291–300 of 1001 posts
For software development positions I suspect it is the dumbest requirement ever. When I used to be employed by company we've hired and brought over many people from former USSR republics. Some of the best programmers ever and not a single one had specific programming education. All were graduates of various universities.
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…
Yes and no. Most companies I see using H1-Bs are startups looking for people to get technical work done as cheaply as possible. These are the same people who give employees 0.1% of a series A company and whine about how there's a "skill shortage". When in truth, there is no "shortage" -- it's just that software engineering is one of the only (somewhat) high-end careers subject to absolutely no credentialing whatsoeve…
I finally agree with something this administration is doing. This is a solid move. H1B has been/is being abused by all companies (big and small) for a number of years at the cost of not only American workers but also the visa holders. The only ones benefiting are the companies that sponsor H1B visas by suppressing wages for everyone. I just hope the new administration don't role back these changes. Typically when a n…
Fair trade policy has consistently been the one thing on which I agree with the Trump presidency. It hasn't been enough to outweigh all the other absolutely horrible stuff, but it is one thing. I am concerned that Biden will return us to the old days of "free" trade that allows corporations to import totalitarianism via near-slave or even actual slave (see Uyghur prisoners and forced labor) wage arbitrage to crush do…
It's all bullshit posturing.
The degree issue is short sighted though.
The salary issue will be a legitimate problem for some people though: I was on a school board for a private foreign-language school and we needed teachers fluent in their native language and familiar with the curriculum. It was already a nightmare for us when the H-1s would run out in October or December as teachers look for new jobs during the summer. Trying to meet 45% of the median for local senior, unionized teachers might be quite difficult. Still, it's a cost of doing business.
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…
This one is also a particularly terrible move: >“ 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.” Copying from my comment below, this is likely to backfire. Since remote work has become acceptable and they already know the ins and outs of the job, many of these folks losing their…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I’m surprised that there is no discussion on this thread about the impact to people who haven’t done anything wrong. Existing H-1B holders should clearly be grandfathered in, but those aren't the only people who have done nothing wrong. What about the would-be future H-1B holders who would have benefited from working while making less than the new requirements? In other words, the vast majority of people who are go…
American visa programs are run for the benefit of americans. Whether or not the visa holder benefits is incidental and not the point of US law.
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?
Link to DHS press release: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/10/06/department-homeland-secu... Probably a better link than the WSJ submission – even though I'm a subscriber, I want the facts, and the facts seem to be hard to find As a matter of fact, I still haven't found the actual "interim final rule" (an oxymoron if I've ever seen one), so if anyone has a link, I'd be immensely grateful EDIT: Here's the unpublished ru…
This was already the case, they would ask for a request for evidence (RFE) how the degree was related. This is annoying if you e.g. studied maths and then started working in IT.
It's not gonna take a long time before, most of the tech jobs move to Canada/rest of world. Why should someone hire entry/mid level engineer in usa, if they can hire at same price much senior engineer in same time zone? After successful taste of work from home, things have changed a lot. Unfortunately, now USA have not much to offer (rising healthcare cost, continuous degradation/humiliation of non white immigrants,…
In your scenario, American workers will eventually just accept lower pay (we're overpaid already anyways). Why should someone hire entry/mid level engineer in Canada, if they can hire at same price the same level engineer in the same city?