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U.S. Senators Advocate H-1B Freeze for 60 Days or Longer

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Re: U.S. Senators Advocate H-1B Freeze for 60 Days or Longer

#21

This is a backdoor immigration cut, nothing more. COVID is irrelevant. Remember that it's not just new entrants that need H1B processing: it's immigrants currently in the country that need to transfer their visa type (e.g., former students moving from OPT to H1B). What, are they supposed to leave or risk being denied a visa forevermore? Not to mention, they've already paused green card processing and shut down most o…

Some, but not all, H1B immigrants are highly skilled. Some are fodder for body shops, some are used to avoid having to pay market rate. This behavior has been documented in great detail.

I do not believe it unreasonable to take measures to encourage hiring of citizens over importing workers when official unemployment is near 15%, and unofficially, closer to 20%. Your typical tech company is likely to be sophisticated enough to onboard skilled workers outside the US and support them working remotely, in which case, they are not impacted by this policy.

Re: U.S. Senators Advocate H-1B Freeze for 60 Days or Longer

#23

Is any American firm even hiring internationally at this point? I imagine the only H1-B processing going on right now is for transfers.

International transfers don’t need to use H1Bs, there is another visa to use that doesn’t have a strict quota.

If you're talking about an L1 (specifically L-1B), it's the same process for getting a green card as an H-1B. The downside with the L-1B is that you can't switch employers.

Re: U.S. Senators Advocate H-1B Freeze for 60 Days or Longer

#25

Is any American firm even hiring internationally at this point? I imagine the only H1-B processing going on right now is for transfers.

International transfers don’t need to use H1Bs, there is another visa to use that doesn’t have a strict quota.

L1-* does lead to a greencard but yes no quota.

Re: U.S. Senators Advocate H-1B Freeze for 60 Days or Longer

#27

This is a backdoor immigration cut, nothing more. COVID is irrelevant. Remember that it's not just new entrants that need H1B processing: it's immigrants currently in the country that need to transfer their visa type (e.g., former students moving from OPT to H1B). What, are they supposed to leave or risk being denied a visa forevermore? Not to mention, they've already paused green card processing and shut down most o…

Some, but not all, H1B immigrants are highly skilled. Some are fodder for body shops, some are used to avoid having to pay market rate. This behavior has been documented in great detail. I do not believe it unreasonable to take measures to encourage hiring of citizens over importing workers when official unemployment is near 15%, and unofficially, closer to 20%. Your typical tech company is likely to be sophisticated…

Then change the rules to make it more difficult for the body shops maybe?

Doesn't seem too hard

Re: U.S. Senators Advocate H-1B Freeze for 60 Days or Longer

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some, but not all, H1B immigrants are highly skilled. Some are fodder for body shops, some are used to avoid having to pay market rate. This behavior has been documented in great detail. I do not believe it unreasonable to take measures to encourage hiring of citizens over importing workers when official unemployment is near 15%, and unofficially, closer to 20%. Your typical tech company is likely to be sophisticated…

Then change the rules to make it more difficult for the body shops maybe? Doesn't seem too hard

> Doesn't seem too hard

Apparently it is, as it has not been done.

Re: U.S. Senators Advocate H-1B Freeze for 60 Days or Longer

#29

This is a backdoor immigration cut, nothing more. COVID is irrelevant. Remember that it's not just new entrants that need H1B processing: it's immigrants currently in the country that need to transfer their visa type (e.g., former students moving from OPT to H1B). What, are they supposed to leave or risk being denied a visa forevermore? Not to mention, they've already paused green card processing and shut down most o…

Some, but not all, H1B immigrants are highly skilled. Some are fodder for body shops, some are used to avoid having to pay market rate. This behavior has been documented in great detail. I do not believe it unreasonable to take measures to encourage hiring of citizens over importing workers when official unemployment is near 15%, and unofficially, closer to 20%. Your typical tech company is likely to be sophisticated…

What is tech unemployment? Still in the single digits?
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