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New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#11

Post by nicolas_t »

Shivetya wrote: post #4

so is this catching up or exceeding the rate of inflation? How was this salary number not tied to inflation or another index? If anything it seems to me to be a benefit to those seeking employment who have real skills and ability.

If the $60,000 from 1989 had been indexed on inflation, it would be $115,000 now. So, 130k doesn't seem so unreasonable. Of course, that does exclude states and cities with a lower cost of living.

It would really make more sense to just index it to inflation or even better to the cost of live of the city where the employee would work (but that would potentially leave some loopholes)

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#12

Post by jankotek »

I think this is great news.

Right now it is almost impossible to get working visa in US, unless you work for a sweatshop.

Minimal salary makes it easier for small business to hire foreigners.

> The legislation sets aside 20 percent of the annually allocated H-1B visas for small and start-up employers (50 or fewer employers) to ensure small businesses have an opportunity to compete for high-skilled workers

told you so ;)

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#13

Post by ebbv »

Reading the article it doesn't sound like this bill does anything to make it easier for the employee to find a different job once they are here (e.g. Making it easier for other employers to take on sponsorship of the H1-B visa.)

The article says this bill makes it easier for students to get a path to citizenship but doesn't say anything about H1-B workers.

I also don't think the salary requirement is necessarily a win for people who want to come over here as an H1-B worker. The gap is so big it is likely that employers will find someone over here rather than eat the $60k salary increase in some cases. It will be a win for anyone who was going to be close to that new $130k minimum where a big company may just soak the increase.

We really need to replace the H1-B program with something that empowers the employees and allows them to switch jobs and have a clear and easy path to citizenship.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#14

Post by johnloeber »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is just a proposal that has to get ratified by the House of Congress, right?

It's noteworthy that Zoe Lofgren, the sponsor of this bill, has attempted to pass similar bills before, which were not successful. See e.g. https://www.us-immigration.com/blog/bill-fails-in-the-house-...

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#15

Post by douche »

Sounds like this should have quite an impact on most of the companies that hire a lot of H1Bs. Out of the list below, only Apple is hitting that salary level with their average.

(edit) http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2016-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.aspx

Also, damn, I knew TCS and Infosys were big, but I wasn't aware they were quite that big.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#16

Post by scarface74 »

pkd wrote: post #10
hocuspocus wrote: post #7

Color me surprised, I commented on many related threads recently but this sounds actually pretty good! $130k is maybe a little high for seed stage startups but given that we're talking about relocating engineers to the most expensive region in the world, I believe it's fair. And the path from F-1 to Green Card will solve companies taking advantage of people on OPT status, at least partially.

Thing is that the whole of US isn't Silicon Valley or Seattle. Startups in upcoming hubs like Portland and Boulder will suffer(sic) because the salary requirements are too high for them to satisfy given the living costs. It basically means that the only companies who are gonna be able to hire through H1Bs are the big cos or unicorns.

Companies may have to do something unimaginable and invest in their employees who may not have the exact skill set they need and offer them training or give them time to ramp up....

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#17

Post by scarface74 »

ebbv wrote: post #13

Reading the article it doesn't sound like this bill does anything to make it easier for the employee to find a different job once they are here (e.g. Making it easier for other employers to take on sponsorship of the H1-B visa.) The article says this bill makes it easier for students to get a path to citizenship but doesn't say anything about H1-B workers. I also don't think the salary requirement is necessarily a wi…

"The gap is so big it is likely that employers will find someone over here rather than eat the $60k salary increase in some cases"

I don't see the problem. I can't imagine a job that's only worth $70,000 being so "specialized" that it the company couldn't have found someone that was already in the U.S. to fill. The company was probably taking advantage of the program anyway to get cheap labor.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#18

Post by caseymarquis »

This makes sense from a distance. Such employees are supposed to be specialists, not hired for the purpose of undercutting wages. I'm not in the bay area, but if you're bringing in a specialist from another country because you can't find one here, this sounds like the sort of wage that person ought to have.

Whether this restriction makes sense in the first place is a different question, but this does sound like it fits the spirit of the h1-b.

I'd be curious to hear an opposing claim on this as I don't know a great deal about it and wonder if I'm missing something.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#20

Post by hocuspocus »

pkd wrote: post #10
hocuspocus wrote: post #7

Color me surprised, I commented on many related threads recently but this sounds actually pretty good! $130k is maybe a little high for seed stage startups but given that we're talking about relocating engineers to the most expensive region in the world, I believe it's fair. And the path from F-1 to Green Card will solve companies taking advantage of people on OPT status, at least partially.

Thing is that the whole of US isn't Silicon Valley or Seattle. Startups in upcoming hubs like Portland and Boulder will suffer(sic) because the salary requirements are too high for them to satisfy given the living costs. It basically means that the only companies who are gonna be able to hire through H1Bs are the big cos or unicorns.

You're absolutely right, and I've said it myself in the past, this heavily favors one kind of companies in a few high CoL areas. You're better off selling ads than trying to cure cancer or solve the energy crisis, and sadly that's not only true when hiring foreign talent.
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