Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress • Hacker News Board

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

#191

Post by _DeadFred_ » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

SilverElfin wrote: post #31

calculatte wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rampant abuse, fraud, nepotistic hiring combined with record high tech unemployment to start.

There is no rampant abuse or fraud or nepotistic hiring. These are just the latest talking points from supremacists on Twitter / X, that they repeat without any evidence, to rage bait the gullible. I’ve not seen nepotistic hiring from my immigrant coworkers, just merit based hiring. Do you really think all these well run and successful companies are leaning into allegedly low skill workers and nepotism because it is…

Your last sentence:

"Oh and also, high tech unemployment is not a reason to stop the H1B or other programs. If you’re unemployed in one industry, go find another one - don’t steal from me for your protectionism."

directly contradicts the written purpose of the H-1B program.

H-1B is explicitly conditioned on labor-market protection: prevailing wage requirements, attestations that U.S. workers are not being displaced, and the idea that the visa exists only when qualified domestic labor is unavailable. “If you’re unemployed, go find another industry” does not fit with H1B and shows you are OK with and personally normalize it's abuse.

The fact that you’re such a strong defender of H-1B while rejecting its core statutory premise shows you’re arguing for something other than H-1B as it exists in law. That mismatch is itself evidence that the concerns you dismiss aren’t coming from nowhere.

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

#192

Post by palmotea » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:43 PM UTC

SilverElfin wrote: post #176

palmotea wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is called a tariff and is the same as raising taxes on every American. Come on, what are you going to do next? Mic drop "I, Pencil"? Libertarian rhetoric is tired and old, and doesn't adequately address present-day concerns. It's not the 90s anymore, get with the times. FYI, free market economics has taught me to love the idea of tariffs, other similar taxes, and trade barriers. I'm glad those ideas are back o…

Labeling something as “libertarian” isn’t an argument. But a tariff is a tax. Which means you are proposing to take money from others to subsidize people who aren’t able to compete on their merit. Why should they be subsidized? If they can’t make it in STEM they are free to get a different job. But vilifying Indians and Chinese and other immigrants, who have made our companies and economy strong, all over a small 60k…

> Labeling something as “libertarian” isn’t an argument.

The label wasn't an argument. You're repeating the same tired old shit, like it's new and no one's ever heard of it. We've all heard it, it's old. It sounded good in the 90s, but it ain't the 90s anymore. It sounded plausible when the competitor was the Soviet economy, but that's not true anymore, either. Been there, done that.

> But a tariff is a tax.

Taxes aren't bad. You're talking about taxes like I'm expected to recoil from them in horror.

> Which means you are proposing to take money from others to subsidize people who aren’t able to compete on their merit. Why should they be subsidized?

What do you mean merit? Do you mean giving the best deal to the wealthy who'd just as well sell their countrymen up the river for an extra buck in their pocket? Being totes ok with a lower standard of living to make that deal happen?

If you think "the market" is the only judge that matters, or a fair judge, you've got problems.

> But vilifying Indians and Chinese and other immigrants, who have made our companies and economy strong, all over a small 60k visas a year, is irrational.

If you think that's mainly what's going on, you're either blind or playing the misdirection game.

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

#193

Post by myk9001 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:06 PM UTC

RealityVoid wrote: post #177

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…

> 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?) I was more talking about the choice to remain in my home country vs move to the US. And I assure you, I personally don't care where you come from as long as you do your job, we can understand each other and you're not a raging asshole. My only pet peeves with im…

> I was more talking about the choice to remain in my home country vs move to the US.

Fair point.

I just realized I was replying from the perspective of attracting talent which obviously different from keeping it.

Glad things worked out for you. Staying close to loved ones and friends sure wins over pursuing money, as long as the situation is not outright dire.

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

#194

Post by myk9001 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

optionalsquid wrote: post #183

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.

According to eurostat [1], > In 2020, 70% of the population in the EU lived in a household owning their home, while the remaining 30% lived in rented housing. So it does not seem like the price situation is as dire as you suggest, though Germany is on the lower end of the ownership scale. Personally, I had a flatmate (rented a room) for one year during my studies, but I don't know anyone currently living with flatmat…

Thanks for the link, intresting. I must be missing something, how do these stats square with home prices being in the 200-500-infinity range ballpark and, a very decent for Europe, salary being 50 thousand euro or so?

Oh, and all these news reports saying how young Europeans have to live with their parents until their thirties?

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

#195

Post by mattnewton » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:22 PM UTC

calculatte wrote: post #17

mattnewton wrote: post #11

Not only are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I feel like the current rhetoric in the US doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of the metaphorical baby anymore. The strongest advantage of the US has always been the ability to absorb global talent. I don’t think that is a popular view anymore, and we are instead stuck talking only about stopping abuse that is ultimately still bringing skilled workers to t…

I think anyone working with the global talent can tell you there are absolutely no controls around measuring their quality. The skilled talent simply isn't skilled at all. They are willing to engage in kickback schemes. Even the O1 "genius" visa is being given to onlyfans models. Immigration is completely broken and it's by design.

This is what I am getting at; the system is bringing skilled immigrants with some unskilled and some abuse, the baby and the bathwater. We should be focused on keeping that skilled immigration flowing, instead all these attempts are presupposing that all immigration is inherently harmful.

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

#196

Post by leptons » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:23 PM UTC

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #178

leptons wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your take only applies to recent developments. For the entirety of the H visa program, it has brought in very valuable talent, which stayed here to generate incredible wealth for the country. "onlyfans" is a recent thing. The kickbacks are a relatively new thing. Sure immigration is broken, but that's what happens when the government is intent on breaking the country.

The H visa program has been heavily exploited since the 1990s when I started in tech. By recent do you mean 26 years?

Was the visa program being exploited by Onlyfans models and "influencers" in the 1990's? Because that is what is being talked about here.

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

#197

Post by myk9001 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:26 PM UTC

Muromec wrote: post #131

myk9001 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sorry, I misread 80k p/a for 8k monthly. You have a point. I would not get two bedroom two bathroom apartment for myself alone however. Or live in Berlin for that matter. Few years ago in Holland it was something like 100k salary == mortgage for 500k house. No downpayment, 2k monthly. Having a sweet 30% reduction of taxable salary was very nice, otherwive learn sone cooking and get an income-generating partner to top…

> Few years ago in Holland it was something like 100k salary == mortgage for 500k house. No downpayment, 2k monthly.

Would it be wrong to think that the borrower would repay a potential downpayment a few times over to the bank?

How much smaller that 2k mortgage payment would be with a 20% downpayment? And how much larger the share going towards the mortgage body would be?

If only the borrower's comp was just big enough to let them save for that downpayment.

Don't know about you, but to me it sounds almost as if the system was rigged against the worker, to redistribute wealth away from them and into the hands of employers and bankers.

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

#198

Post by disgruntledphd2 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:33 PM UTC

myk9001 wrote: post #122

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 em…

> I recognise that Germany/Austria/France are different, but that's exactly my point, there is very little common European labour law. So, I don't live in Germany but I tried to look into how things work there a little deeper. It seems to have a lot in common with what you describe about Ireland actually.

That's possible, but Germany has much stronger unions and work contracts than we would in Ireland.

In Ireland, companies are not obliged to recognize a union and can do other forms of employer representation instead. This is quite different from other EU countries.

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

#199

Post by disgruntledphd2 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:36 PM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #129

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Well, I’m also an Irish citizen (albeit naturalised) and it certainly matched the sentiment of both the circle I hung out with in Dublin (champagne socialists and frustrated artists) and Offaly (a different sort entirely….) Though I did appreciate that the culchies were pretty practical about getting things done. All the same, “maybe I like the misery” didn’t come out of a vacuum…

I dunno man, like Ireland was incredibly poor even in my lifetime and I'm in my 40s. The changes from 1997 to 2007 were absurdly large and the changes from 1987 to 1997 were similarly large (but I was younger so less exposed).

That being said, I come from a pretty long line of culchies so maybe that's it ;)

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

#200

Post by myk9001 » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 7:38 PM UTC

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #198

myk9001 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I recognise that Germany/Austria/France are different, but that's exactly my point, there is very little common European labour law. So, I don't live in Germany but I tried to look into how things work there a little deeper. It seems to have a lot in common with what you describe about Ireland actually.

That's possible, but Germany has much stronger unions and work contracts than we would in Ireland. In Ireland, companies are not obliged to recognize a union and can do other forms of employer representation instead. This is quite different from other EU countries.

Thanks for the insight!