Sadly the H1 process is better now than during the dot com era. At the time it was as close as we have come to institutionalized servitude since the 13th Amendment was ratified. I am not saying it is great now, far from it. Rather I get a little nervous any time our Congress starts talking about this.
House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
11–20 of 48 posts
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#12> Still, because there will be no increase in visas issued, there will be losers. Hosin “David” Lee, president of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association, said the bill would force engineers from South Korea to wait an additional two years in their immigration process to get green cards. Didn't expect that.
Yeah, basically Indians and Chinese gain but everyone else loses.
Is it not going to reduce the wait time for a majority of people at the expense of minority of people?
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#13I am trying to understand the implication here. Does this bill mean Indians and Chinese ppl will have to wait 3-4 years only now? Also, I am not sure how its detrimental to Koreans (Some OP here seemed to imply that) ?
It makes it into a first-come first-served system. Indians and Chinese applying now might still have to wait a couple of decades. This primarily helps the people who applied in 2002 and the following few years and are still waiting.
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, basically Indians and Chinese gain but everyone else loses.
Is it not going to reduce the wait time for a majority of people at the expense of minority of people?
There's the same number of people wanting visas, and the same number of visas being granted. The number of people who get an advantage should be equal to the number of people who get a disadvantage, in any particular year. Over multiple years, the total man-years of wait time should remain constant, although they could be distributed among a different number of people.
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, basically Indians and Chinese gain but everyone else loses.
..their unfair advantage.
Calling something fair or not is applying your morals to the situation. This change means that each person gets treated fairly (in the mathematical sense) but each group does not.
It is sort of like how in the US House is representation by population but in the Senate is equal senators per state.
Wether that is good or bad is up to us as a society. It will certainly reduce the diversity of the types of people getting visas as more populous countries crowd out less populous ones.
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
..their unfair advantage.
Calling something fair or not is applying your morals to the situation. This change means that each person gets treated fairly (in the mathematical sense) but each group does not. It is sort of like how in the US House is representation by population but in the Senate is equal senators per state. Wether that is good or bad is up to us as a society. It will certainly reduce the diversity of the types of people getting…
>This change means that each person gets treated fairly (in the mathematical sense) but each group does not.
So, without this change, each group was getting treated fairly? Care to explain how multidecade wait times for the two biggest groups while the rest get visas in a matter of years is fairness?
How is first-in first-out not more fair compared to discriminating on national origin?
> It will certainly reduce the diversity of the types of people getting visas as more populous countries crowd out less populous ones.
Not really. Employment based visas are a small fraction of the number of visas awarded each year. Diversity doesn't make much sense for employment based visas because companies hire based on need and employee talent, not race or language.
Not to mention that India is so diverse with race, languages and culture that it's called a sub-continent. Lumping them into one 'group' like you did doesn't make much sense. Countries don't directly map one to one to diversity.
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#17I'm Canadian and a year ago I left the U.S. for Australia (my wife is Australian) primarily because I did not consider it worth it to stay in a lousy job for at least another two years for the possibility of getting a green card. This vote changes nothing about the logic of my decision (in fact it would likely have made my wait longer because I'm not Indian or Chinese). The primary problem with the U.S. green card sy…
If I read it correctly, only 140,000 "green cards" are handed out each year. That's less than Australia takes and we have ~15x less population.
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#18Not to be pedantic, but I would have appreciated the title giving an indication of the House of which country made this vote.
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Calling something fair or not is applying your morals to the situation. This change means that each person gets treated fairly (in the mathematical sense) but each group does not. It is sort of like how in the US House is representation by population but in the Senate is equal senators per state. Wether that is good or bad is up to us as a society. It will certainly reduce the diversity of the types of people getting…
>This change means that each person gets treated fairly (in the mathematical sense) but each group does not. So, without this change, each group was getting treated fairly? Care to explain how multidecade wait times for the two biggest groups while the rest get visas in a matter of years is fairness? How is first-in first-out not more fair compared to discriminating on national origin? > It will certainly reduce the…
It's 'fair' for the groups in the sense that each group gets to send in an equal number of people per year.
Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards
#20The article ends with "U.S. employers are prohibited under law from hiring foreign workers unless they show there are not sufficient U.S. workers willing and able to take the jobs." I am fairly sure that is not what the law says though, although I am aware it is often claimed (I suspect falsely) there is such a law. Actual requirements are here. They don't have to show anything, they just have to attest that in their…
Actually, it's more farcical than you're thinking. Suppose I have a foreign employee that graduated in the US, and has worked for my company (on a valid OPT, followed by an H1B) for several years. In order to progress to the Green Card stage, I must prove that there are no other Americans that are suitably qualified, and willing to do the job. Thus, I have to put up an advert for the job, and interview applicants. Th…
An interesting test would be if there was a way to expedite the processes. Say pay more and it gets rushed and wait time is now only one or two years. Would employers do that or not? Otherwise aren't they actually interested in prolonging the process artificially ("Oh yeah our lawyers are working on it, get back with us in 5 years..." kind of attitude).