hire mostly just customer-facing support types here otherwise. In that case, the US would lose a lot of tax revenue (and spending) from th…

>I truly wonder if those companies would opt to just leave their staff in India, and to hire mostly just customer-facing support types here otherwise.

It's already much cheaper to employ someone in India than to pay that person in the US. The only reason they are using H-1B employees based in the US, is that some companies that are contracting Infosys and Tata want US based employees.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#15

Post by EduardoBautista »

gopalv wrote: post #13

There are probably some Indians who are celebrating this ... a minimum 100k wage + a cost of living adjustment every 3 years. If this is like the 2015 bill, that also includes the requirement to sign them up for stock options, similar to a US employee. However, the rule does have a corner case which allows bonuses to be part of the 100k, so the employers might continue to pay low salaries all year round, with a dangl…

> Because the tech industry is something with a fairly long lag between demand & supply, the best case scenario is that the wages go up all around & hopefully that is spent in the US, instead of hoarded for a princely return to India.

For that, employment based immigration needs to be addressed. Ideally, one should be able to self-petition to immigrate after a few years legally working in the USA.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#16

Post by xname2 »

nbakshi wrote: post #9

100K in Bay area is not equal to 100K in some other part of US. Also H1B is not only used by the IT industry but other industries as well, where paying 100K may be tough.

Exactly. I am in Arkansas, $100k is crazy, only a director of a big department can make this kind of money.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#17

Post by outworlder »

> The proposed legislation would increase required salaries for positions granted under the H-1B scheme that replace American workers from $60,000 to $100,000 per year.

Big whoop.

There are (three?) big players that are heavily outsourcing folks at "client sites". Ideally, H1Bs should be relatively easy to get for the first ones – after all, many companies have a legitimate need to bring in specialized labor from abroad. Then tack an exponential difficulty curve per company.

This way, a startup would be able to recruit a very talented individual from abroad. But big corps wouldn't be able to layoff and replace their workforce.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#18

Post by learc83 »

mjevans wrote: post #7
EduardoBautista wrote: post #2

Honestly, I am all for raising the wage requirement. This will definitely help to reduce the use of H1B for hiring underpaid foreign labor.

I feel like this proposed bill doesn't go far enough. H-1B visas should ONLY be granted for workers that are in such need that they are above the 90th percentile of pay for that role. They should also be limited to no more commitment to the company than their peer workers. Once within the country, an H-1B worker should also be able to leave for other employment (without the top market rate requirement) whenever they…

>they are above the 90th percentile of pay for that role

The problem with that is that companies will do what they are doing now. Give people titles for lower wage jobs (support, QA etc...) pay them the 90% for the lower wage job, and have them perform the duties of the higher wage job.

Re: H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules

#19

Post by jxy »

nbakshi wrote: post #9

100K in Bay area is not equal to 100K in some other part of US. Also H1B is not only used by the IT industry but other industries as well, where paying 100K may be tough.

Not many options left for exchange scholars beyond the extension of J visas now. It'll have some impact on science output in the US.
Post reply on HN