US Tech: We need the brightest blah blah ...
US Gov: Fine, Big Co with $15b in yearly profits, if he's so bright then pay him at least $150K a year. If he's not worth that much then he's not that special.
How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
51–60 of 451 posts
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#52The general direction of the Trump plan regarding H-1b is the way to go. The lottery needs to be replaced with a demand system where the highest salaries get slots. A floor of $100,000/yr should exist and adjust for inflation. Next, generously expand the green card fast track, as this category of employee, as an immigrant, is a free agent to move among companies or to start their own business. To date, as we all know…
Probably they have been doing well below 100kU$S in benefits, because surely if they cant land a 100k gig and can land a 60k one, they have lower skills. Its reasonable to feel discontent with such companies, but if there were free movement of people working lawfully they would still be compelled to hire immigrants. Its only frowned upon because the government said so. If the government says you can get H1B's with 50…
As long as there is a cap on these visas, they should be distributed in the most efficient manner, i.e. through an auction. Anything else is wasteful.
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
in the past it was assumed that the USA would honor visa once they were issued What do you mean by "honor"? A visa don't guarantee entry. It simply gives you a path to enter the country which includes inspection by immigration control. They make that very clear on the USCIS website and all the visa forms. A U.S. visa in his/her passport gives a foreign citizen permission to apply to enter the United States. A visa by…
In practice, it's necessary that it be sufficient for the vast majority of the cases. It's not worth it for most to risk the substantial financial/time outlay to travel/move halfway around the world to visit a country that has a good chance of not letting you in once you arrive on its doorstep.
In practice, it's necessary that it be sufficient for the vast majority of the cases.
And in the vast majority of the cases, it is. Immigrants from the 7 countries that Obama designated in the Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 [1], and authorized suspension of entry for, make up a tiny fraction of visas.
[1] https://www.niacaction.org/update-frequently-asked-questions... https://sethfrantzman.com/2017/01/28/obamas-administration-m...
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#54The current system is in dire need of reform. I was fortunate enough to get a visa to live/work there for a year, but now I remote work from London, and I strongly prefer it to living in the Bay Area. The immigration process was consistently unreliable and unpleasant. Would rather not have a lottery dictate my future plans, and as the article says, remote working is on the up - a lot of people I know who were in my p…
hey, I myself have also been work remotely for 10 months now. Do you mind me asking what tech-stack you are using?
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#55The general direction of the Trump plan regarding H-1b is the way to go. The lottery needs to be replaced with a demand system where the highest salaries get slots. A floor of $100,000/yr should exist and adjust for inflation. Next, generously expand the green card fast track, as this category of employee, as an immigrant, is a free agent to move among companies or to start their own business. To date, as we all know…
I agree H1s should get Green Cards much faster. The visa employee should also have more flexibility in changing jobs, including when his GC is being processed.
I don't like the "staple a green card" proposals for anyone who gets a STEM masters degree though. Many US Universities have already turned into masters degree mills for people trying to get visas. If Universities were allowed to sell Green Cards the problem would become much much worse.
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#56The general direction of the Trump plan regarding H-1b is the way to go. The lottery needs to be replaced with a demand system where the highest salaries get slots. A floor of $100,000/yr should exist and adjust for inflation. Next, generously expand the green card fast track, as this category of employee, as an immigrant, is a free agent to move among companies or to start their own business. To date, as we all know…
The H1B as it is has many problems, but a big salary floor is not the way to go in my opinion. Remember H1B is not just for tech workers. If you want to hire, say, an interpreter of a specific foreign language to work on a community in rural Alabama temporarily, a $100,000 minimum wage would be absurd.
They instead need to go after the companies that learned to game the system. I'm not sure what the solution is here. A point/demand-based system like other countries have is probably wise, but given the share of mind the US still has in potential emigrants worldwide, and the breadth of different positions available, it'd be a pretty complex (and likely unfair) one.
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#57As if this administration cares about the economy. Trump is scared. He projects fear. He doesn't want to live amidst diversity. He only supports people who agree with him (e.g. Milo). He figures fights will cause us all to run to our safe spaces and believe that the world is black and white. The world isn't b&w, it's colorful.
Well, you're certainly painting a very black and white picture here.
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#58Let's assume that after years of drastically reduced immigration, America's tech dominance remains unchallenged. Would that make you happy or sad?
Would you be happy or sad if after years of drastically reduced Immigration America's tech dominance is destroyed?
That assumes that the sole reason America has tech dominance is because of international diversity. But we've always been tech dominant, and according to many people we're not even diverse.
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
in the past it was assumed that the USA would honor visa once they were issued What do you mean by "honor"? A visa don't guarantee entry. It simply gives you a path to enter the country which includes inspection by immigration control. They make that very clear on the USCIS website and all the visa forms. A U.S. visa in his/her passport gives a foreign citizen permission to apply to enter the United States. A visa by…
While they leave weaselly terms like this in visas to give the government discretion, the expectation was that if you were law-abiding you had nothing to fear. That expectation has been violated by recent actions, because green card holders with no black marks were turned away or prevented from even coming on the whim of the president. That devalues something like a green card dramatically because it could be rendere…
Eh, that might be overestimating the state of immigration in the U.S. pre-Trump. In particular people from the countries in the EO were already subject to a lot of grief, especially if they had a non-immigrant visa. I've known people who got stuck outside the country and missed a semester because they went to Canada while they had an F-1 visa.
Not that making it predictably horrible isn't, well, horrible. And the green card thing is sheer lunacy.
Re: How Immigration Uncertainty Threatens America’s Tech Dominance
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
In practice, it's necessary that it be sufficient for the vast majority of the cases. It's not worth it for most to risk the substantial financial/time outlay to travel/move halfway around the world to visit a country that has a good chance of not letting you in once you arrive on its doorstep.
In practice, it's necessary that it be sufficient for the vast majority of the cases. And in the vast majority of the cases, it is. Immigrants from the 7 countries that Obama designated in the Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 [1], and authorized suspension of entry for, make up a tiny fraction of visas. [1] https://www.niacaction.org/update-frequently-asked-questions... https://sethfrantzman.com/2017/01/28/oba…
Right, it's still the vast majority, but it's not virtually certain like it was. But I was speaking in the abstract, I wasn't trying to make it seem like a bigger thing than it is.
That said, would you agree that the way this is being handled shakes confidence for visitors from other countries that haven't been banned? For green card holders who've moved their lives to the US?