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New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

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Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#251

Post by ryandrake »

bdowling wrote: post #246
ryandrake wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is a little controversial, but I wish our software development culture would discourage patents as taboo, something to not be proud of. Software patents are a truly terrible arms race, and they essentially aren't protecting anyone except the big boys. "Having N patents" should be something that gets frowned on, not something you highlight on your resume. When asked about this myself (during interviews or…

> "… do not put my name on it or associate it with me in any way." If you invented it, then they have to put your name on the application as the inventor. There’s also a declaration that the inventor is supposed to sign as part of the application. If the inventor is dead or otherwise unavailable (e.g., refuses to sign), there’s an alternative form that can be filed.

I'd be willing to bet lots of companies play fast and loose with the "inventor" names on patents anyway. I've looked up software patents issued to companies I've worked for, and sometimes the "inventors" listed were just eng managers and likely had nothing to do with the actual grunt work of writing the code.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#252

Post by [deleted] »

satya71 wrote: post #6
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #3

>“You don’t have any accomplishments,” the lawyer told him. “You don’t have a patent, or even a product.” That scolding spurred Sanjay to make a list of what he needed to do to achieve his goal of staying permanently. He improved the technology his AI-based firm was developing, expanded its customer base, and filed for a U.S. patent, which was awarded earlier this year. In May those efforts paid off, allowing him to…

Not any more than other patent applicants. Currently all the layers in patent application process is incentivized to ignore quality. 1. Large companies pay a bonus for every patent applied and bigger one for approval. 2. Patent lawyers are paid for filed patents. 3. Patent office makes money on each patent. They view the review process as a cost center and optimize it for fast approval.

[deleted]

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#253

Post by mkii »

alephnerd wrote: post #151
BeetleB wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China's wait times are nowhere near as long as the OPs.

Wow. I didn't realize China's backlog fell to 2 years. Then again, I guess it makes sense. Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now. That is not great if we are in a talent Cold War with a near peer.

> Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now.

Which policies do you think create this?

It could be entirely probable the Chinese just don't find it attractive to live and work in the US after getting their college degrees here.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#254

Post by mkii »

fallingknife wrote: post #182
BeetleB wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those confused: Unfortunately, the US focuses on your origin (where you were born) rather than your nationality. alisahik is an Australian citizen, but was not born there. My guess is he was born in India, which has an absurdly long queue in the US immigration process. Really sucks.

What an idiotic system! Any sane policy would just put a max number of annual visas or total active visa holders and choose the best value applicants based on a scoring system, but no we can't have nice things.

You describe the current system, just that country of origin is a factor in the "scoring system."

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#255

Post by onetimeusename »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #3

>“You don’t have any accomplishments,” the lawyer told him. “You don’t have a patent, or even a product.” That scolding spurred Sanjay to make a list of what he needed to do to achieve his goal of staying permanently. He improved the technology his AI-based firm was developing, expanded its customer base, and filed for a U.S. patent, which was awarded earlier this year. In May those efforts paid off, allowing him to…

[flagged]

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#256

Post by klipt »

xtreme wrote: post #59
toomuchtodo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a US citizen interested in improving the visa process who regularly interfaces with policymakers, propose an objective rubric that is better and I will get it in front of policymakers. Can't guarantee an outcome, will guarantee the effort. Patent quota is bullshit, but also "I know talent when I see it" (even though I do and how I hire) isn't going to fly. Sorting hats are hard, Goodhart's Law, etc. High level, yo…

You don't have to look far, Canada has already implemented a point based system for granting permanent residence to skilled workers. It assigns scores to applicants based on education, skills, employment offer, language speaking ability, etc. I believe it can be a good starting point for a more objective selection criteria than the current system which is more based on luck. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refug…

Isn't Canada full of foreign PhDs driving taxis because they qualify for permanent residence on points but then can't get jobs because employers want "Canadian work experience"?

Canada also has a major housing crisis due to not building enough housing for population growth (which is entirely immigration, Canada's population would shrink without it).

Doesn't seem their system works very well in practice. At least the U.S. employer based green card system mostly guarantees that employment green card recipients already have jobs.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#257

Post by danking00 »

apwell23 wrote: post #185
danking00 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair on the first point, I’ll adjust the text to clarify the need for a BS. On the second point, first claim, you can be in an EB-1 queue without an H1-B (e.g. OPT or TN [1]). On the second claim, I admit to not knowing someone who is in the queue and in the lottery but they’re on TN, preparing materials for an EB-1 and applying for an H1-B. My understanding was that they’d apply for both concurrently (due to the EB…

Yes correct, Greencard is not tied to maintaining current employment or having a visa, its a separate process. I know ppl who came to USA for the first time on a greencard. I was addressing the word "meanwhile" in your comment, i guess it technically possible that someone gets their greencard applied while they are on OPT/vistor visa/some other visa ect and then go through the h1b lottery. just saw this. > What else…

Thanks for all your comments thus far! I have an axe to grind with the US immigration system but it’s best to grind it on a stone of facts.

Yeah, I was a bit loose with the parents situation. I made a general comment based on a specific circumstances. That’s my bad.

To petition for parents you need to be a full citizen not simply a green card holder. That adds five years. For India-born folks, this practically puts their parents date over a decade away. Meanwhile those parents become elderly and live thousands of miles from their grand children. So, for a lot of folks who spent years pursuing PhDs and have Indian passports their parents might immigrate at ~seventy while they’re in their fifties. I dunno man, that’s fairly old. Their parents might not make it.

I can’t edit the original post anymore, so your comment will have to serve as the correction.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#258

Post by dudul »

fallingknife wrote: post #182
BeetleB wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those confused: Unfortunately, the US focuses on your origin (where you were born) rather than your nationality. alisahik is an Australian citizen, but was not born there. My guess is he was born in India, which has an absurdly long queue in the US immigration process. Really sucks.

What an idiotic system! Any sane policy would just put a max number of annual visas or total active visa holders and choose the best value applicants based on a scoring system, but no we can't have nice things.

Ensuring diversity of immigration sounds like an important criteria to keep in mind.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#259

Post by drivebyhooting »

fallingknife wrote: post #189
drivebyhooting wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is staff level total compensation? In big tech you can make $1M/year with 8 years of experience.

You could do that with rapid valuation increases in tech shares over the last 10 years inflating your RSU award, and even then you're talking < 1% of engineers at that comp level. And that path is very likely closed now at FAANG (poor staff SWE will have to suffer with $400K TC). TCs in the millions will be reserved for high ranks at large companies, a few lucky early engineers at billion dollar startups, and phds in…

I still see L7 and L8 offers like this handed out. You act like 99% of people can work profitably in hard science. What parent poster said is also available sub 1% of talent.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#260

Post by alephnerd »

mkii wrote: post #253
alephnerd wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. I didn't realize China's backlog fell to 2 years. Then again, I guess it makes sense. Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now. That is not great if we are in a talent Cold War with a near peer.

> Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now. Which policies do you think create this? It could be entirely probable the Chinese just don't find it attractive to live and work in the US after getting their college degrees here.

On the US side, we're still enforcing EO 10043 [0] which prevents Chinese nationals who studied at any Chinese university part of the Chinese Civil-Military Fusion strategy from getting F- and J- visas, and requires enhanced background checks on other visa categories.

Turns out, just about every Chinese STEM program will get a military grant, the same way just about every American STEM program will get a DoD grant.

On the Chinese side, they put a cap of $50,000 on money or assets you can bring outside of China each year [1]. Tuition is included in that cap. That means most American universities are out of reach for Chinese students, and immigrating from China to the US with your entire family is a pain (you need some money to land on your feet).

Also, during 2019-2022 there was this small policy called Zero COVID that severely restricted ingress and egress.

Also, US Consulates and Embassies paused visa processing for almost 2 years during the pandemic.

[0] - https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/04/2020-12...

[1] - https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2017/1230/1391.html

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