Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 404 posts

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#91

Post by magicnubs »

dkhenry wrote: post #85

I have a modest proposal to help with the need for skilled labor. Reject all skilled applicants for visa's. Only accept the unskilled and uneducated. If you have an advanced degree and specialty skills you are not allowed in and have to remain in your country of origin. If you get a visa to study in the US you have to return to be employed in your home country. I think this will have two primary effects. 1. It will c…

I don't see any country adopting these policies, considering they want more and less expensive skilled workers, and depriving another country of their skilled workers isn't a deterrent (and may even be viewed as a positive, depending on if they view the global economy as a zero-sum game).

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#92

Post by dudul »

belltaco wrote: post #90
dudul wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory it is not very complicated for a H1B to change employer. It simply requires the employer to file a petition to sponsor the H1B. It doesn't count towards the "seats" available yearly, and it's almost guaranteed to be granted. There is a small cost, maybe a few grands. If you think about it, it's way cheaper than paying recruiter fee fo example. In practice you're right though. Most companies have limited exp…

Much of the green card process has to be redone though.

Can you elaborate? I'm not very familiar with GC via employment.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#93

Post by jki275 »

QuercusMax wrote: post #81
2_listerine_pls wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone with a CS degree can write a fizzbuz

Wow, didn't realize this was a comedy site. Speaking from personal experience, the number of people with multiple years of experience and multiple degrees in CS (usually BS and MS) who can't pass FizzBuzz is really high .

That's amazing to me. Not arguing you're wrong, I'm not interviewing people, just amazes me that anyone with degrees in CS would not be able to solve such a basic problem.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#94

Post by bduerst »

pmalynin wrote: post #89
bduerst wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The supply / demand in the economy is specifically determined by the salary. Salary is a function of location, industry, and demand. Discriminating against American businesses that need skilled labor and are not in the most competitive industries or locations is not the purpose of the H1B program. >There is no reason Tata and Infosys should be hiring 70k contractors to do shitty jobs. This is a different problem, wh…

Arguably, the salary (and price in general) is measure of marginal utility. Hence if one job pays 140, 000 over 70, 000 we can argue that the one that pays more provides more marginal utility to society. That is, the United States as a whole gains more value from that job.

Or you could argue that the U.S. gains more from allowing 20 lower-paid civil engineers than allowing 1 private sector executive buy their H1B.

The point is that switching to an auction with the H1B causes more problems without really solving any, at least within the scope of the program's purpose.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#95

Post by damnyou »

dudul wrote: post #79
damnyou wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the immigrants ? It's a huge benefit to them!

Of course, but that's not what the original message was pointing out. Comparing countries stealing other countries skilled workers and companies poaching employees is not a good idea IMO, that's all.

It's the same thing, it's just the barriers are different.

Silicon Valley is successful partly because noncompetes don't get enforced in California. It makes things slightly worse in the short term for each company but better for both the individuals and the world overall.

The US has been successful partly because it's attracted so many skilled immigrants. It makes things slightly worse for other countries in the short term (though remittances!) but is better for both the individuals and the world overall.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#96

Post by dkhenry »

dudul wrote: post #71
dkhenry wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can get the same effect on salary by making it easier for a H1B recipient to leave the company that brought them over. Right now its very hard for a visa recipient to move companies so they can be given sub market rate salaries, if you make it so once they show up they can move to get a market rate salary then the companies who make a pratice of hiring foreign talent and paying them below market rates will end. T…

In theory it is not very complicated for a H1B to change employer. It simply requires the employer to file a petition to sponsor the H1B. It doesn't count towards the "seats" available yearly, and it's almost guaranteed to be granted. There is a small cost, maybe a few grands. If you think about it, it's way cheaper than paying recruiter fee fo example. In practice you're right though. Most companies have limited exp…

If you intend on applying for a green card you need to stick with the same employer until your I-140 is approved. Just getting there with a single employer can take years, and if you don't have an approved I-140 when your H1B expires your out of luck. Also up until 2017 even if you had an I-140 you would still lose your spot in line if your employer revoked it.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#97

Post by jki275 »

ojbyrne wrote: post #59
malandrew wrote: post #40

One thing that is incorrect here is how the Republican position on immigration is portrayed. They want comprehensive immigration reform that specifically allows skilled immigrants to come to the US, do away with the lottery system and eliminate exemptions for those that broke immigration laws. Basically, most Republicans would prefer a system that is more like Canada's or Switzerland's, where you need to earn your wa…

That page references John Boehner and Mitt Romney, who don’t have any influence in Republican policy anymore. The current administration has repeatedly demonstrated their antipathy to legal immigration.

Cite please.

The current administration has never done anything to show antipathy to legal immigration, the first lady is a legal immigrant as are her parents.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#98

Post by belltaco »

dkhenry wrote: post #85

I have a modest proposal to help with the need for skilled labor. Reject all skilled applicants for visa's. Only accept the unskilled and uneducated. If you have an advanced degree and specialty skills you are not allowed in and have to remain in your country of origin. If you get a visa to study in the US you have to return to be employed in your home country. I think this will have two primary effects. 1. It will c…

It will also lead to a lot more hiring in other countries, which means less money into the US economy. Countries like Canada are already making it easier for immigrants from other countries to work. With similar timezones and standard of living, this will just ensure that many more jobs will just move overseas leading to a reduction in payroll taxes, income taxes, social security, local economy and spending.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#99

Post by maxxxxx »

michaelt wrote: post #56
KirinDave wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I agree with you (although I bet for different reasons) but, Why? What do you think is actually is the problem if highly compensated employment is used as a fast track to immigration and perhaps even citizenship?

rrggrr is worried companies will say "1 year contract, $10,000 per day first week, $0 per day subsequent 51 weeks" and jump to the top of the stack as they're paying $10,000 per day.

You can require them to pay an average salary over the whole period of employment.

Re: America’s Need for Skilled Immigrants Isn’t Going Away

#100

Post by ALittleLight »

My intuition is that H1B and similar programs hurt my personal compensation as a domestic provider of skilled labor. My reasoning is that less supply of skilled labor should result in increased cost - which gets paid to me.

I understand it's better for the companies and perhaps the economy as a whole to import labor, but it seems worse for me. Is there research on this subject or something I'm missing?

Post reply on HN