New $100k H-1B visa fee pushes tech jobs offshore

Post by Kznzbjs » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC

lokar wrote: post #30

bearjaws wrote: post #2

Not surprising, H1B for my entire career was a cost cutting measure. Every time we had a layoff some portion would be replaced with H1B. Every H1B that shared their salary with me has been underpaid. I know its anecdotal but sharing to see if anyone has seen similar.

Not my experience in big tech and HFT. We spent a ton of time and effort trying to find anyone to our standards, never able to find enough. H1B (and other work visas) were generally better and more Sr compared to locals we found. They got paid as much or more than everyone else. When we had great people we could not get here we would instead build a team overseas, taking a bunch of other jobs with them.

Post by ok123456 » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC

bickfordb wrote: post #117

shagie wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

H1B also includes things like high school foreign language teachers. https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=&job=french+language+immer... A stack rank by salary would mean "H1B is big tech employees" rather than "these are professionals who have skills."

The H1B was intended for highly specialized skills that where there is no local talent available.

Post by sokoloff » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:16 PM UTC

lokar wrote: post #86

andrewla wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to your particular situation, but in my experience this has been two factors; one is location -- it is sometimes hard in some locations to find senior talent whereas H1Bs are (naturally) more amenable to moving. The other is pricing, which is echoing the GP's point. Senior talent is expensive and you can get it at (apparently) considerably lower cost by looking for H1B applicants.

I found that once you are paying mid to high 6 figures the company is not trying to save by hiring a foreigner.

Post by lokar » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:16 PM UTC

binlog wrote: post #58

lokar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government can’t measure ability

So then why do they hand out visas that require “extraordinary ability”?

Post by toomuchtodo » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:16 PM UTC

fillskills wrote: post #102

lokar wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not my experience in big tech and HFT. We spent a ton of time and effort trying to find anyone to our standards, never able to find enough. H1B (and other work visas) were generally better and more Sr compared to locals we found. They got paid as much or more than everyone else. When we had great people we could not get here we would instead build a team overseas, taking a bunch of other jobs with them.

Looks like there is need for 2 separate visa categories: - One to bring top 0.1% talent from across the globe to the US - Another to bring in temporary talent as needed Current version of H1B had become a big basket to hold both, and abused too for just finding cheaper labor. It may be time to segment these out. Also, given that US has ~400 million local citizens, there should be less need for either.