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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

#441

Post by mavelikara »

kstrauser wrote: post #439
mavelikara wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says nothing about the availability of these skills locally.

Sigh. Here's the Department of Labor explanation (at https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/h1b.htm ): "The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability. A specialty occupation is one that requires the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree…

"The law establishes certain standards in order to protect similarly employed U.S. workers from being adversely affected by the employment of the nonimmigrant workers, as well as to protect the H-1B nonimmigrant workers. Employers must attest to the Department of Labor that they will pay wages to the H-1B nonimmigrant workers that are at least equal to the actual wage paid by the employer to other workers with similar experience and qualifications for the job in question, or the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment – whichever is greater."

I think I misunderstood your initial comment. I took "we" to mean the employer; looks like you meant it as the DOL.

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

#442

Post by bayareafella »

WildUtah wrote: post #393
ianai wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The elephant no one seems to talk about is: Why are universities not accepting more "local" grad students? In my experience, it was the standardized tests. I was completing an undergrad in math while attempting to the GRE. Meanwhile I heard stories of students in other countries essentially focusing on the GRE as their undergrad equivalents weren't as time consuming/rigorous.

In my experience, standardized tests play almost no role in STEM grad school admissions. Why would a math department care about your score on a vocabulary test like the GRE, as long as you speak fluent English? The keys are, above all, good recommendations from respectable academics and some kind of research experience followed by high undergrad grades. A high GRE score can't substitute for any of those. Of course, t…

> Of course, the foreigners can manufacture the grades and recommendations with a little cash. Maybe even the research experience. They probably do have to study English to pass the standardized tests: The one that matters for them is the TOEFL.

Wow. Do you have any source for this? I would love to hear one. DO you have ANY idea how difficult it is to get an application accepted at a top tier grad school? Especially if you are an international student? We have to compete against millions of our own country folk at our local examinations, which are way more difficult than the american equivalents. Google IIT-JEE for a starter, and probably try to solve a few sample questions. We work hard to get to where we are and don't expect/feel entitled a job/education just because we are born in a certain country. No one is conspiring to keep local students out, it just happens to be that when graded on a uniform scale (set by the universities themselves (Not every foreign institution's scores are accepted)) the international counterparts are better. With respect to my credentials and experience, I was a grad student from India in one of the tier one schools and work as an architect in the Big 4. You see a huge international presence here in the big companies frankly because we compete at a completely different scale than what you would like to think. I have interviewed enough people to not judge them based on where they come from or how well they can talk english.

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

#443

Post by arthys »

mavelikara wrote: post #387
koolba wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Startups and small businesses will get 20% of the visas. It'll be interesting to see how this is gamed Probably the old fashioned way: Tata Startup Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Consulting Services.

While everyone seems to be focussing on TCS, Infosys etc, the worst abuse of H-1B comes from small staffing firms in US. I foresee them using the 20% set aside for startups.

true that!

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

#444

Post by PeterisP »

winter_blue wrote: post #390
Retric wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a huge range of salary's for recent grads from minimum wage to 200+k/year. So, a minimum salary of say 75k would allow many students to stay but not all students to stay. PS: I suspect if there where a direct path from student to staying in the US then people would just game that process. Which would reduce the number of 'real' students and cause a political backlash.

> if there where a direct path from student to staying in the US then people would just game that process If someone manages to get accepted at a genuine accredited U.S. high-education institution, and completes their studies, and graduates, why not let them stay? I understand there will be a lot more demand to study in the U.S. if such a pathway existed; so you would want to make sure that there are no diploma mills…

"why not let them stay?" has a simple answer that not letting them stay has some benefit to some USA citizens in reducing competition in the workforce. One may argue whether benefits of this 'labor market protectionism' really outweigh the drawbacks in economic competitiveness, but after recent elections this choice has been made and "jobs for Americans instead of immigrants" has become an explicit goal.

It really doesn't make much practical sense to attract students, educate them, and have them leave. But having the flow of student immigrants be naturally regulated by the admissions process, as you propose, seems to be putting the cart before the horse policy wise. From the gov't perspective, the interests and education goals of the (potential) immigrants are irrelevant but the flow of skilled immigrant labor matters a lot - what would be a practical solution is to make a decision about what amount and kind of post-college immigrants staying would be best for the interests of current USA citizens (which might reasonably be close to 0 in some areas of study), and then set the limits and conditions for student visas/admissions to match that goal.

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

#445

Post by klipt »

gautambay wrote: post #325
ones_and_zeros wrote: post #25

Here is the summary straight from the horses mouth: https://lofgren.house.gov/uploadedfiles/high_skilled_bill_sx... A few points: - This does not raise the salary requirement to $130k/yr. This only applies to employers that do not want to do the extra paper work for "attestations regarding recruitment and non-displacement of U.S. workers" - It takes a "market based" allocation strategy which allows "cash bonuses and…

Thanks for this! I've been on multiple H1B visas, at both large companies and startups. I've also sponsored H1B visas as an employer. I would support this bill. The headline is a classic example of sensational journalism by the Times of India. The $130k salary requirement applies only to "dependent employers", defined as employers with over 15% of their workforce on H1Bs. This is clearly aimed at reducing H1B misuse…

Note that this bill is completely separate from Trump's possible upcoming executive order which may also affect H1B:

https://www.murthy.com/2017/01/31/possible-executive-order-t...

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

#446

Post by WildUtah »

hn_news wrote: post #412
WildUtah wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scientists used to make a good living in the USA. Now the market is flooded with cheap foreigners and science is a road to poverty. Ending the employment of cheap foreigners, including as TAs and RAs, would go a long way to making science a respectable profession again. And it would open the field to American women. When math and science professors can't make a decent living to support a family until after their prim…

In grad school i was one of those TAs teaching science to 1st/2nd year university kids. Let me tell you, i was horrified and could not believe these kids paid $50k/year to attend these essentially "baby sitting" classes with high school level information.. at most. 95% kids knew nothing IMO and were planning to go to med schools, i pissed off many of them (as i later discovered) by not giving them anything higher tha…

One of the things that annoyed me was the love of multiple choice tests

We said "multiple choice" only to the foreigners and the most uptight profs. They're properly called 'multiple guess' by American students.

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

#447

Post by WildUtah »

bayareafella wrote: post #442
WildUtah wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, standardized tests play almost no role in STEM grad school admissions. Why would a math department care about your score on a vocabulary test like the GRE, as long as you speak fluent English? The keys are, above all, good recommendations from respectable academics and some kind of research experience followed by high undergrad grades. A high GRE score can't substitute for any of those. Of course, t…

> Of course, the foreigners can manufacture the grades and recommendations with a little cash. Maybe even the research experience. They probably do have to study English to pass the standardized tests: The one that matters for them is the TOEFL. Wow. Do you have any source for this? I would love to hear one. DO you have ANY idea how difficult it is to get an application accepted at a top tier grad school? Especially…

We have to compete against millions of our own country folk at our local examinations, which are way more difficult than the american equivalents.

It's much harder in America because it doesn't matter how you do on the examinations. Your fate is decided by personal opinions and relationships and what your local school thinks of you. There is no simple IIT exam or A-level or Baccalaureate or Sooneung where you can just study hard, write a great exam and get admitted.

How we dreamed of the ease foreign students had with their exams! Instead it's a deep dreary slog of obsequiousness, obedience, busy work, group projects, supplication, and being seen but seldom heard. And the results are secret evaluations you're never entitled to see and which are never documented in public.

But that's all for undergrad.

The fact remains that the only exam that matters much in top tier grad admissions for US schools is the TOEFL and that's only for foreigners. Documented research work experience is much more important than any test.

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

#448

Post by sameAsYou »

raitom wrote: post #274
didibus wrote: post #236

Is the a data on why skilled immigrants on H1-B accept lower wages?

Still better than staying in their shitty country + hope to become a US citizen one day.

exactly. they have the similar aspirations that forefathers/mothers of most-of-the-americans had.

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

#449

Post by yardie »

xyzzyz wrote: post #422
yardie wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd just like to point out the requirement for a family sponsor visa is 5x the poverty rate. At a minimum you currently need to make $100k annual salary. Also, family sponsored visas don't come out of the same quota pool as other visas so your statements are functionally irrelevant to this topic.

I'd just like to point out the requirement for a family sponsor visa is 5x the poverty rate. At a minimum you currently need to make $100k annual salary. I've never heard about this. Where did you get it from?

From the USCIS website. When you file a petition for a family visa one of the forms is the I-864, financial support. Depending on your status you are required to have 3x-5x the poverty line in income or assets. Now, you don't have to do this alone. If you have 3-4 family members willing to apply they use the combined income.

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

#450

Post by wdcgu »

grzm wrote: post #331
wdcgu wrote: post #280

I love the blatant racism of HN. Everyone loves to rip on the H1-B, which is predominantly used by Indians, but no one seems to give a shit about the TN visa. Aren't those Canadians stealing your precious American jobs too?

I love the blatant racism of HN. Please don't generalize about the HN community in this way, particularly as you choose to be part of it.

Find me a few threads ripping on those Canadians stealing American jobs and driving down American wages. Or perhaps a few threads criticizing the TN visa, because American jobs are for Americans.

Do that and I'll stand corrected.

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