Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa program requiring higher pay

Post by blub » Wed, Oct 07, 2020, 6:36 AM UTC

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #698

bjornsing wrote: post #666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re talking about H1B abuse that primarily affects non-US citizens. I can sympathize (and I’m not a US citizen), but you can hardly expect the US press or hacker news to have that perspective or use that terminology... right?

I would expect people working alongside these visa recipients, and even the public at large, to have some idea of the system and the problems they face. (Although, for the general public, farm labor should probably figure larger). And, yes, I do usually expect people to have the capacity to sympathise with others. I would even assert that everyone will instinctively want to help when they see others suffering. It's c…

Post by zo1 » Wed, Oct 07, 2020, 6:39 AM UTC

curiousllama wrote: post #166

Cherian_Abraham wrote: post #117

“ 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.

Oof, here's the catch. This is bad. A non-retroactive raise of the wage scale isn't bad per se - it cuts down a lot of the incentive to flood the system, and prioritizes employees who will add the most value. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this surprise kick-out is a feature, not a bug.

Post by blub » Wed, Oct 07, 2020, 6:41 AM UTC

shams93 wrote: post #603

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.

However the best solution would be the replace h1b with just citizenship - if you have rare skills why shouldn't we offer immediate citizenship to the talented?

Post by oblio » Wed, Oct 07, 2020, 6:50 AM UTC

kamaal wrote: post #700

obviouslynotme wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first time I walked into the "residence" for a major contractor's H1B visas. They were packing a dozen people in a 3 bedroom apartment in a bad area of town. You then see how they are treated by their companies at work, and it disgusts me. This is why you can't have second-class citizens like this. They are terrified to go for help if they even know how. It's even worse for undocumented workers. At lea…

As a person who used to live like that in the US when I worked there. Its just how it is. US work opportunity is very expensive/valuable for us third world people(in my case India). Its like 70 rupees for a single dollar!!! . Time and opportunities are 70 times more expensive. Every minute, and every purchase matters. You have to make a dent every time you hit. Its like the most important period of your life. There i…

Post by sage76 » Wed, Oct 07, 2020, 7:00 AM UTC

bialpio wrote: post #510

biztos wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The problem in the US, as I understood it, is that there is shortage of workers in IT [1]. To me, it sounds like turning off the stream of potential workers, without fixing the underlying issue. With the current rules (85k H-1Bs a year), it would take 10 years for immigrants to fill all the spots. There may be a lot of untapped talent left in the US (based on under-representation of women, that's a discussion for ano…