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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

#261

Post by esalman »

corndoge wrote: post #242
esalman wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this argument all the time. There's an excess of this, there's an excess of that. Seems it only comes from people who are not directly involved in hiring of such roles. We hired for an analyst role few months ago in the bay area and there was no qualified American applicants. My wife is in pavement consultancy and they hardly ever find qualified Americans for pavement design jobs.

We need to incentivize more kids to get pavement design degrees to increase the supply

The reason US is in this mess is because in the 50s and 60s there was a liberal arts education boom in the US, and STEM education boom in India/China.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#262

Post by esalman »

jsemrau wrote: post #236
esalman wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this argument all the time. There's an excess of this, there's an excess of that. Seems it only comes from people who are not directly involved in hiring of such roles. We hired for an analyst role few months ago in the bay area and there was no qualified American applicants. My wife is in pavement consultancy and they hardly ever find qualified Americans for pavement design jobs.

> there was no qualified American applicants I have been hiring for 20 years and find this increasingly impossible to believe. Please expand why that would be the case.

The original article is about a federal judge blocking H1B fee because there is a teacher shortage in Alaska. Can you believe that?

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#263

Post by intended »

dani__german wrote: post #235
s1artibartfast wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there is supply and demand. However, that doesnt mean a government cant restrict supply.

It precisely and explicitly demands that the government restrict supply of foreign labor, as that increases the fair market value of American wage earners. It increases the opportunities for young Americans to trade their labor for a start in life, to support their families, and to make our nation stronger. Importing foreign labor makes it more difficult to justify hiring Americans, and undermines the nation's long t…

If the clearing rate is equal to the cost of an engineer at a tech firm in SF, the education budget for a small town in Alaska wouldn't afford it.

Your formulation isn't wrong, however it covers only one scenario. What happens when the locality cannot afford the cost to attract people to their region?

This is not even theoretical, its what happened to the rest of the world, as their best and brightest immigrated to America or Europe.

You could say "them's the breaks" and I would understand. However people vote for solutions, so how would you cover the worst case scenario?

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#264

Post by BoingBoomTschak »

Starman_Jones wrote: post #251
janalsncm wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there an excess of teachers in Alaska? I can understand why rural schools would need H1Bs. They would probably need to pay a premium to attract teachers from out of state, not to mention Alaska. And rural schools are the least able to actually do that. Maybe if the current admin really wants to keep the $100k fee, they can extend an olive branch by either waiving the fee or helping to fund American teachers to mov…

My sister was a schoolteacher in Alaska. They pay a premium, but it’s still not a life that most Americans are cut out for, including me. That means the schools have to choose between giving these kids subpar teachers who are happy to live up there, or miserable teachers who are only doing it for the money. Or, we can hire foreign teachers who are qualified AND are happy to teach up there.

> foreign teachers who are qualified AND are happy to teach up there

But are they? Or are they just willing and here for the money and foot in the immigration door? Sincere question, though I have negative views of the whole H1B thing in general (not a US national, though).

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#265

Post by wesleywt »

jlarocco wrote: post #186
esalman wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this argument all the time. There's an excess of this, there's an excess of that. Seems it only comes from people who are not directly involved in hiring of such roles. We hired for an analyst role few months ago in the bay area and there was no qualified American applicants. My wife is in pavement consultancy and they hardly ever find qualified Americans for pavement design jobs.

Pay more.

But you Americans hate taxes. You spend like a European country and tax like an African one.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#266

Post by whateverboat »

bijowo1676 wrote: post #72
Izikiel43 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This was the most infuriating part. Big Tech has multiple carveouts to bring tech labor using F1/J1/L1/O1/EB-1 and various other visas, and they wouldn't even feel the 100k fee given their budgets. While non-tech sectors were the ones most affected

Not refuting your point but...

Most people who work in tech are not eligible for O1 or EB-1. F1 is a student visa, J1 requires you to go back after finishing your stuff. L1 can actually work but needs to be converted to either H1b, O1 or EB1 at some point soonish.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#267

Post by spangry »

Why don't they just auction H1B visas?

1. Set a monthly quota (for argument's sake, 5000 a month).

2. Each month the government holds an auction, and businesses that believe they need to bring in foreign labour can bid for however many visas they want.

3. The highest bidding companies get the visas.

This way the government can control how many foreign workers come in to the country each year, and the economic rents from bringing in these foreign workers accrues to the public as additional government revenue, rather than as additional profit for corporations.

It also means that the limited number of available H1B visas are put towards their highest value use. The company that wants to bring in a highly skilled foreign worker that's worth $500,000 in additional profit to them will be willing to bid up to $499,999 for their visa. The company that wants to bring in another Tim Hortons worker won't be able to outbid them.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#268

Post by hdgvhicv »

spangry wrote: post #267

Why don't they just auction H1B visas? 1. Set a monthly quota (for argument's sake, 5000 a month). 2. Each month the government holds an auction, and businesses that believe they need to bring in foreign labour can bid for however many visas they want. 3. The highest bidding companies get the visas. This way the government can control how many foreign workers come in to the country each year, and the economic rents f…

Because the economic rents from bringing in these foreign workers accrues to the public as additional government revenue, rather than as additional profit for corporations.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#269

Post by hdgvhicv »

8note wrote: post #244
fc417fc802 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is true but I think the salient observation here is that it's only realistic to pay so much for education. So either you can't have children in such a town, or you're forced to homeschool, or (I guess what's being suggested is) you import someone willing to work an undesirable job if it gets them into the country. I think there's an important difference between importing labor to undercut qualified americans in…

you could also export the children, or the whole family, to a place that can support teachers

Depopulating rural Alaska, or America in general, is certainly a campaign strategy.

Re: Federal judge blocks H1B visa $100K fee

#270

Post by hdgvhicv »

esalman wrote: post #261
corndoge wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to incentivize more kids to get pavement design degrees to increase the supply

The reason US is in this mess is because in the 50s and 60s there was a liberal arts education boom in the US, and STEM education boom in India/China.

Anyone educated in the 50s and 60s has retired

And in China they were far more occupied with a cultural revolution than any form of advanced education. At best you could argue that they were teaching basic literacy to more people.

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