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U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

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Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#921

Post by Georgelemental »

fg137 wrote: post #791
Georgelemental wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An H-1B is a temporary non-immigrant visa. You're not supposed to rely on it to build a life in the US with no backup plan; that was never the intent of the law. However, successive administrations ignored the intent of the law, for so long that people began to rely on assurances that the law never promised. Now that the law is getting applied properly, those people are facing the consequences. It sucks for them, but…

Your first sentence is factually wrong. I highly recommend that you refrain from commenting on any immigration related topics until you can get your facts correct.

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/h-1b-spec...

> This nonimmigrant classification

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b

> The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#923

Post by jameshart »

mc32 wrote: post #162
sinecure wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was never about talent. It's about companies hiring foreigners on h1b visas at below market wages where their life in the USA is contingent on their job performance forcing them to work harder and longer than their peers to remain in the country. It's a situation that only benefits companies, while harming US citizens who have to compete with the lower wages of foreigners.

Recently[1] Microsoft laid off several thousand domestic employees while simultaneously hiring a couple thousand employer-sponsored-Visa workers. [1] https://www.newsweek.com/microsoft-layoffs-2026-xbox-h1b-vis...

That is not actually what that article says.

It’s a common pattern to say ‘company X laid off thousands of employees but then applied for thousands of H1B visas’ which very much gives the impression that the company has just fired a few thousand Americans and hired a few thousand foreigners.

What actually happens is: a company has a global workforce of 100000 or so. 50000 of them are in the US. 5000 of them are in the US on H1Bs, 45000 of them are Americans.

Company does a 10% layoff: 4500 Americans, 500 people who are in the us on visas, and 5000 people around the world.

Headline: “Company X lays off 10000”

Then the H1B renewal numbers come out and what do you know company X is applying for 4500 H1Bs, to retain their existing H1B staff who weren’t affected by the layoff.

Headline: “After laying off 10,000 staff company x applies for 4500 H1B visas”

Unstated in such a headline: 5500 of those layoffs were foreigners; the company still employs 40500 Americans.

To bring it back to your point: you cited this article as evidence for the claim that Microsoft laid off ‘thousands of domestic employees’; the article does not say where the thousands of layoffs were and explicitly contains a quote from an MS spokesperson that says “H-1B employees were also impacted by job eliminations in the U.S.”

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#924

Post by afavour »

itake wrote: post #912
fg137 wrote: post #787

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The dude has no idea what they are talking about. It's amazing even on HN people are openly giving their opinions while being completely uninformed of the facts. Imagine the discussions elsewhere.

I’m informed on this topic… Can you correct the mistake? If I show up in China (or the USA) on a tourist visa with the plans to pursue a marriage and permanent residency, does that mean I get to backdate my permanent residency to the tourist visa because I’m able to pursue a marriage (PR)?

I don’t understand the relevance. No one is using a tourist visa in this scenario and a tourist visa definitely isn’t dual intent in the way an H1B is.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#925

Post by DangitBobby »

dcow wrote: post #730

This is political warfare. War is cruel and inhumane. If you want to stop the cruelty, stop the war. There’s a lot of discussion about whether this is cruel or justified or legal—whatever. This sucks for people who get caught up in our immigration fight and ultimately it’s bad for all of us because it makes the US a less attractive place for immigrants. However, we are here (1) because US citizens voted for more scru…

No more sanewashing please. Thanks.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#926

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

philipwhiuk wrote: post #821
lotsofpulp wrote: post #810

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your claim could be shortened to: >The ultimate uncertainty is that regardless of who you are and what you do, a country always has the right to kick you out...Nothing is guaranteed ultimately. Which is what makes the actions of the government so disturbing. What made the USA so attractive (the rules, the decorum, the civility) is gone. While there were a great many injustices, in general, it trended toward getting b…

> Your claim could be shortened to: > > The ultimate uncertainty is that regardless of who you are and what you do, a country always has the right to kick you out...Nothing is guaranteed ultimately. Depends on whether you think international law still exists and is followed - statelessness isn't allowed under that.

> whether you think international law still exists

Well that’s an easy one. It doesn’t. There are specific agreements, and I guess you could consider war crimes the primary example of an international court. But there is no and should be no international courts for immigration.

A country gets to set its own laws, end of story. The current happenings in the US are a direct pendulum swing from the previous administration. If people can’t accept that, it just shows how biased they are. Or how one-sided their information sources have been.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#927

Post by slackfan »

enaaem wrote: post #784
khazhoux wrote: post #616

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like most internet meme phrases, this is both trite and inaccurate. The cruelty is not the point. This administration has decided foreigners are the scapegoat, and wants to get rid of as many as they can. It’s heartless, but cruelty is not the objective.

Cruelty is the objective, because the America is unwilling to enact the laws that will most effectively stem immigration. These are: 1. Make it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants. 2. Foreign specialists need to earn at least an x% above industry standard (to prove they are specialists). These laws will obviously not fly among corporate donors. Trump will also never deport all illegals because of how much hospita…

>1. Make it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants.

It is, in fact, illegal to hire undocumented immigrants. Federal offense actually. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324a

>2. Foreign specialists need to earn at least an x% above industry standard (to prove they are specialists).

The current standard is that they should earn the pervailing wage, so at minimum average. I agree that they should earn at least 200+% more, however.

I don't think your cruelty argument holds.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#928

Post by Georgelemental »

Erem wrote: post #679
Georgelemental wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An immigrant who has followed due process is equivalent to a homeless person who has convinced the property owner to willingly let the homeless person stay in the property owner's living room. The property owner is allowed to change their mind about the arrangement at any point, unless and until the person obtains part ownership of the property (citizenship).

This is a vile analogy, whose implication so twists the American tradition that I blush with shame to read it from a possible countryman. What American tradition? I'll let Lincoln speak, since you have already given voice to his opposition. "As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, i…

Yes, all men are created equal. They have the equal right to live in their country. A Russian has just as much a right to live in Russia as an American does in America. And I have just as much a right to move to Russia as a Russian has to move to America—i.e. none at all, it's a privilege than the government of each country may or may not grant.

Btw, I am a naturalized US citizen. I'm talking about myself here. I'm very grateful for what this country has given me, because I know it had no obligation whatsoever to do so.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#929

Post by ModernMech »

orsenthil wrote: post #848

I see a lot of comments in this thread in support this stance, as if that is something good for Americans, and say it is not a political statement. One thing that changed my viewpoint was this book. Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case, and Angus Deaton. In it, they make a point that, almost all US economists agree that immigration, both legal and Illegal Immigration, is not the cause for Ameri…

For anyone here who supports this, just go back into their post history and see what they said about DOGE and whether they thought that was also a good and prudent idea.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#930

Post by ipsod »

FeepingCreature wrote: post #685
thaumasiotes wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is democracy in action. The majority (of those who care enough at all) get to rule over the minority (and the apathetic). I've always been confused about how "democracy" is good, but "tyranny of the majority" is bad.

Well, for one you're not supposed to use a majority vote to abolish democracy, or mess with unalienable rights. You can think of it as "democracy with precommitment".

In other words, it's not democracy, it's a democratic republic. The democracy is constrained by the constitution.
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