As an immigrant in US, whose been through the H1B visa I fully support this move by President Trump. It will be a win-win!
Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
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Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#422I 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.
Asymmetric access to the work force is probably the most valuable right that most HN readers have. Why should we want to give that up? I struggle to see how your idea would be better for any Americans, except the owner-class.
I want to believe the prosperity gospel because it would mean that my moral-interest and my self-interest coincide, but it seems much more likely that it's just hustle from the owner-class. The American middle class has gotten absolutely wrecked over the last few decades while eerily similar promises about globalization have failed to deliver -- except to the owner class. I think this is just another instance of that, and I think many of us are in denial because it's much easier than acknowledging that we're next on the chopping block.
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#423I 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…
My question is then: what this changes? the company will just keep the indentured worker working longer to recoup. Am I missing something?
It would mean less downward pressure on wages for everyone.
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#424I 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…
> H1B has been/is being abused by all companies (big and small) I don't see this exactly. I have worked with multiple, brilliant visa holders. Many of them have moved on to bigger and better things. Presumably paying a huge amount in taxes for the privilege. Most software developers I know are not making what I would deem suppressed wages, especially in the current conditions (and I don't have an SV job). Most firms…
I have worked with brilliant H1B holders and also with manifestly mediocre ones. And even a couple "net negative" employees.
To the best of my knowledge all of them played the game diligently and got their green cards, and many of them got their citizenship. Good for them, and in many cases good for us.
But I absolutely did not see any greater level of talent among the H1B's than any other cohort in SF/SV.
While I'm very happy to work with people from all over the world, I do think that H1B has been used to get a lot of people in who aren't any better than your local City College grads. In addition to that being radically against the national interest, it's also really unfair to the "brilliant visa holders" you have had the good fortune to work with.
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#425Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
Misuse of analogy. This analogy says that inaction eventually is the right thing to do. This is action.
Interesting interpretation. I always thought the point was that something broken can be correct in some, albeit less useful, quantity.
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#426Earlier quoted context omitted.
So this is amusingly similar to the argument against a minimum wage increase. People will lose their jobs, families will lose out. In either case, the employer is the actual baddie being forced to either raise the wage to an appropriate level or send the employee home (and then attempt to backfill the job with the local market, probably not easy). So if you are for an increased minimum wage, legislation at least in p…
There is nothing amusing about families being ejected. That's the nuance.
He didn't say families being ejected is amusing. His point is that the argument that increasing minimum wage will result in people getting fired (made often by the right) is practically identical to the argument that increasing the wage requirements for H1B visas will result in people getting fired (now made by the left).
The amusing part is that both sides now look like hypocrites. The outcomes for individuals and their families is obviously tragic either way.
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#427Devil is in the details. For entry level positions the new rule increase min. pay to ~45 percentile and for experienced positions to ~95 percentile.
Companies will just stack-rank everybody into the 'entry level' positions. Not so good for candidates but we have to see how the new rule fares.
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#428Earlier quoted context omitted.
Foreign students typically pay full tuition. Rather than being subsidized by the U.S., they are actively subsidizing U.S. domestic students.
It's not about tuition. It's about funding of the university. Typically a university will take 50-90% (Yes, up to 90%) of a research grant to fund the university (keeping the lights on, etc). And universities are the ones making the decision to fill available slots in CS departments with foreign nationals.
Tuition and university funding are almost directly connected. They are doing so because 50-90% of those research grants is not enough to keep the lights on and professors employed. A lot of universities (barring the most well endowed ones like Harvard, Yale and Princeton) admit international students to help fund the university and either increase the spots for local students or subsidize their school fees.
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#429I'll give you that, but it seems like a much simpler solution would have just been improving the flexibility for an H1B worker to be allowed to work at any employer for the term of their status. If an employer used an H1B in order to hire a foreign worker and then under pay them, the worker would just get another job that pays market rate, without the work status concern. Without the artificial control over the emplo…
Why such a mild change?
If someone can get hired and hold a job paying, say, $25 an hour and keep it for a year, let them stay as long as they want.
It would probably put some pressure on wages, but it would also increase economic activity (create demand).
Re: Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay
#430There 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 Frenc…
I often hear people say things like, diversity leads to conflict, but what is the actual research?
Robert Putnam did research on this. Search for his name and "The downside of Diversity".