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Updates to H-1B

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Re: Updates to H-1B

#231

Post by admissionsguy »

wooque wrote: post #108
ziddoap wrote: post #19

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/18/2024-29... The tweet is a super brief summary, reproduced below. Founders can self petition (& spouses can work) - Own >50% of the entity, or have majority voting rights Roles tied to research institutions cap-exempt - Organizations where fundamental research is a key activity now qualify - Startups can hire researchers (AI, health, hardware) year-round Students ge…

> Founders can self petition Wait, so I can just open LLC and get H1B visa for it? There have to be conditions and limitations, otherwise it will be misused.

So can I now go to SF, set up an LLC, and get the sweet SF dev rates?

Re: Updates to H-1B

#232

Post by cyberax »

akira2501 wrote: post #199
kelnos wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pointless. They need to prove they have somewhere to return to while regretting their visa that lets them... not return there? Dumb. Ultimately it just wasted time and money, and causes lots of stress, for no useful purpose.

It's a visa. The whole point is that it's not permanent and you are ultimately expected to return home permanently. You may also be asked to leave at any time. It's reasonable for the host nation to want to ensure that outcome is still available and that someone hasn't actually fully emigrated here with no options for return. Ultimately it's known to anyone who applies for a visa that this will be the requirement, an…

> The whole point is that it's not permanent and you are ultimately expected to return home permanently.

No. H1b is a "dual intent" visa. It's expected that you will file for a permanent residence while on this visa.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#233

Post by stackskipton »

BeetleB wrote: post #126
crmd wrote: post #68

It’s never been clear to me why this program exists in the first place, other than to put downward pressure on US STEM wages. What am I missing?

Software is one of the few STEM fields where one can get a fantastic job with just a Bachelor's. In most other engineering fields, a MS gives you a significant boost, and a PhD may do so as well. The reality is that in most of those fields, few Americans get an MS/PhD. Go to a typical engineering department and you'll often see the majority of advanced degree students are foreigners. So it's a question of: Do we want…

I think vast majority of Americans not going on to higher education is because system is so screwed up due to debt and unlimited student visas.

Debt means most Americans go "I need to enter into the job market so I can pay off these debts".

Also, alot of foreign students are willing to work/study insane hours because visa hanging over their head. I have a friend who got MS in Engineering but didn't want to continue because he looked at what's required and started talking with his mentor about his PhD. His mentor said it's 996 schedule and if you don't want to, I can likely find a student visa student who will.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#234

Post by eru »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #161

A supposed shortage of qualified US applicants for tech jobs, especially software developers, doesn't jibe with the huge numbers of US developers currently looking for work, including highly experienced older workers suffering from age discrimination. I'd be surprised if more than 5-10% of H-1B positions are ones where the hiring company has even looked for US applicants.

Talking about a shortage of local applicants is really irrelevant and at most a distraction.

It's the old 'the foreigners are taking our jobs' routine.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#235

Post by hash872 »

remarkEon wrote: post #202
kqgnkqgn wrote: post #120

Seem like sensible changes, though more is still needed. Requiring H1B holders to leave the country to renew paperwork is an insane anachronism. The per-country caps also seem like a throwback to the early 1900's era immigration exclusion policies. Re: the concerns over "immigrants taking our jobs!". As a native-born American working in a large tech company today - the threat is very clearly not from H1B's and other…

>It's much much better for America if tech companies hire workers in the US, regardless of whether they are citizens. Americans are eligible for those jobs, and that money stays within our economy. Versus employing workers elsewhere, where American's can't easily be hired, and those resources leave the US. I want to pick on this point, because it's the general refrain about this topic. If there is some thing that Ame…

The US is only 4% of the world's population, so there's an enormous number of extremely smart people who live outside its present borders. I don't think anyone believes that even the world's greatest educational system can bring all of its students up to an extremely high level of general intelligence. We should be letting very smart people born outside the US emigrate here, which is a win-win for everyone involved

Re: Updates to H-1B

#236

Post by aylmao »

BJones12 wrote: post #207
kqgnkqgn wrote: post #120

Seem like sensible changes, though more is still needed. Requiring H1B holders to leave the country to renew paperwork is an insane anachronism. The per-country caps also seem like a throwback to the early 1900's era immigration exclusion policies. Re: the concerns over "immigrants taking our jobs!". As a native-born American working in a large tech company today - the threat is very clearly not from H1B's and other…

> The per-country caps also seem like a throwback to the early 1900's era immigration exclusion policies. Canada does not have that and it is going very poorly. Lots of people are calling for the implementation of the same policy.

How is not having a per-country cap going poorly in Canada?

Re: Updates to H-1B

#237

Post by bdangubic »

akira2501 wrote: post #199
kelnos wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pointless. They need to prove they have somewhere to return to while regretting their visa that lets them... not return there? Dumb. Ultimately it just wasted time and money, and causes lots of stress, for no useful purpose.

It's a visa. The whole point is that it's not permanent and you are ultimately expected to return home permanently. You may also be asked to leave at any time. It's reasonable for the host nation to want to ensure that outcome is still available and that someone hasn't actually fully emigrated here with no options for return. Ultimately it's known to anyone who applies for a visa that this will be the requirement, an…

> It's a visa. The whole point is that it's not permanent and you are ultimately expected to return home permanently

probably do not have to tell you this but not all visas are created equal... this one is particular is a dual-intent visa so what you are saying applies to SOME visas, just not this one :)

Re: Updates to H-1B

#238

Post by eru »

Spivak wrote: post #189
HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #161

A supposed shortage of qualified US applicants for tech jobs, especially software developers, doesn't jibe with the huge numbers of US developers currently looking for work, including highly experienced older workers suffering from age discrimination. I'd be surprised if more than 5-10% of H-1B positions are ones where the hiring company has even looked for US applicants.

I feel like this whole issue could be solved short order if we agreed that not being able to find qualified applicants at a given fixed price does not a shortage make. It's the same with the "fast food shortage," I bet the shortage would dry up real fast at $50/hr so all we're really doing is haggling over price. If in order to hire a H1-B at a salary of x you had to offer US workers 2x with say a $100k floor on x th…

> I feel like this whole issue could be solved short order if we agreed that not being able to find qualified applicants at a given fixed price does not a shortage make.

It could be solved by realising that letting immigrants in, especially highly skilled ones, is good for the country (and for the immigrants!), independent of anything like a 'skills shortage'.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#239

Post by throwaway7783 »

PittleyDunkin wrote: post #173
toomuchtodo wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a shortage of applicants willing to work at what companies want to pay. If it is taking more than 30-60 days for workers to find a role, there are enough workers domestically.

> There is a shortage of applicants willing to work at what companies want to pay. That and companies are just hilariously bad at finding workers they want to hire for nebulous reasons. I have no doubt even if my company hired 95% of the workers it had marked down as "no hire" they'd be able to squeeze a salary's of value worth out of each of them (well, if management is competent, which it tends to not be). I'm sure…

Okay, I have interviewed hundreds of people in the last decade, and I can tell you that most are not good enough. There are companies that are downright abusing H1B for wage suppression, but as a startup founder, I will try my hardest to avoid hiring people who I have to squeeze their salary's worth and still get mediocre results (nothing to do with citizen or not - I had this experience with a Canadian contractor - just not worth it).

I have been successful in liberating money from VCs and create jobs, and I want the best people that money can buy. Turns out, there are great American and non-american candidates who are willing to work for the money I can offer. Also in my experience, I hardly even get resumes from Americans for backend jobs. Frontend is different and I get a LOT of American resumes. Our frontend engineering, PS, CX, Sales and Marketing is all-american, and backend is a mix of american, greencard, H1b - because thats all I get in the resume pipeline.

If I have to cut costs, I will have to cut the team in US and move the jobs to a low cost region regardless of their citizenship status.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#240

Post by lurker616 »

pockmarked19 wrote: post #163
kqgnkqgn wrote: post #120

Seem like sensible changes, though more is still needed. Requiring H1B holders to leave the country to renew paperwork is an insane anachronism. The per-country caps also seem like a throwback to the early 1900's era immigration exclusion policies. Re: the concerns over "immigrants taking our jobs!". As a native-born American working in a large tech company today - the threat is very clearly not from H1B's and other…

[flagged]

Another complication - H1Bs are valid for 6 years. However, the physical paper stamp given on passports is only valid for 3 years at a time. So if I chose to stay in the US (and not travel internationally) I'd be fine to continue working without renewing my physical visa paper stamp. But to get a new physical stamp, I have to re-enter the country every 3 years. How does that make sense?
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