New $100k H-1B visa fee pushes tech jobs offshore • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by lokar » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:20 PM UTC

gosub100 wrote: post #127

fillskills wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There is no need for "temporary talent" from foreign countries. US is graduating plenty of CS grads from our schools. There is a need for wage suppression and exploitation (for anyone not aware, if you get fired from your H1B job you have 2 weeks to leave the county). That's why they have a reputation for being "better", another word for it is indentured servitude.

And it’s well known all CS grads are equally good

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

#162

Post by geodel » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:20 PM UTC

bijowo1676 wrote: post #65

Canada is jumping on this opportunity to invite the US tech workers who are frustrated with US H1B visa restrictions and GC backlog by offering an express permanent residency in 10 days https://canadabychoice.com/services/move-to-canada/usa/occup... Canada also floating idea of alliance with Europe for travel and job opportunities https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-european-union-eu-me...

I mean Canada has jumped so many times in last 8-10 years with these express residencies, hiring H1B laid off workers, grabbing people who are stuck with travel restrictions to US I'd have thought they be half way to the moon.

In any case I wish well to people in Canada and Europe and people who are looking to move there. More spreaded opportunities lead to better outcome for everyone including US even if it does not look like one.

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

#163

Post by golly_ned » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:20 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.

+1 to this at big tech.

H1B were no less skilled (and no less paid) than their US-based counterparts.

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

#164

Post by unified101 » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

jvanderbot wrote: post #77

unified101 wrote: post #5

I think this will go hand in hand with tech compensation and jobs falling off a cliff. In the AI world too, we can't have our cake and eat it.

Yeah, fine. Honestly I think most of us have been overpaid our entire career. But I'm not sure I see it necessarily. Take these stats, which can cut either way on this topic: In USA there are more software engineers than all other engineers combined. There are 10x more software engineers than the next highest engineering discipline. If you could subdivide s/w engs into 10 equal categories ("I'm not just a run of the…

I don't think you'll find this community welcoming the idea of lower pay (and hence a more volatile employment).

Overall if in the next 12 months I fully expect compensation on average to be down 30-50%. It's impossible for it not to, given the sudden exodus of talent from US to open up remote consultancies that can offer same skill at 1/4th the price.

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

#165

Post by switchbak » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

r_lee wrote: post #96

tekla wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is pretty interesting to watch. "I'm pro immigration EXCEPT specifically the kind that directly affects me"

I mean that's what it's always been about, be virtuous about everything unless it actually affects you and your gated neighborhood

If you live in a nation, you do have some say in the policies that directly affect your livelihood. This is the whole reason we have nations.

One need not (always) invoke racism or xenophobia to explain why folks might take issue with high levels of immigration.

It’s so politically charged now that people’s brains just turn off and everyone calls each other Nazis. But it is a discussion that does require nuance, especially as things like aging populations are really changing things immensely.

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

#166

Post by bpt3 » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #149

infecto wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada historically is also one of the worst places to work in tech. Maybe it’s changed but I remember a decade ago tech jobs were paying a 1/4th of what they were in NYC/SF.

If pay and money is the only thing you care about then yeah. But for the rest of us, none of the places are "the worst place to work in tech" as long as you're in the northern hemisphere. Take a look at what the pay is in Chile if it's so scary to you.

Pay and money are why people work, so yeah they're pretty important.

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

#167

Post by rayiner » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

orangedog wrote: post #151

rayiner wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My uncle is a skilled immigrant to Canada (electrical engineer) and was never able to find an engineering job. They live in an immigrant-heavy subsidized housing neighborhood full of people in the same situation.

How do people get by when that happens? If you have no job after a period of time, what are your options?

He tutors math and science, my aunt (who also has a graduate degree) works in a daycare. Canadian welfare is also quite generous.

Their son is doing well, but I don’t see how it makes economic sense for Canada at that point. It boils down to a circuitous and expensive way to direct government dollars to smart people who are likely to have smart kids. You could save yourself a step and just give lower income kids in Canada IQ tests and throw money at the promising ones.

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

#168

Post by emodendroket » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:23 PM UTC

cogman10 wrote: post #155

emodendroket wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at it in a vacuum sure. When the same administration is actually floating the idea of making the program more coercive by making it so you can be deported immediately after losing your job I think it’s pretty reasonable to recognize the coercive nature of the program isn’t their concern.

Exactly. My entire problem with H1-B is the coercive nature of it. That is the thing that is ultimately designed to suppress wages. There's a bunch of levers you could pull to stop it from being such a huge negative, faster paths to citizenship, looser requirements for switching jobs, higher minimum salaries. All these things would improve conditions for the H1-B applicant. That's why I call it a bad program.

Put another way I don’t think this policy is a good way to address the issues you’re talking about because it’s just moving jobs out of the U.S. altogether.

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

#169

Post by cogman10 » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:23 PM UTC

thayne wrote: post #145

cogman10 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm generally pretty pro-immigration and I'm very anti-H1B. It's very abusive to the workers hired as H1-B and it's designed for wage suppression. You can stay an H1-B for years. If you lose your job, you'll face deportation. It gives your employer a VERY large amount of leverage over your life. It's supposed to be about bringing expertise when local expertise isn't available, but in practice it's companies say…

I don't think raising the fee fixes the abuse problems. Unless maybe most of the fee goes into eacrow and is paid back to the employee if the employer terminates employment (maybe without a good, documented cause?). But that could produce its own misaligned incentives. I think the best way to solve it is to remove or reduce the restrictions on staying in the country after they have worked here for some number of year…

> I don't think raising the fee fixes the abuse problems.

It doesn't totally fix them, but it does make it so the applicant is more fairly compensated for accepting a more abusive work environment. It also stops companies from using H1-Bs as a mechanism to reduce overhead.

> I think the best way to solve it is to remove or reduce the restrictions on staying in the country after they have worked here for some number of years.

I'd be for that as well. If someone comes in on a work visa I want them to either have full access to the labor market with all the freedoms any american citizen has, or I want their compensation to be high enough to justify locking them to a company and out of the general labor market.

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

#170

Post by theodric » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 3:23 PM UTC

bijowo1676 wrote: post #94

orangedog wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Canada not already have an issue with not enough jobs available?

the candidate for Canadian PR has to secure a job offer beforehand, so the Canada's plan is that US tech workers move their US jobs to Canada, and big tech employers expand their existing tech offices in Canada, rather than being forced to shell out $100k to Donny. Why should US employers be forced to pay $100k to Donny or compromise for substandard smaller labor pool in the US and bear increased costs?

Put another way: why should American employers be forced to hire Americans? If the labor pool is indeed substandard, they arguably have a vested interest in improving the quality of that labor pool rather than simply giving up on it. The $100k (and its consequences) are putting a finger on the scale in a nationalist manner to prefer local products. It's tariffs for people.

It comes down to whether you have a globalist or nationalist mindset. Depending on which, you will come to a different conclusion about what to think. Should a government prioritize the individual success of citizens of its country, or the profitability of companies domiciled there (and therefore overall national economic performance)? Which approach, which tide lifts more boats by a meaningful amount? Which comports with a government's stated duties?

You decide!