Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My journey through the American immigration system as a computer engineer

software.rajivprab.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 404 posts

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

#81

Post by foobarian »

spyremeown wrote: post #57
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.

I think the times of unclaimed land up for grabs are long over, and people need to get used to a steady state environment that the rest of the world has been in for millenia.

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

#82

Post by mirceal »

twofornone wrote: post #72
codegeek wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understand this argument. If someone leaves their country to migrate, aren't they looking for a better life ? Just because India requires you to live for 12 years, Indian citizens should just shut up/put up with 18+ years of waiting because their country of origin has it worse/same ? This sounds a lot like "We gave you US citizenship. So shut up and stop criticizing the Govt because you came from a 3rd world…

Are foreign peoples entitled to US citizenship? Where is the obligation to make the process easy and open to everyone coming from?

you’re looking at this from the wrong angle.

ask yourself: why would the US allow these people to come and work here in the first place?

it’s because they NEED them. from highly skilled tech workers to “unskilled” low wage workers. Immigration and pumping human capital into our economy is the way the US stays/stayed? dominant and a superpower.

Close the pipeline and in 10-20-30 years innovation is gone ,the edge we have us gone. The American dream fuels the growth. Act shitty toward the fuel, scratch your head why things fall apart.

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

#83

Post by goodpoint »

29athrowaway wrote: post #41

How many people in India had exactly the same idea at the same time? If 1 billion people suddenly all wanted to go to the same restaurant, or do anything that involves certain form of capacity, that system would collapse. Then, companies want to keep people under H1B as long as possible because H1B is a form of control.

...then the restaurant would simply book you a table in a FIFO manner.

Once and for all. Be it tomorrow or in a month or in 12 years.

Then you can decide to wait or cancel.

Very simple.

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

#84

Post by weatherlite »

vgatherps wrote: post #45
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…

If I was born in a country with an extremely bad immigration system, I lose the right to complain about the bad-but-maybe-not-as-bad immigration system in another country that I'm trying to immigrate to?

In a lot of people's eyes yes. Many people resent immigrants complaining even if the complaints are justified.

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

#85

Post by PuppyTailWags »

yardie wrote: post #66
PuppyTailWags wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a big reason to have children who are american citizens. The children can then pay several tens of thousands of dollars once they're adults to sponsor their parents. Two decades is a shorter wait.

My boss made sure to have his kids in the US before going back to his home country where the extended family can help raise them.

Yep, unfortunately this is a known strategy so if one is pregnant and trying to go to the states (like a vacation or business, unrelated to birth) immigration will give you a ton of shit.

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

#86

Post by [deleted] »

spyremeown wrote: post #57
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.

[deleted]

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

#87

Post by illplaythatgame »

zamalek wrote: post #59
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.

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.

Not sure who you hang out with, but black, hispanic, and latino US citizens have a very hard time getting jobs despite having software engineering degrees. They end up in GS-5 equivalent military tech "careers" or crappy geek squad jobs.

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

#88

Post by itissid »

One of the constant dichotomies that i(and maybe other immigrants) live with are these: The privilege of being a model minority [1] [2] yet being on the edge of having to lose it all if the immigration system shits itself. One might be a senior software engineer paying 100K + in taxes and probably drive EVs and own a home, your largest infraction are parking tickets, yet the risks are asymmetric; the whims of bureaucrats and a border guard who is having a bad day. The purchasing power parity of my $$ salary affords me secure a comfortable financial future, but these are golden handcuffs; You cannot always work for the companies you want because if the company goes bust and you chance to lose a lot.

These are the dichotomies I(and many immigrants) have had to live with. Time is a great healer of things and over time and with financial cushions the dichotomy might fade, I am still not sure it completely goes away. One can only think of the present and make the best of it.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/01/the-mak... [2] https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Karma_of_Brown_Folk...

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

#89

Post by b112 »

magtux wrote: post #56
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.

Yes! You are responsible, but more like responsible for the actions of your child, or, an object you own like a house.

You are not at fault, if you are a good parent, or if you maintain your house well.

So if the child breaks the law, or damages something, if the house has a weakness not known but someone gets injured, you are responsible.

But the due dilligence, such as disciplining, teaching, and trying to instill good values in a child, or inspecting and maintaining your house, are key.

With a democracy, participating, voting, being an activist on vital matters, working to keep your democracy responsible and behaving correctly is that same due diligence.

We're always responsible, but are we at fault? Did we do our best?

Or did we decide that taking care of the child was too much bother, and disappear from their lives?

Did we try, at least?

And twitter posts, facebook this and that don't count here.

Because, would that be how you raise a child? Deriding them on twitter? Yelling at other parents because it was their fault?

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

#90

Post by 0xcafecafe »

meowtimemania wrote: post #65
0xcafecafe wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why though? If Google is hiring an engineer, it doesn't make a distinction and does so purely on skill. Why should it matter if said engineer is from Argentina (arbitrary example) instead of India? The US issues roughly 1 million green cards each year. 86% of those go to family based immigration. The rest 14% are for employment based immigration. Even in there the dependents (spouse + kids) are counted against that q…

Benefit is greater diversity. Rather than have majority of immigrants from hugely populated countries like China or India, immigrants are more evenly distributed from all around the world. The system obviously has big downsides to individuals from India/China. If it can be proved to US citizens that it’s in their interests to get rid of the cap, I think it will be gone.

Diversity can be preserved for 86% of the green card quota. Why does need to be there for the other 14%?

Already this is forcing companies to make investments in offshore centers as it is difficult to hire here. There is enough proof this is bad for Americans but the current political climate makes any change impossible.

Post reply on HN