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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

#201

Post by menage »

JohnBooty wrote: post #114
notJim wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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, Ame…

If you can find another employer to take over the sponsorship, you can transfer (without having to deal with the visa quota gantlet).

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

#202

Post by sushshshsh »

chairmanwow1 wrote: post #189

Overall, I really support these changes. However, this piece really struck me as a big mistake: "Under the changes, an applicant must have a college degree in the specific field in which he or she is looking to work. A software developer, for example, wouldn’t be awarded an H-1B visa if that person has a degree in electrical engineering." Some of the best software engineers I know are graduate degree holders from neu…

I would absolutely speculate that this requirement was made to block many good candidates. After all, the point of a visa system is to constrict the pool of potential candidates anyway.

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

#203

Post by AlexTWithBeard »

chairmanwow1 wrote: post #189

Overall, I really support these changes. However, this piece really struck me as a big mistake: "Under the changes, an applicant must have a college degree in the specific field in which he or she is looking to work. A software developer, for example, wouldn’t be awarded an H-1B visa if that person has a degree in electrical engineering." Some of the best software engineers I know are graduate degree holders from neu…

Will they keep recognizing equivalent experience in lieu of formal education?

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

#204

Post by kichik »

chairmanwow1 wrote: post #189

Overall, I really support these changes. However, this piece really struck me as a big mistake: "Under the changes, an applicant must have a college degree in the specific field in which he or she is looking to work. A software developer, for example, wouldn’t be awarded an H-1B visa if that person has a degree in electrical engineering." Some of the best software engineers I know are graduate degree holders from neu…

Have they removed the 3 years of experience for each missing degree year exception?

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

#205

Post by jedberg »

throwqrm wrote: post #148
dudul wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you avoid seeing 500M indians/Chinese landing in America on the very next day? I think there is a middle ground between the disaster that are immigration laws today, and full open borders.

[idea retracted; proposed a tax-based solution but maybe too distracting]

We actually already tax immigrants more than citizens. They pay the same taxes we do but don't qualify for all the deductions, and pay into social security and medicare even though they can't get those benefits.

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

#206

Post by 3pt14159 »

There is a lot of political science research that speaks to growing xenophobia when immigration is unleashed. I understand the sentiment—I'm very pro-immigration—but with respect to domestic policy my primary goal is stability and faith in government.

Personally, I like how my country, Canada, does it. Points based system that rewards multiple factors, including skills, employability, and fluency in English and French. A large, sensible limit and a separate target for refugees. Some affordances for family reunification, but fundamentally economically and societally stable.

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

#207

Post by mrkurt »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #120
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?

This is the intuitive belief, but the research doesn't really prove that: https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/fall-2017/does-immigration...

There are studies showing a slight decrease in wages, studies showing a slight increase in wages, and studies showing nothing conclusive. There's basically not enough scientific consensus to use for decision making, which means it's more a moral choice than an economic one.

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

#208

Post by desert_boi »

14 wrote: post #179
dudul wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you avoid seeing 500M indians/Chinese landing in America on the very next day? I think there is a middle ground between the disaster that are immigration laws today, and full open borders.

Well could it be dependent on employment and housing availability? Are there 500m jobs that need filling? If not then they would not be able to apply. If there was a flood of people coming the housing market would see a shortage so again these people would need somewhere to stay before being granted a VISA. I don’t think unlimited necessarily mean without restrictions.

> housing availability

The real bottleneck in most American metros is more people than not loath density and want a garage and a yard. Without changing that, or finding a way to make it work, it's hard for the States to absorb people.

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

#209

Post by runarberg »

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.

I actually think that anyone—regardless of criminal background; as long as they’ve paid for their past crimes—should be allowed to live and work wherever they want, no quotas, no visas, no restrictions.

But barring that pipe dream, yours seems like an acceptable interim step.

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

#210

Post by addicted »

nrmitchi wrote: post #155
booleandilemma wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: wouldn’t that be leaving less jobs open for Americans? As an American myself, I want to see my fellow Americans getting good jobs over people from other countries.

I'm not an American, but I fully understand your point. Let me provide some background. If you already know this, my apologies. The process of getting an H1B is not the employer picking up the phone and ordering "1 H1B for delivery please". It involves applying at the beginning of April, being entered into a lottery, and you find out if you "won" (and your application is looked at) around the end of March. IIRC it is…

If that is the case isn't the simple solution to eliminate the mechanisms that allow employers to threaten the employees instead of increasing the burden on the employee and therefore the power the employer has on them?

Stop tying the H1B visa to an employer, and the entire basis of fraud that you have outlined disappears.

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