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Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

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Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#111

Post by Muromec »

myk9001 wrote: post #104
RealityVoid wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, I am an EU citizen and I absolutely don't have to split rent with any flatmates. In fact, I own my residence. Second, I did in fact split my rent with flatmates during my 6 years of college, we lived 5 people in about 200sqft, then my first job I split and apartment with 3 other people. That was luxurious already! Sure, it would tricky to live like that if you have a family, but as a young person? It's…

If you own, you hit a jackpot, basically. Then, yes, life in Europe can be very nice. Sharing an apartment while in college is OK, even fun in my book. We're talking about immigrants though, right? (If you don't want more of us in your country, I don't think you're a monster, btw. But entertain me anyway?) Go check out, say, Berlin salaries on levels.fyi or glassdoor or wherever you prefer and filter out US companies…

> So after rent you're left with what, 1860 euro? Good luck getting through the month with that money in Berlin.

I’m confused. Is Berlin more expensive than I think it is or you never cook yourself?

~~~Add: how do manage to pay more than 50% in effective taxes?~~~

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#112

Post by hackable_sand »

dominostars wrote: post #64
logicchains wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and because immigration is what has delayed our demographic inversion that Europe and other developed nations are going through The birthrate among the most conservative Americans is still over 2.0. From the perspective of the conservative movement in power, it makes sense to halt immigration so the population becomes more and more conservative over time (as immigrants are left-leaning on average, especially Indians…

> as immigrants are left-leaning on average, especially Indians Curious what you're basing that on?

Crack smoke

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#113

Post by myk9001 »

prmoustache wrote: post #109
myk9001 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I personally would be much more happy to work for lower pay than contributing to the prosperity of such a predatory country. Even if that pay was so much lower that you'd have to split your rent with flatmates? (yes, European comp is typically that bad, not oveblowing this) Then I admire your principled position, but you're one in a million.

I moved from one rich country (Switzerland) to Spain 6 years ago and accepted dividing my pay by 3 to do this move (pay increased in the meantime and is no 60% of what it was in CH). Basically the only thing that cost more to me now are holidays abroad and I will expect a lower retirement package but quality of life hasn't been reduced. I could live 200m from the beach without having to share rent with flatmates and…

Don't know your personal situation, but sounds like you're in a good spot. Happy for you! (Unironically).

Here're some rough current salaries/cost of living numbers though: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46524452

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#114

Post by myk9001 »

Muromec wrote: post #111
myk9001 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you own, you hit a jackpot, basically. Then, yes, life in Europe can be very nice. Sharing an apartment while in college is OK, even fun in my book. We're talking about immigrants though, right? (If you don't want more of us in your country, I don't think you're a monster, btw. But entertain me anyway?) Go check out, say, Berlin salaries on levels.fyi or glassdoor or wherever you prefer and filter out US companies…

> So after rent you're left with what, 1860 euro? Good luck getting through the month with that money in Berlin. I’m confused. Is Berlin more expensive than I think it is or you never cook yourself? ~~~Add: how do manage to pay more than 50% in effective taxes?~~~

Where is more than 50% coming from? If you aren't married your effective tax rate is at 42% (tax plus social deductions which aren't technically taxes).

Tons of tax calculators available online, see for yourself.

> you never cook yourself?

I do cook but it's not like groceries are free. And what about saving for an emergency fund, a downpayment, a vacation, a new PC, laptop, phone. Or, god forbid, a car?

Do you feel safe and stress-free paying 51% of your take home comp just for rent? And keep in mind, 80K eur is top 1-5% salary.

The overwhelming majority doesn't make that much.

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#115

Post by myk9001 »

Muromec wrote: post #96
myk9001 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because of how employee friendly the laws are. Do you have anything specific in mind? Maybe European law if friendlier to employees on avarege. But in tech US companies seem to offer similar if not better conditions. E.g., Amazon is widely considered an employer straight from hell, and yet they offer 3 monthly salaries when letting an engineer go -- that's more than a European employees typically gets. On the other…

3 months is nothing really. Half a year is more the start of negotiation in a comparable place in Europe. That and having a 2 years burnout leave as an option and having trade unions and the regulator to sign off on your layoffs plan in more reputable places. Add: It's not that layoffs are not a thing, they are a bit more complicated and expensive for a company than getting a list of people and sending mass-email, th…

Do you have a link to a labor law stating it's half a year?

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#117

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

Muromec wrote: post #96
myk9001 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because of how employee friendly the laws are. Do you have anything specific in mind? Maybe European law if friendlier to employees on avarege. But in tech US companies seem to offer similar if not better conditions. E.g., Amazon is widely considered an employer straight from hell, and yet they offer 3 monthly salaries when letting an engineer go -- that's more than a European employees typically gets. On the other…

3 months is nothing really. Half a year is more the start of negotiation in a comparable place in Europe. That and having a 2 years burnout leave as an option and having trade unions and the regulator to sign off on your layoffs plan in more reputable places. Add: It's not that layoffs are not a thing, they are a bit more complicated and expensive for a company than getting a list of people and sending mass-email, th…

> 3 months is nothing really. Half a year is more the start of negotiation in a comparable place in Europe.

Employment law differs wildly from country to country, there is no general European labour law (with the exception of the working time directive). For instance, I live in Ireland where you can fire anyone for any reason for the first six months, and are not required to pay redundancy until after they've been employed two years.

The statutory redundancy limits on wages are super low for tech, so it's almost free to do layoffs. Additionally, firing people is not really very hard, you just need to have a reason, and follow a process. You need to give a verbal warning, then a written warning, and then fire.

You can't fire people because they don't suck up to you, but you can basically find a reason if you want to.

I recognise that Germany/Austria/France are different, but that's exactly my point, there is very little common European labour law.

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#118

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

CalRobert wrote: post #42
m00dy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question I think is more interesting is why can't Europe retain talent?

When I was a kid in the US people told me "you can do anything! Anyone can be president! Just set your mind to it!" Now as someone raising kids in Europe the general sentiment is "The system is rigged, don't even try, anyone with nice things got it through avarice or corruption, nothing ever changes" (to be fair, I've lived in only two European countries, but this seems to be a common sentiment that varies primarily…

> it was utterly atrocious in Ireland

Speaking as an Irish citizen, this does not match to my experiences at all. But countries are large, and individual experiences are rarely a good sampling of population level traits.

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#119

Post by gorbachev »

willvarfar wrote: post #47

This is going to be an interesting take but I think it is plausible that we'll see a quiet growth in American tech companies having even bigger offshore campuses instead. Google Zurich or Google London could grow, Google does hardware in Taiwan and Apple and Intel do hardware in Israel, and pretty much all the big tech companies have the biggest chunk in Hyperbad. The withdrawal of the H1B means companies can't compe…

It's already happening. Every major tech company is investing in engineering presence outside of the US.

My employer sent out a company-wide email late last year outlining an aggressive growth strategy in two new tech hubs in Ireland and India, and encouraging employees to apply for open roles in those locations.

Re: Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

#120

Post by gorbachev »

SilverElfin wrote: post #28

Half of the Fortune 500 is founded by immigrants or their kids: https://fortune.com/2025/07/30/latinos-immigration-economy-j... And H1B workers are paid slightly more on average, not less, than citizen workers. Not to mention that if you account for the cost companies pay to deal with the immigration process (lawyers, fees, etc) they end up being a lot pricier. The new hatred towards H1B is part of a broader shifting…

If the majority of H1-B workers were white, none of this would be happening.
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