The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas • Hacker News Board

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#61

Post by nostrademons » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:33 PM UTC

juniper_strong wrote: post #42

nostrademons wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'd bet that take-home pay for the same work after taxes and rent is higher in Dallas than in San Jose. I think Facebook is demonstrating this like now. It's not, though. Median rent in Mountain View (significantly pricier than San Jose) is now $2390/month [1]. L4 total comp at Google, or E4 salaries at Facebook, is about $260K/year [2]. Average rent for a 1BR in Dallas is $1250/month [3]. Average total comp for…

>> L4 total comp at Google, or E4 salaries at Facebook, is about $260K/year ... Average total comp for a software engineer in Dallas is $110K/year You're using average (median I hope) salary for Dallas vs. high end salaries for San Jose. You used indeed.com for the Dallas salaries, if you use them for San Jose you get an average of 150K. Too lazy to run the numbers but obviously that would change the calculation quit…

The comment I'm replying to specifically mentioned Facebook, hence I'm using (low-end) Facebook salaries.

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#62

Post by klipt » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 10:09 PM UTC

amf12 wrote: post #30

H-1Bravo wrote: post #15

Auction, auction, auction - but not with fees, with salaries. Set a cap on number of entrants, and then "auction" the slots. Adjust the cap on entrants annually. No showing of specific market need required, or educational background of the applicant. Just criminal background and health checks on the applicant. The bid is the (gross) pay of the role with a minimum commit of 36 months. Winning bids are paid to the empl…

I like some of your points, and H1B desperately needs a revamp. However, a direct unadjusted salary based auction is a non-starter for the following reasons: - Non tech professions also hire people on H1Bs and don't pay as well as FAANG-likes do. - Wages are generally lower in non bay area locations. Employers in low COL areas might lose out to those in high COL areas. > Employees who voluntarily quit or are terminat…

> Wages are generally lower in non bay area locations. Employers in low COL areas might lose out to those in high COL areas.

Well what is the goal of immigration? Having more immigrants in high COL areas would maximize taxes paid by immigrants, which seems like one reasonable goal.

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#63

Post by klipt » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 10:11 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #58

ibains wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a startup, 4 in US, 10 in India - top tier engineers. I just hired my first H1B - while we pay well - bidding and salary escrow will just favor the big 5 - they are starving startups of talent in bay area any way. Investors want me to get traction with $2M, our needed engineers are at $600-$800k comp (300 base) how do I make it work? Regulation has unintended consequences. As an example trying to save retails…

> Investors want me to get traction with $2M, our needed engineers are at $600-$800k comp (300 base) how do I make it work? Are you admitting that you want to hire H1B in order to find cheaper people? If you can't find any local people to employ, then either you put your hand in your pocket to afford international or you can't afford to do business and your business model is broken.

Aren't all startup business models "broken" (unprofitable) in the early stages? That's why they require so much investor money to grow to the point of profit.

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#64

Post by tehlike » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 10:50 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #58

ibains wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a startup, 4 in US, 10 in India - top tier engineers. I just hired my first H1B - while we pay well - bidding and salary escrow will just favor the big 5 - they are starving startups of talent in bay area any way. Investors want me to get traction with $2M, our needed engineers are at $600-$800k comp (300 base) how do I make it work? Regulation has unintended consequences. As an example trying to save retails…

> Investors want me to get traction with $2M, our needed engineers are at $600-$800k comp (300 base) how do I make it work? Are you admitting that you want to hire H1B in order to find cheaper people? If you can't find any local people to employ, then either you put your hand in your pocket to afford international or you can't afford to do business and your business model is broken.

Have you run a business before?

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#65

Post by nitwit005 » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 11:15 PM UTC

bernulli wrote: post #38

H-1Bravo wrote: post #15

Auction, auction, auction - but not with fees, with salaries. Set a cap on number of entrants, and then "auction" the slots. Adjust the cap on entrants annually. No showing of specific market need required, or educational background of the applicant. Just criminal background and health checks on the applicant. The bid is the (gross) pay of the role with a minimum commit of 36 months. Winning bids are paid to the empl…

So only visa for FAANG and finance? Who is going to work outside of New York and Silicon Valley? Who is going to work at the universities?

You can always segment by job category.

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#66

Post by chrisseaton » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 11:25 PM UTC

tehlike wrote: post #64

chrisseaton wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Investors want me to get traction with $2M, our needed engineers are at $600-$800k comp (300 base) how do I make it work? Are you admitting that you want to hire H1B in order to find cheaper people? If you can't find any local people to employ, then either you put your hand in your pocket to afford international or you can't afford to do business and your business model is broken.

Have you run a business before?

I don't know what point this question is trying to make?

Are you asking me if I know how hard it is to run a business while following the law? I'm sure it is. Do you think that absolves you from following it?

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#67

Post by Bayart » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 11:35 PM UTC

afwe wrote: post #50

dmode wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A tax paying non citizen is a constituent

How can a non citizen pay taxes?

Why would a non-citizen not pay taxes ? If you're settled somewhere legally and earn money, you're going to pay taxes. It's pretty much universal (aside from certain tax heavens and countries too weak to even collect taxes)

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#68

Post by sokoloff » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 11:36 PM UTC

nrmitchi wrote: post #32

908B64B197 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They may be valid points, but it is unreasonable to expect that another industry can compete salary-wise against FAANG at the moment, and it doesn't make their inability to find candidates locally any less true. Even if they stopped doing stock buy-backs?

Which industries (non-tech) do you think are doing so many stock buy-backs that if they stopped, they would be paying FAANG level salaries to other H1-B qualifying professions?

And if they stopped doing buybacks, what makes anyone think that money would go to employee expenses rather than other forms of shareholder returns?

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#69

Post by dilyevsky » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 11:49 PM UTC

HarryHirsch wrote: post #16

jmeister wrote: post #11

Every time H1b comes on HN, I see people making the same arguments over and over again. It’s a topic that never fails to provoke. I also wonder if it’s a different set of commenters each time..

Just talk to someone who has been on H1-B. Your ears will ring for days after. He will tell you what he put up with, and then he will tell you what colleagues and friends of his put up with. It's safe to assume that you are poorly informed, just go talk to some people on H1-B.

I was on h1b and know a dozen or more people who were/are on one. Your comment is pure fud

Re: The next US president won’t be great for H-1B visas

#70

Post by sbelskie » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 11:50 PM UTC

whoisjuan wrote: post #5

A someone who benefited from the H1-B program I’m 100% behind the idea of adding higher wages requirements. I went to Carnegie Mellon and met some of the smartest people there and it crushed my heart seeing some super talented people lose on the lottery several times and be forced to go back home when they already had an employer in the US paying them 100k+ and willing to go great lengths to keep them. I was lucky en…

Why is the answer higher wage requirements and not just removing artificial restrictions that prevent employers from hiring qualified employees from abroad? If you want standards, set them and remove quotas.