I am really interested in seeing whether the tech companies eventually bend the knee.
USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
61–70 of 429 posts
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#62Conservatives may generally view this as "good" regardless of the impact because (according to arguments I've heard) "the less globalization, the better." In my mind, however, it boils down to two pretty simple points: Given that (1) the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education, and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations, (2) the only way for the…
"the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education"
I wouldn't say that for college level education. Why is then the US the top study abroad destination in the world?
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#63So now they’re just doing what was supposed to have been happening the entire time? I’m having difficulty sympathizing with these companies and lawyers when all they have to do is apparently file more paperwork.
It's not like that. Most top companies do detailed paperwork. This causes other side effects and stress. For example, you could be working at Google / Facebook earning top $$$$ every year and you paperwork could be spotless. But the stress of having to go through an uncertain renewal process every 3 years prevents you from investing in big things like buying a house or having kids. You are always worried about being…
This was me. Working at big tech firm, $190+ salary, 6 years. Green card applied and approved in 2014.
But Indians have to wait at least 5years for a green card(EB-2). And this was before the current admin.
I’m now in Canada. Permanent Resident (took 8 months), $180k+ salary, big tech company. Going to buy a house in the summer.
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#64The particular anecdote in this article almost seems anti-convincing to me... It suggests a job that should get challenged: > For Centro, a company in Chicago that makes technology for ad agencies [...] applied for visas for three young employees who already had the legal right to work for a limited time after graduating from college. > To Clark's eyes, the position — which consisted of writing algorithms and require…
It doesn't even sound particularly fluffed up. Most new grads that took a database course would probably fit that description. There are plenty of people qualified around.
The way I read it, stuff like "knows multiple programming languages" is intended to sound impressive to readers who don't know any.
I'm just assuming that somebody in the chain that produced this article deliberately sought to make the job sound more selective and prestigious than it really is.
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#65Conservatives may generally view this as "good" regardless of the impact because (according to arguments I've heard) "the less globalization, the better." In my mind, however, it boils down to two pretty simple points: Given that (1) the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education, and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations, (2) the only way for the…
> clean the water he drank for 24 years, I mean, arguably neither did the Chinese, depending on where you are and how much they've let pollution occur in that area. I think you are grossly overestimating both the value of these immigrants (it isn't hard to see how much garbage science gets published abroad and how useless a good chunk of international students are) and the entire mechanism for technological improveme…
> it isn't hard to see how much garbage science and how useless a good chunk of international students are
That statement is true of any group of students, international or local. On the other hand, there are good international students (and there are good local students). Is there any reason why you think the ratio isn't the same (in fact, you'd think that the ratio of good international students would be higher because they have to go through far more rigorous testing than the average local student).
And while you might argue they're mostly useless, usually international students make up a large amount of the funding for universities since their fees are usually 5x or sometimes even 10x "local" student fees[1]. So if you like having well-funded universities throwing out international students is a good way to stop that from working.
[1]: My data is from Australia (since that's where I am). In 2017, ~1.3 million students enrolled in higher education -- and ~350k were international students. Most universities have a multiplier of _at least_ 4x for international students taking the same courses as a local student. By simple arithmetic, international students make up more than half of the funding-through-fees of Australian universities.
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
The stated purpose of the H1-B program is to allow companies to fill vacancies with international applicants if they are unable to find US employees qualified for the roles. I've never heard any sane, rational person object to this use case. The issue most people have is that the program seems to be rampantly abused. Companies are replacing US workers with H1-B's sourced from companies like Tata and Infosys at much l…
Even established companies not in the obviously-sleazy Tata/Infosys abuse buckets play games here. "Write up job description consisting of specialty skills your H1B candidate already has, but that you don't need in your company in that role, then use them as a generic webdev" type stuff.
I recently saw a job advertisement for a front office role at a major bank that literally included the person's name.
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US as a whole (including non-governmental culture, employer preferences, etc) is still making a massive push for higher education, which is a big part of what's caused the arms race of ever-nicer dorms etc. The thing to remember about US education is that it's highly different between the haves and have-nots. That's a problem in itself, but it's a giant oversimplification to jump to "US educations are generally p…
Well that's just it - using the word "generally," the US does poorly. Gap or no, if a huge swath of your population can't compete, that reflects poorly on your country. There's a gap in China as well but it's made up for by a massive population. Lord forbid they close their gap, that'll be the end of any other country's ability to compete as China and India just throw five hundred million engineers each at their tech…
Maybe I'm coming from an overly lucky position, but if so it's not the one you normally see called out for it: midsize town away from the coasts, public school education, middling state school university. The top 50% of the class has done perfectly competitively the last 15-20 years, even as skilled immigration has been high. Maybe we'd make even more otherwise, who knows.
The bottom 50% has gotten fucked by loss of jobs/industries/career paths/debt, but H1Bs aren't helping with that.
So if your contention is "we need to figure out how to better invest in the whole population" I agree, but I don't see the other half of the equation being an overly large limiting point.
If anything, if we're in the lead industry-wise, does importing young talent, teaching them these things, and making it easier for that experience to be taken elsewhere really help long-run? Almost sounds more like a case for paranoid isolationism immigration-wise.
We're never gonna have a billion people in the US in my lifetime, but I don't think that's necessary for there to be enough US self-driven industry to have a nice, happy, productive life.
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#68It seems like the pretense of these changes is to affect the "infosys" style of visas. Does anyone have any insight on how this will affect getting visas for higher end jobs?
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#69Conservatives may generally view this as "good" regardless of the impact because (according to arguments I've heard) "the less globalization, the better." In my mind, however, it boils down to two pretty simple points: Given that (1) the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education, and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations, (2) the only way for the…
> the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education
I'd like to hear the list of places doing far better than MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. in STEM fields. I mean I know there are pretty good schools around, but can you really say MIT is "lagging far behind" them?
> higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive
That's because when you buy "higher education" in US you buy something entirely different from what is understood by "education" in other countries. But if you want to, you have options to buy the actual education too. It won't be brand-name, but that's the cost of brand names. Here's contradiction with the first propositions - if US brands were so bad, they won't be that much in demand, would they?
> No more American students that can compete with Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, or German ones
There is a subtle fallacy here. You're comparing average US student with top-of-the crop students with the rest of the world. Not every Japanese student competes with US ones - the mediocre ones stay in Japan, the excellent ones go to compete in the US. Of course, mediocre US student would not look that excellent compared to top of the crop from 7bln pool. But that is excellent for the US that they are able to become the concentration point for the top talent. This needs to be guarded and preserved.
> I just don't understand why we wouldn't want to make it as easy as possible to steal talent that another country invested in
This is another side of what I mentioned before. It is good for the nation, but being mediocre student in that environment sucks. Mediocre Japanese student can remain in Japan and be relatively OK. Mediocre student somewhere in talent concentration point is screwed - he's where the top talent of the world is, and has to compete with them for any nice opportunities. It is hard. And they can't just go to Japan and take the place of those top Japanese students that left for the US (well, some small number can, but in general it's not easy). It is a real problem, and so far we don't have very good solution for it. Until we do, we'll have to deal with this kind of resentment, and telling people "well, it's good for the nation" won't help them much.
Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications
#70Conservatives may generally view this as "good" regardless of the impact because (according to arguments I've heard) "the less globalization, the better." In my mind, however, it boils down to two pretty simple points: Given that (1) the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education, and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations, (2) the only way for the…
Paleoconservatism/populism isn't concerned about the economic benefits of immigration; it's concerned about "protecting" culture so that immigrants don't have the opportunity to reshape it in any capacity. A sizeable portion of Trump's base believes that they are in danger of becoming a minority in "their own" country and will sidestep the economic benefits of immigration to retain a demographic majority. To these vo…
> A sizeable portion of Trump's base believes that they are in danger of becoming a minority in "their own" country
Well, they'd be correct, wouldn't they? People of European ancestry, once making up 90% of the country, are set to become a minority around 2040 now IIRC. And arguably the United States were originally conceived to be an outpost of Europe, so the "their own" country thing seems to be a reasonable assessment, too.