Live data from Hacker News

H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

sfchronicle.com

41–50 of 143 posts

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#41
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my company most H1 workers that come from Infosys and others are mainly there because they are cheap and not because they are "highly qualified" as the intent of H1 is. If Infosys just had to pay market rates they would lose competitiveness and open up visa spots for the people who truly deserve one.

You Infosys colleagues might be slightly underpaid than you, but not by much. But real cost saving Infosys offers to your employer is the team that works offshore . Your Infosys colleagues are acting as bridges between that team and yours. Infosys made almost $11B in 2018. They are not going to sweat the salary of few H-1B engineers. If American engineers, or Indian ones having Green Card, will do the job - liaison t…

We have both types. A lot of Indian contractors get paid very little money and they are often hired through two or three agencies that all take their cut. The Infosys guys are paid a little better but still under market and from what I have heard Infosys is slow in processing their green card application. I think in both cases it would be better if the H1 people didn't need a company sponsor but could change jobs easier and apply for visas themselves so they can't get held captive by the company.

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#42

As a person from New Zealand without an advanced degree (from anywhere) but with 30+ years industry experience (and previously granted an H-1B in 2001), this seems like the wrong way to tackle the problem of Indian body shops. I was selected in this year's lottery in April and am still waiting for them to start processing the case -- according to their web site it could easily take until sometime in February, ten mon…

But you have over 20 years of experience. Most H1Bs aren’t at that level so your six figures isn’t a good comparison.

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The problem with this argument is that you're assuming that there's more offer than demand, when in fact is the opposite. I fundamentally disagree with this statement. At top tech companies, I have come across enough mediocre hires who prepared enough for a technical interview to get "in" the company, but are otherwise doing very mundane work or require a ton of direction. In industry, I've come across with even wor…

>I don't believe there's a shortage of talent in this country. Do you have any experience in hiring people? East coast here and its impossible to find citizens who can code FizzBuzz. Those that can already have a job and don't come to interviews. There are multiple thousands of very high paying security related job openings that need citizens only, because of clearances. Zero percent unemployment: https://cybersecuri…

And every one of those I've looked at in my area required a clearance, and wouldn't consider "clearable". You can't get a clearance without having a job that needs it. Without a clearance, you can't get a job that needs one unless the job accepts clearable candidates.

By requiring a clearance they are fighting for people from a very limited pool. If they really want to fill those jobs they'd allow clearable candidates, which would allow them to pull from a much larger pool.

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#44

As a person from New Zealand without an advanced degree (from anywhere) but with 30+ years industry experience (and previously granted an H-1B in 2001), this seems like the wrong way to tackle the problem of Indian body shops. I was selected in this year's lottery in April and am still waiting for them to start processing the case -- according to their web site it could easily take until sometime in February, ten mon…

> If you want to hinder the Indian meat market companies, how about putting in a per country quota, as there is for Green card?

How does that help the stated issue?

I think you are asking to be rewarded for the hard work it took you to be born in a tiny low-population country. /s

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#45

Duh. H-1B has always favored tech companies because it increases the labor supply and indirectly decreases salaries. Perfect example of how companies only want free markets when it benefits them. Honestly, I was hoping Trump would end the entire program, but who am I kidding? Google and friends spend way too much on lobbying for that to happen.

> Perfect example of how companies only want free markets when it benefits them.

There are many cases where corporations show hypocritical behavior, but this criticism seems off the mark as the companies actually do want free market in this case (i.e. free labor market where they can get a labor from anywhere), and in this case, they are not getting it (there's a lot of legal barrier making it difficult to import labor - thus it is a protected market). They want less protection in this case to favor them. It sounds like you want more protection, which is a reasonable position, but that's not a free or free-er market.

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#46

As a person from New Zealand without an advanced degree (from anywhere) but with 30+ years industry experience (and previously granted an H-1B in 2001), this seems like the wrong way to tackle the problem of Indian body shops. I was selected in this year's lottery in April and am still waiting for them to start processing the case -- according to their web site it could easily take until sometime in February, ten mon…

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-may-eliminate-countr...

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#47
post #9

Why not just go to an auction system, where the group that is going to give the highest salary gets the visa? You could adjust it for CoL so all H1Bs don't end up in SF and NYC. What would be bad about this system?

I thought this too, until it was pointed out to me that not every H1-B is an engineer.

For example, if you want to bring in someone to teach a rare foreign language at a University, they have a qualifying special skill but they certainly aren’t making the six figure engineer salary.

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with this argument is that you're assuming that there's more offer than demand, when in fact is the opposite. This is why tech companies push hard for the H1-B program. It's possible that there's a large body of citizens with technical degrees that theoretically could fulfill those jobs, but that doesn't mean that they have the skills or the applied knowledge to perform at the standards required for those…

>The problem with this argument is that you're assuming that there's more offer than demand, when in fact is the opposite. I fundamentally disagree with this statement. At top tech companies, I have come across enough mediocre hires who prepared enough for a technical interview to get "in" the company, but are otherwise doing very mundane work or require a ton of direction. In industry, I've come across with even wor…

> I fundamentally disagree with this statement. At top tech companies, I have come across enough mediocre hires who prepared enough for a technical interview to get "in" the company, but are otherwise doing very mundane work or require a ton of direction.

That's easily viewable as evidence that offer is lower than demand: even the top (presumably, picky) top tech companies have had to resort to sub-par hires.

Re: H-1B visa shift may favor tech companies

#50

Duh. H-1B has always favored tech companies because it increases the labor supply and indirectly decreases salaries. Perfect example of how companies only want free markets when it benefits them. Honestly, I was hoping Trump would end the entire program, but who am I kidding? Google and friends spend way too much on lobbying for that to happen.

Xenophobia is a powerful drug.

Good luck working in one of those many tech companies who wouldn't exist if it weren't for immigrants who started them.

Post reply on HN