Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring • Hacker News Board

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#21

Post by redis_mlc » Thu, Jun 04, 2020, 1:05 AM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #18

This has been an argument not just made about tech but also other sectors, usually with a nationalist bend, for example Mexican immigrants taking industrial jobs from domestic minorities, and so on. Many things wrong with this (including an odd definition of diversity that excludes nationality, culture, language and so on), but I'd want to stress one thing in particular. In contrast to ivy league college admissions,…

There's numerous factual errors in your frankly disingenuous post.

This article is about H1B's. The H1B is not an entrepreneur visa, and shouldn't be used to start companies in the US.

> A significant amount of the companies providing the jobs

All of the statistics I've seen about immigrants starting tech companies deliberately mispresent their claim by including companies with non-immigrant founders. So if there's 3 founders, with only one being an immigrant, then that's categorized as an "immigrant-founded company."

In reality, companies hire H1Bs primarily on cost. Otherwise, they wouldn't pay extra fees and immigration attorney costs, now would they?

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#22

Post by Barrin92 » Thu, Jun 04, 2020, 2:11 AM UTC

redis_mlc wrote: post #21

Barrin92 wrote: post #18

This has been an argument not just made about tech but also other sectors, usually with a nationalist bend, for example Mexican immigrants taking industrial jobs from domestic minorities, and so on. Many things wrong with this (including an odd definition of diversity that excludes nationality, culture, language and so on), but I'd want to stress one thing in particular. In contrast to ivy league college admissions,…

There's numerous factual errors in your frankly disingenuous post. This article is about H1B's. The H1B is not an entrepreneur visa, and shouldn't be used to start companies in the US. > A significant amount of the companies providing the jobs All of the statistics I've seen about immigrants starting tech companies deliberately mispresent their claim by including companies with non-immigrant founders. So if there's 3…

I'm not sure I see the contradiction here. Of course H1B visas are for employees, not entrepreneurs, but many employees don't stay employees forever, entrepreneurs aren't conjured up out of thin air. Just take Uber as an example. That company alone has spawned an entire ecosystem of founders and venture capitalists as talent over the years has migrated away from the company.

>So if there's 3 founders, with only one being an immigrant, then that's categorized as an "immigrant-founded company."

I don't think that's a misrepresentation, particularly not in the context of my post, because if a company has an immigrant co-founder that still indicates that an immigrant contributed to the founding of a business.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#23

Post by redis_mlc » Thu, Jun 04, 2020, 2:21 AM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #22

redis_mlc wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's numerous factual errors in your frankly disingenuous post. This article is about H1B's. The H1B is not an entrepreneur visa, and shouldn't be used to start companies in the US. > A significant amount of the companies providing the jobs All of the statistics I've seen about immigrants starting tech companies deliberately mispresent their claim by including companies with non-immigrant founders. So if there's 3…

I'm not sure I see the contradiction here. Of course H1B visas are for employees, not entrepreneurs, but many employees don't stay employees forever, entrepreneurs aren't conjured up out of thin air. Just take Uber as an example. That company alone has spawned an entire ecosystem of founders and venture capitalists as talent over the years has migrated away from the company. >So if there's 3 founders, with only one b…

> many employees don't stay employees forever

Then they would have to return to their country if they're no longer an employee.

The path to citizenship for an H1B is over 10 years now.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#24

Post by Barrin92 » Thu, Jun 04, 2020, 4:48 AM UTC

redis_mlc wrote: post #23

Barrin92 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I see the contradiction here. Of course H1B visas are for employees, not entrepreneurs, but many employees don't stay employees forever, entrepreneurs aren't conjured up out of thin air. Just take Uber as an example. That company alone has spawned an entire ecosystem of founders and venture capitalists as talent over the years has migrated away from the company. >So if there's 3 founders, with only one b…

> many employees don't stay employees forever Then they would have to return to their country if they're no longer an employee. The path to citizenship for an H1B is over 10 years now.

>The path to citizenship for an H1B is over 10 years now.

you can already start a business as a green card holder, but yes it takes a while in the current system to obtain the ability to start a company. I don't see however how that relates to the argument. The average age of h1b users is very young (majority between 25 and 34), so they all have a fulll career ahead of them.

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#25

Post by srle » Thu, Jun 04, 2020, 7:26 AM UTC

vsskanth wrote: post #10

Every time you file an H1B Visa, you pay something called a ACWIA Fee (“American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998”). For employers who have between 1-25 full-time workers, the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act fee is $750. For employers with 26 or more full-time employees, the fee is $1,500. [1] This fee was established to fund training and education programs administered by…

Why can’t they become permanent residents? Is that just a quirk of H1Bs or is the US immigration system really that bad?

I’ve seen posts on Reddit where it’s like “Just got my citizenship after 20 years here”, but to not even be able to get PR seems pretty crazy

Re: Jesse Jackson: H1B Visas Hold Back Diversity in Tech Hiring

#26

Post by aparsons » Thu, Jun 04, 2020, 2:18 PM UTC

muzaffarpur wrote: post #14

Mr Jackson, how about you introduce a bill, which requires interview and work requirements waived for your preferred diverse group. /s

Oh god, I’ve worked with bootcamp grads hired through a “diversity” program at ex-employer. The hiring process was basically what you describe. Would not recommend.