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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

#241

Post by ksherlock »

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.

For some reason, people like to ignore the 25,000 infosys H1Bs to talk about a hypothetical startup H1B. Can you please name one of those Boulder or Portland startups? Maybe point me to the "who is hiring" post where they are trying to pay the required wage but nobody wants to work for them?

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

#242

Post by readhn »

samfisher83 wrote: post #225
readhn wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who do you think is driving a lot of the research work at the biotech start ups that the Merc and others are buying up?

I don't know that much about biotech startups. Maybe you can tell me who pays for them?

Rich guys, speculators, VCs

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

#243

Post by trishume »

winter_blue wrote: post #127
trishume wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grant you this is in fact not the perfect reform bill, the question is, is it better than the current situation? To me it looks like it's at least somewhat better, so as a Canadian who may want to move to the US at some point, I'm hoping it passes.

> as a Canadian who may want to move to the US You can move to the US on the TN visa (as long as NAFTA is still valid). I've met programmers from Canada and Mexico who are on the TN visa.

Definitely aware of this, however the TN visa doesn't have a path to a green card. A common strategy for Canadians is to come in on a TN visa and then repeatedly apply for an H1-B and hope to win the lottery while you are there. It basically just allows you to start work immediately instead of having to wait for an H1-B.

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

#244

Post by dsp1234 »

winter_blue wrote: post #121
anondon wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the impression that this new bill is like putting lipstick on a pig which is the current system. I was hoping the amendments to the H1-B bill would be one of the silver linings of a Trump presidency, but I guess not anymore.

I've commented on this before, at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13433540 I'm copying the comment below: --- I'm on an H-1B, and the thing that infuriates me about the dialogue on this is that they are effectively trying to ban skilled immigration, and exclude people like me from coming. If you don't qualify for the family-based or refugee route, employment-based immigration is the only viable pathway. The amo…

I was a student (on an F-1 visa)

Note that during the F-1 visa application, you needed to prove that you had no intent to stay. This is a current requirement for the F-1 visa.

While there are problems with the proposed legislation, at a minimum, it does allow for dual-intent for F-1 visas, and allows for a bridge from F-1 status to legal permanent resident. This means that an F-1 visa petitioner doesn't have to lie on their application, and there is no incentive to use the H1-B program in a way it wasn't intended.

This small piece, seems like a attempt at solving this student-to-resident pathway issues.

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

#245

Post by pm90 »

kstrauser wrote: post #183
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.

Well, and given that the premise of H1-B visas is that "we literally couldn't find a local who could do this", I'm OK with that. Outside the Bay Area, you're probably not going to pay a frontend website programmer $130K on an H1-B. You're not supposed to, though! You can find plenty of that talent already in the country. If you need specific PhD-level STEM skills that you haven't been able to find locally, you're pro…

There are many loopholes with this logic, although I can see how the "free market will fixit!" philosophy is so common.

The unavailability of required talent does not magically make it economically feasible to pay more for that talent. Especially the process of hiring new employees is an expensive and slow process. The vitality of American businesses depends critically on the availability of great talent at a reasonable cost. And 130k seems like a really really huge expense, especially to non-silicon valley businesses.

> You can find plenty of that talent already in the country.

No you cannot. Sure the H1B is abused horse gets beat a lot and sure there is a lot of abuse. But what shouldn't be missed is that the H1B gives American companies access to a market of the best talent in the world, to allow them to hire that talent for themselves.

History has shown how diversity and pluralism, along with dynamic markets have contributed to the blooming of civilizations. It has also shown how jingoism and trade wars have led to their fall.

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

#246

Post by readhn »

sfifs wrote: post #208
readhn wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are clearly outside of the field. There are tons of jobs in the biotech industry for qualified graduates. The issue is finding people with appropriate scientific and industry backgrounds. This is why h1bs are hired. I don't care what color you are and where you come from. If you know your stuff I will hire you.

if there's really a scarcity, then there shouldn't be a problem paying higher wages as these bills require right - especially given how huge money-spinners successful drug molecules can be.

Yes, there is a problem paying 130k. For a masters or even phd straight out of school that's a lot. (I'm excluding you living in bubbles like SF).

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

#247

Post by drzaiusapelord »

jessaustin wrote: post #131
btbuildem wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And probably for the best. We kind of need the US to take a back seat for a while. Let it be an inbreeding backwater that it clearly wants to be, the world will breathe easier for it.

We've been drifting in this direction for decades now... if someone else wanted to take the wheel, why haven't they done so already? Sure, Putin wants to be the daddy, but he just doesn't have the industry to get there. Other than him? It's like the rest of the world believes the hype, even more than we do. Or maybe the hype is true?

China certainly is doing a great job at this and Trump's dismissal of the TPP means China just get a major leg up in its regional ambitions.

The US still is an 800lbs gorilla, but it got there by making a lot of aggressive globalization, immigration, military, and investment moves. Now we have an administration that is against all those things and is run by a man who has a cult of personality behind him and can do 'not wrong' to his base. We're on a completely new path that, historically, has not ended well for modern economies. Isolationism and protectionism in a globalized economy simply does not work. Ask Hugo Chavez how well his Venezuelan experiment worked.

>We've been drifting in this direction for decades now...

This is untrue. Ignoring Bush's recession, we've been on a non-stop upwards path in almost any metric that matters: gdp, gdp per capita, military power, science publishing, space, tech innovations, environment regulations, social progress, healthcare access, etc. We are hard to beat when managed correctly. The current administration is going against all the things that have given us a leg up over the years. That is something to be concerned about. US supremacy is not a given. Its hard fought and Trump is giving up the global fight for bizarre reasons like trying to bring coal and manufacturing jobs back, neither of which is even feasible considering natural gas/renewable competition and what automation is doing to manufacturing right now.

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

#248

Post by ScalaFan »

cobookman wrote: post #158

Looking at the following database of h1b salaries: http://h1bdata.info/highestpaidcompany.php It seems like only 63 companies have an average salary above 130k and 1937 companies have average salaries below 130k. With only 11641 H1b's being at companies with an average salary above 130k and 476425 below the cap. So this is going to free up a bunch of h1b's at the top end of the sepctrum.

There are at least four stakeholders in this situation:

1. The American company that wants to save money

2. The Middleman (e.g. Wipro etc) that wants to make money on the wage arbitrage

3. The foreign worker on the H1B

4. The American citizen that doesn't want to be replaced by the foreign worker

I'm all for cutting out (2) and making it easier for the foreign worker (provided they have the skills) to become an American and not beholden to (2). However, I don't like the American companies saving money on the backs of American employees losing their jobs. How to balance everything is the tough question.

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

#250

Post by Dylan16807 »

DiamondDiamond wrote: post #188

It seems like, in future, most jobs above 130k will go to Non American workers and on the other hand the american workers will be left with low paying jobs (that is under 130K) or American worker $130k I would not support such a bill.

What, you think companies are going to hire non-Americans for a higher price just for the fun of it?
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