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Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

alaskasnewssource.com

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Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#41

Post by jorgen123 »

For those not reading the linked article, it was not about tech (although valid discussions here). I had not expected this (this is about rural Alaska):

> “In some rural districts, visa teachers make up 50% to nearly 80% of the teaching staff. School districts already invest $6,000 to $12,000 per teacher to recruit and sponsor educators through the H-1B visa process. Adding a $100,000 federal visa fee has made it financially impossible for many districts to continue hiring the teachers their students depend on.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#42

Post by svachalek »

cguess wrote: post #25
JCTheDenthog wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rigorous examinations for English fluency and for competency in their alleged field of expertise would be a good start. I have several H1B coworkers in the US who barely speak intelligible English, and who barely understand normal conversation let alone anything technical. A blatant example of this that I experienced recently being that several of them could not understand that just because a method in C# is asynchro…

This is a hiring issue, not a legal one. The US has no official language, and no language tests, so requiring English in law would be dicey to put it mildly. What if I'm hiring someone specifically to work at a Spanish language news outlet?

The H-1B visa is specifically for hiring "highly specialized" workers. Lack of the supposed skills that let them across the border is in fact a legal issue.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#43

Post by parrellel »

panny wrote: post #33
cguess wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a hiring issue, not a legal one. The US has no official language, and no language tests, so requiring English in law would be dicey to put it mildly. What if I'm hiring someone specifically to work at a Spanish language news outlet?

[flagged]

I don't believe Trump's wacko EOs are binding law. Like, the Gulf of Mexico is still the Gulf of Mexico. The DoD is still the DoD.

No reason to give the fascist LARPers the respect. Just don't give the poor clerk forced to regurgitate the junk a hard time.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#44

Post by bee_rider »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #28
cguess wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a hiring issue, not a legal one. The US has no official language, and no language tests, so requiring English in law would be dicey to put it mildly. What if I'm hiring someone specifically to work at a Spanish language news outlet?

[flagged]

The executive branch has been instructed to act like we have an official language, but Congress hasn’t passed any law on the matter.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#45

Post by Izikiel43 »

jorgen123 wrote: post #41

For those not reading the linked article, it was not about tech (although valid discussions here). I had not expected this (this is about rural Alaska): > “In some rural districts, visa teachers make up 50% to nearly 80% of the teaching staff. School districts already invest $6,000 to $12,000 per teacher to recruit and sponsor educators through the H-1B visa process. Adding a $100,000 federal visa fee has made it fin…

Yeah, most of us think of tech, but the program affects doctors, nurses and teachers for rural America.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#46

Post by ralph84 »

variety8675 wrote: post #11

There must be a better way to prevent the consulting firms from abusing this program

Two rules:

1. No subcontracting. Visa recipients must work directly for the visa sponsor.

2. No layoffs. Any company that does a mass layoff is banned from sponsoring new visas for 5 years.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#47

Post by ericmay »

lmm wrote: post #27
ericmay wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well they can compete with that. Being fired means you lose healthcare and much needed benefits and of course a paycheck and all of that stuff, right? If you're going to take this wildly cynical approach you should at least do a more proper comparison....

> Being fired means you lose healthcare and much needed benefits and of course a paycheck and all of that stuff, right? I think there's some law that lets you stay on health insurance for a few months at least, and you can save up as a countermeasure to the loss of the paycheck. Bad as it is it's not comparable to getting deported after a couple of months.

Hard to say how directly they can compare, and it probably depends on the individual situation and of course their line of work and other such items. In the woe-is-me olympics they both seem pretty awful and, one might even say, competitive in terms of how awful they are. Maybe being deported means you go back to France or Canada or something.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#48

Post by alephnerd »

jorgen123 wrote: post #41

For those not reading the linked article, it was not about tech (although valid discussions here). I had not expected this (this is about rural Alaska): > “In some rural districts, visa teachers make up 50% to nearly 80% of the teaching staff. School districts already invest $6,000 to $12,000 per teacher to recruit and sponsor educators through the H-1B visa process. Adding a $100,000 federal visa fee has made it fin…

And it's not just education - nurses, doctors, and plenty of engineers in the Energy, Mining, and Construction sector are also brought on H1Bs to Alaska.

Edit: can't reply

> Are they also using traditional incentive methods, like signing bonuses, for domestic prospects

Yes.

I have a good buddy of mine who is senior management at an ANRC and they will pay 6 figure salaries to non-natives irrespective of citizenship in a number of cases.

Heck, even the starting salary for unskilled federal roles like TSA agents at Utquiatvik was $70K last I was there versus $30-40k in the rest of the mainland.

Much of Alaska is literal villages that are disconnected from the outside world aside from the occasional bush plane, and amenities are nonexistent. You are talking about towns and villages where most of the residents are entirely depending on UBI (Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend) and subsidence hunting/farming.

As such, it's not enticing.

Also, a number of Alaska Natives prefer hiring Thai and Filipino immigrants over Americans (who statistically tend to be White, Black, or Hispanic) because if you're hiring outsiders you may as well hire outsiders who look like you and are viewed as more culturally aligned.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#49

Post by bitmasher9 »

ericmay wrote: post #21
Wobbles42 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being deported if you get fired is a basic job requirement. Keeps people in line. Americans can't compete with that.

Well they can compete with that. Being fired means you lose healthcare and much needed benefits and of course a paycheck and all of that stuff, right? If you're going to take this wildly cynical approach you should at least do a more proper comparison....

I think forcing this comparison shows a lack of empathy for how compromised of a position the H1B really is.

If I lose my job I have unemployment insurance, cobra benefits, personal savings, and I don’t require another employer to sponsor my visa. If I lose my job the most likely outcome is I find another one after searching a few months.

If someone on an H1B visa loses their job the most likely outcome is they are forced to leave the country.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#50

Post by infecto »

Izikiel43 wrote: post #45
jorgen123 wrote: post #41

For those not reading the linked article, it was not about tech (although valid discussions here). I had not expected this (this is about rural Alaska): > “In some rural districts, visa teachers make up 50% to nearly 80% of the teaching staff. School districts already invest $6,000 to $12,000 per teacher to recruit and sponsor educators through the H-1B visa process. Adding a $100,000 federal visa fee has made it fin…

Yeah, most of us think of tech, but the program affects doctors, nurses and teachers for rural America.

Which is sadly very ironic.
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