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

Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 684 posts

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#191

Post by fredfoobar »

tracer4201 wrote: post #176
fredfoobar wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to break it to you, if your company isn't paying prevailing wages, they're doing something illegal. They need to be shut-down, not the whole fucking program.

There’s nothing illegal going on here. I posted earlier that I was at an oil and gas company in Houston, a Fortune 10 company at the time. We had IT contractors from Larsen and Toubro. As an example, one guy who reported to me was paid < $20 an hour after L&TI and another contracting company in the middle took their cut. He wasn’t thrilled with that situation but his other option was to quit and go back to India. The…

> Employers must attest to the Department of Labor that they will pay wages to the H-1B nonimmigrant workers that are at least equal to the actual wage paid by the employer to other workers with similar experience and qualifications for the job in question, or the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment – whichever is greater.

source: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b

According to you, L&T were taking a cut out of the wages. Honestly, you should blow the whistle. L&T or whatever that middleman company is, they need to shutdown their H1-B program.

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#192

Post by fredfoobar »

beervirus wrote: post #162
fredfoobar wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to break it to you, if your company isn't paying prevailing wages, they're doing something illegal. They need to be shut-down, not the whole fucking program.

Why would that be illegal?

See my other response in this thread.

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#193

Post by buttersbrian »

retortio wrote: post #59

H1-B was intended for highly skilled workers that the US had a real shortage of. But now it's just being abused to bring in captive workers that are willing to accept lower wages and worse working conditions than otherwise while crowding out US workers. What if, instead of bowing to corporate greed which cares not a bit for our country or our people, we actually invested in our own population and trained them to do t…

Yes, chop shops out there abuse the system, and have become substantial factor in some industries.

Much of the H1B candidates out there are graduates of american universities that are trying to take the next step to be in America. We should be embracing these people where possible, not villanizing them. Make it so the chop shops can be weeded out, not the good people that are forced to work under them due to a broken system.

Also, many jobs require base salaries that are VERY in line with the market, if not higher, as a financial check to the Employer to make sure they want said (H1B) candidate. We had trouble finding a JR DevOps person, basically forced to go H1B, and a JR in the midwest was going to cost us 95K with little experience. That was widly out of line for a JR devops candidate

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#194

Post by WanderPanda »

KingTen wrote: post #173
pmoriarty wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What if, instead of bowing to corporate greed which cares not a bit for our country or our people, we actually invested in our own population and trained them to do the jobs H1-B workers currently do." Who's this "our people" you're talking about? As a US citizen, I consider every person in the world as part of my people, and I don't begrudge any individual coming and working or training in the US. The more people,…

Oh you’re one of those open borders people. It’s idealistic but unfeasible now. Countries need to take care of their own people first and foremost.

This the opposite of what I believe has made the us great. Look at all the Elon Musks. High skilled immigration can never harm your country. It can give competition to some people who feel entitled to their high salary, though.

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#195

Post by jjoonathan »

Sam_Odio wrote: post #82
Cyclone_ wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems kind of silly to say without evidence that it's just to feed the base when there's a valid reason as to why it's being done (to prioritize Americans out of work)

> there's a valid reason as to why it's being done (to prioritize Americans out of work) The "Fixed pie fallacy" [1] is probably both one of the most important tenants of modern policy-making, yet it's rarely explicitly discussed or debated. Cyclone_, your thinking relies on this fallacy, namely that if one person is working a job, that's one less job available. [2] In reality, there is quite a bit of empirical resea…

If globalization and automation are so good at job creation, why did the American manufacturing workforce collapse?

Economies are complex, counter-intuitive feedback machines, but the "supply and demand" model fits the last 40 years of data, while the "floats all boats" model really doesn't.

"Lump of labor is a fallacy, honest!" sure sounds like the kind of opinion I could get a good penny for if I were an enterprising economist, though.

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#196

Post by smnrchrds »

tinyhouse wrote: post #111
blntechie wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No official details yet but apparently 1) all issue of new visas will be delayed 2) current visa holders won’t be allowed at port of entry So it doesn’t affect current visa holders in the country unless they travel outside the country and have to enter back. Need to see what are the broad exceptions.

Not letting people in status travel and come back is crazy. It just shows the lack of common sense of the US government. It's the same lack of common sense of the US police and why it's such a mess (besides the systematic racism). Those people wouldn't leave the country as a result - all it means is that you prevent them from visiting their family, sometimes even in emergency situations. It has nothing to do with job…

> Not letting people in status travel and come back is crazy.

During the initial roll out of Trump's travel ban, it seems like they seriously considered, and perhaps initially intended for it to affect Green Card holders as well. Perhaps the public reaction was what changed their mind. Perhaps public feedback could change it this time too.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/29/politics/donald-trump-travel-...

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#197

Post by OzzyB »

tinyhouse wrote: post #175
samfisher83 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can look at the data, SV companies aren't paying H1B people low wages. Unless you think 200-300k is low wages.

Salary is not even the issue. The main issue is the employment restrictions. Instead of making H1-B a visa that lets an individual full freedom (like green card), it's tied to an employer and moving jobs is not that easy, and many employers also sponsor for green card, which is another process that can take years and make it harder to move. During this time the employee has little leverage asking for promo or raises.…

Funny how ppl don't like to mention this and just focus on H1Bs getting paid "market rates".

It's almost like the SV's previous gentleman agreement of non-poaching got replaced with "hey, let's use H1Bs, sure we might have to pay near market rates, but at least we can tie them down for at least 3/5 years without any option of leaving".

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#198

Post by GhostVII »

belltaco wrote: post #38

This is great news for Canada. Once the Covid situation resolves, if Trudeau doesn't give a lot of incentives for tech companies to build offices there Canada will miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Canada has already been benefiting from the recent restrictions on work visas and rejecting visas for no reason, for example by saying a forensic pathologist isn't a specialty occupation. https://www.npr.org/20…

I think most Canadians working in the US for tech companies would be on a TN visa, which is not being suspended according to the Globe and Mail [0]. Internships would be significantly affected though, since they go on a J1 visa so it could help the new grad pipeline for Canadian tech companies.

[0] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-politics/article-tr...

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#199

Post by toast0 »

joelbluminator wrote: post #25

And yet everyone and their mother wanna move there no matter the price paid in uncertainty, pressure and mental health. They could try go to a country with a straight forward immigration process like Canada, but money is more important than anything else to some people.

If you're immigrating for economic opportunity, it would make sense to try to make the most of it.

A lot of people have a plan to make a bunch of money for 10-20 years and then go back and be entreprenerial in their home countries etc. Canada may (or may not) be a better permanent home, but if the goal is to make a bunch of money, that's not the best place to do it.

Re: Executive order expected to suspend H-1B, other visas until end of year

#200

Post by conanbatt »

retortio wrote: post #59

H1-B was intended for highly skilled workers that the US had a real shortage of. But now it's just being abused to bring in captive workers that are willing to accept lower wages and worse working conditions than otherwise while crowding out US workers. What if, instead of bowing to corporate greed which cares not a bit for our country or our people, we actually invested in our own population and trained them to do t…

As solid reasoning as using tariffs to promote American industry.
Post reply on HN