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My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

software.rajivprab.com

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Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#51

Post by DeWilde »

fallingknife wrote: post #34
throw123123123 wrote: post #13

US immigration is in the biggest crisis in decades - between rhetoric & admin burden from Trump, covid, and ossified bureaucracy, it is the worst time in history for a tech worker to migrate to the US. Each time a developer works for the US from abroad, the US economy loses up to 50% o salaries in taxes for gov funding, and up to 80% of the reminder in spending within the economy. An argentine developer making 150k f…

So I should want companies to be able to import cheaper workers from abroad and drive down my salary via supply and demand, and all so the government can get more tax revenue? No thanks.

Think of it this way, more people in your country means more economic activity, and a larger tax base.

If you work a laptop job currently then assume that it can be done by anyone anywhere in the world. Wouldn't you want that person to buy US products, US services, and pay US taxes?

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#52

Post by jaywalk »

d3nj4l wrote: post #26
jaywalk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll flip your question on its head: why are the people filling these roles so heavily skewed to one country?

Let me flip your question too: why do you think it matters?

Because all else being equal, that skew shouldn't exist. There is nothing inherent to Indian people (or any other people) making them better at these jobs, so there is value to understanding why their numbers are so high. And by value, I mean value to US citizens. It could show us how we can improve within the country, or it could expose fraud in the system. Or a mix of both.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#53

Post by UncleMeat »

vsskanth wrote: post #25

The interesting part here is he finally got his green card after 18 years only because he married an Australian citizen and wasn’t blocked by the county quota anymore. Imagine how frustrating it must be being qualified, living in the country for decades and still blocked from residency all because you were born somewhere, it’s something you have no control over

I know a professor of computer science at arguably the best cs program in the world who is an Indian citizen and was only able to get a green card because he is married to a citizen of a western european country. The system is completely fucked for Indian and Chinese citizens. Absolutely egregiously so.

This is one of the reasons why I find the "just wait in line" argument so disingenuous. If it takes a world expert in a high importance topics literal decades to get a green card then there simply isn't a legitimate path available to people.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#55

Post by someotherperson »

Even going to the US as a non-immigrant is totally broken at the moment. If you don't qualify[0] for an ESTA (visa waiver) then an appointment for a tourist visa in the US can be upwards of 200 days in some places (i.e Australia or Netherlands). An appointment at the consulate in Toronto is 429 days away if you were to book today.

That's not the processing time, that's literally just the appointment you need to make as part of the application. There is additional processing time added to that if it is successful.

You can plug some cities in here[1] to see how long it would take.

[0] If you've visited several countries in the MENA region since 2011, have ever held one of their passports or are not flying on a passport from one of the 40 countries listed here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-...

[1] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-inf...

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#56

Post by magtux »

quantumwannabe wrote: post #38

Note that India requires prospective citizens to live in the country for 12 years before applying for naturalization, and China doesn't allow non-ethnic Chinese immigration at all (only ~1500 naturalized citizens/10,000 permanent residents in the whole country of over a billion people). Something to keep in mind when people from those countries complain about the American immigration system (doesn't apply to the Sing…

Are you responsible for everything your Government does ? I would hope not. People need to be treated individually. I thought that was the entire point of liberal democracy.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#57

Post by spyremeown »

quantumwannabe wrote: post #38

Note that India requires prospective citizens to live in the country for 12 years before applying for naturalization, and China doesn't allow non-ethnic Chinese immigration at all (only ~1500 naturalized citizens/10,000 permanent residents in the whole country of over a billion people). Something to keep in mind when people from those countries complain about the American immigration system (doesn't apply to the Sing…

Yea, but the USofA is supposed to be the land of the Free, all kinds of free, not just "you were not born here"-type free. The whole "give me your sick, your poor..." etc vibe.

It's a little ironic at the very least that it's so hard to get into the United States, given its history.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#58

Post by jaywalk »

mtoner23 wrote: post #21
jaywalk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US government is supposed to first and foremost take care of US citizens, not just allow them to be pushed out of jobs because corporations would rather import cheap labor.

Yes but these people and their children could also be US citizens why should they not be prioritized?

I'm not understanding how people imported from abroad could be US citizens.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#59

Post by zamalek »

jaywalk wrote: post #15
sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that?

The US government is supposed to first and foremost take care of US citizens, not just allow them to be pushed out of jobs because corporations would rather import cheap labor.

Oh, this tired talking point.

In the tech labor market (as per the post) the labor simply isn't available. We don't generally see American software engineers languishing and unable to find jobs.

I guarantee that the like of Microsystems, Google, and Amazon were not paying the poster a pittance.

Re: My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

#60

Post by rlewkov »

cuteboy19 wrote: post #30
jaywalk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll flip your question on its head: why are the people filling these roles so heavily skewed to one country?

It's a combination of factors 1. India is poor but not too poor 2. It has a huge population 3. A lot of upper class Indians already have family in the US Of course, it is not clear why any of this should matter. Why should it be capped by country (as opposed to continent, zipcode or planet?)

IMHO it matters because of the "D" word ... diversity
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