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Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

wsj.com

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Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#111

Post by eldavido »

tyre wrote: post #76
paxys wrote: post #34

While I'm in favor of the move, wages are just a band-aid fix. The core of the problem is that the premise of the H1B visa itself – extraordinary skill that cannot be found in the US – is complete bullshit. Everyone participating in the program (including the government) knows this, and yet they have to do the entire song and dance of years long approval processes, fake job listings, RFEs and whatnot. Fix the real pr…

I take it you've never tried to hire experienced software engineers. The supply is significantly below demand.

At what cost? $50/hr?

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#112

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

notJim wrote: post #75
jedberg wrote: post #9

Credit where credit is due, this is a good move. The H1B program has been abused for a long time. It sounds like these changes should help make it too expensive for the fraudulent abuse to continue.

> The H1B program has been abused for a long time What's the abuse?

A majority of H1B visas are currently issued to relatively low paying consulting firms, who are then hired by big enterprises in place of their more expensive technical employees. This isn't supposed to be legal - you're not allowed to hire H1B employees if an equally qualified American could have filled their role - but due to the specifics of how the program is administered you can often pull it off with that kind of arms-length deal.

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#113

Post by drpgq »

koluna wrote: post #48
core-questions wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This means Canada brings in 25X the number of refugees per capita than the US does. > This means Canada brings in 20X the number of new immigrants per capita than the US does. You assert this as though it's just automatically a good thing with no actual analysis as to the impact on Canadians. What happens to the cultural cohesion, wages, and living standards of Canadians when immigration is at such a rapid pace? Is…

Canada is selective about immigrants (they have a points system), so all the things you call out are accounted for in their model - they bring in those their country needs. And from what I see from down south, they benefit a lot from it.

With housing prices in Canada now it’s terrible to be young. As a landlord it is working great for me when I can get $2000 a month for an apartment in Hamilton.

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#114

Post by JohnBooty »

notJim wrote: post #75
jedberg wrote: post #9

Credit where credit is due, this is a good move. The H1B program has been abused for a long time. It sounds like these changes should help make it too expensive for the fraudulent abuse to continue.

> The H1B program has been abused for a long time What's the abuse?

You're bound to the employer that sponsors your visa. Lose your job? You're effectively deported.

Your employer has... well, a power imbalance over you, to put it nicely.

I'm not sure how the proposed changes will play out for American workers. Theoretically, treating H1B workers better could benefit American workers: there is less incentive to callously replace them with underpaid H1B workers. On the other hand, American workers will face increased competition, it seems to me.

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#115

Post by rayiner »

impalallama wrote: post #78
tux1968 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His prison reform was a good thing and not commended enough.

If your talking about the First Step Act that was a bipartisan bill that passed in the Senate unanimously. Semi props for embracing it, but this gets into a bigger issue of whether an administration can take credit for the bills passed underneath them.

Trump’s (and Jared Kushner’s) role was much more active than just signing it after the fact: https://time.com/5486560/prison-reform-jared-kushner-kim-kar...

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#116

Post by grumple »

arcticbull wrote: post #83
jandrewrogers wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your data for the US is far off every source I can find. Per the UN, ~20% of all immigrants globally reside in the US. On an annual basis: The US brings in 100-200k refugees. Total immigration is 1.0-1.1M. The US grants citizenship to 700-800k immigrants.

The data I provided for you is per capita. The US has set a target cap of 18,000 refugees next year [1] vs Canada's now world-leading (per capita) 28-33,000 [2] You are correct that I was off re: 140,000 (that's the quota for employment based green cards), the number is ~1M total and I have edited my post to reflect. This is based on the total number of green cards available, as they are the only "immigrant" visa. Ev…

> However, the fact 20% of the world's immigrants reside in America doesn't mean nearly as much on a per capita basis.

What? We have 5% of the world's population and 20% of its immigrants, 4 times second place, but that's not enough for you? Wild moving of the goalposts.

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#117

Post by Cherian_Abraham »

“ Because those required wage increases take effect this week, existing H-1B holders looking to renew their visas might not qualify unless their employers raise their salaries accordingly.”

This is really bad. Families are going to get told to leave. I’m surprised that there is no discussion on this thread about the impact to people who haven’t done anything wrong.

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#118

Post by vincentmarle »

newfriend wrote: post #64
arcticbull wrote: post #10

It's pretty amazing to me how anti-immigrant America is, for a country built on immigration, but I suppose it's always been that way. Benjamin Franklin hated the Germans in the 1750s [1]. For perspective, Canada, a country 1/10th the size of the US, brings in 30,000 refugees each year. The US brings in 18,000. This means Canada brings in 25X the number of refugees per capita than the US does. Canada, a country 1/10th…

Your numbers are wrong [1]. > The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world. Today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s migrants. > The U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 44.8 million in 2018. > More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the U.S. each year. What amazes me is how much hate the US…

> What amazes me is how much hate the US gets for being one of the most generous countries on Earth.

Well, "generous" is a big word. There's not much handed to you when you move to the US, you'll have to work hard for your money, like everyone else. If you want to know what generous looks like, try talking with an immigrant in Europe.

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#119

Post by victor106 »

arcticbull wrote: post #10

It's pretty amazing to me how anti-immigrant America is, for a country built on immigration, but I suppose it's always been that way. Benjamin Franklin hated the Germans in the 1750s [1]. For perspective, Canada, a country 1/10th the size of the US, brings in 30,000 refugees each year. The US brings in 18,000. This means Canada brings in 25X the number of refugees per capita than the US does. Canada, a country 1/10th…

I am all for immigration, but not at the expense of suppressing wages for anyone. That money that was suppressed (indirectly) goes to the pockets of the C suite and contributes to income equality. What is wrong in addressing one of the reasons contributing to income equality?

> Canada, a country 1/10th the size of the US, brings in 300,000 new immigrants each year. The US brings in 366,000. This means Canada brings in ~10X the number of new immigrants per capita than the US does.

I love Canada, would move there in a heartbeat, but the he IT salaries in Canada are pitiful compared to the US. Maybe one of the reasons?

Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

#120

Post by ed25519FUUU »

jedberg wrote: post #74

I agree 100% with you. My view is even more extreme, I think we should allow anyone who passes a criminal background check to be able to get a work visa, with no quotas. But barring that pipe dream, this seems like a good interim step.

Wouldn’t that cause a large displacement of the existing labor force and significantly drive down wages?
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