131–140 of 644 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd like to know about the "standard, normalized ways immigrants have come to the US" that you mentioned.
I won't say it's trivially easy, but with determination it can be done.
Edit: unless you are talking about fake marriages and other ways to game the system. Which I believe smart people are not interested in.
My grandparents were all immigrants who didn't need to jump through hoops to come in. IMO, this should still be possible. I think we should have a open lottery that meets 95% of immigration demand, and have some sort of competitive/fast-track process for skilled workers that would weed out the bodyshops. That said, this post is crafted marketing nonsense. For example, a statement like this from a company founder is r…
>My grandparents were all immigrants who didn't need to jump through hoops to come in. IMO, this should still be possible. I think we should have a open lottery that meets 95% of immigration demand, and have some sort of competitive/fast-track process for skilled workers that would weed out the bodyshops. Doesn't US have a green card lottery?
We literally have 5 million Mexicans living in the US as second class people without access to worker protections and other institutional things. It's a situation that shouldn't exist.
My grandparents came here in the 1930's and 1940's. In those days, entry was pretty trivial. No reason why it shouldn't be that way again.
India's IT agencies or staffing companies somehow get a lot of the H1Bs then offload some works to India, or fly in H1Bs from Inda to CA, don't know how that exactly works, but it does offer a lower H1B wage, maybe that's one reason they have so many H1Bs, I don't really know.
For most other countries, H1Bs are hard to get, and those individuals are normally hired by USA companies directly(not via a staffing agency or something like India's huge IT companies' branch office), these guys are paid decently and low-wage is not an option.
I'm trying to say the H1b-low-cost does exist for some cases, people abuse the system whenever they can. Meanwhile, many other H1B hires are paid the same as citizens, if not better, especially when they're hired by a local company directly.
Look HNers, let's be honest with each other. There's a lot of H1B's on here. You have friends overseas who you want to see succeed in the Bay Area. In my experience at many tech companies in the Bay Area, H1B Visas exist for one reason, and one reason only - to get skilled engineering/STEM labor -- and to exploit connections (primarily Indian/Pakistani) among these workers to continue to get cheap labor. It absolutel…
> I've worked at multiple companies (managed their websites) -- where we would temporarily post a job description to appear that it was a fair playing field for local workers -- when in reality that position was definitely, absolutely going to be filled by a cheaper, exploitable H1B visa position.
Alyandon below also says:
> I worked as a contract developer for over 10 years and this was absolutely the norm for the companies I worked at. It was so egregious at some places that HR would go as far as to get the exact list of skills from the H1B they wanted to hire and then tailor a job posting to that exact list of skills in order to disqualify local applicants.
Could you and others give us the names of these companies? I'd be very interested to know if such abuse is seemingly random or tends towards a certain kind of company, because I have my suspicions that it's the latter, and simple legislation could easily be passed to prevent that.
A blanket statement like that simply isn't true. I can look in several tech offices and draw conclusions. Are there exceptions, sure. Therefore, H1B should be reserved for the talent you speak of. Why are we bringing QA engineers on H1B? We can train a large portion of these jobs here through programs like Hack Reactor. But we aren't, we are looking for simple fixes.
I was thinking to myself. Here is a math teacher in the middle of Silicon Valley asking me (no one special by any means) to come in and talk to the kids. Why don't other companies and CEO's currently do the same? Given the dire problem that they claim there is, they should be out there getting kids interested in these jobs. Some of these kids could be working in 2 years (probably before any legislation would actually go through). Bring them to the Facebook or Google offices and get them interested and motivated. Finally, ensure that they can actually have at least a median paying job in the field.
I think we should look at coding like vocational schools. You see all those programs about getting a degree to repair cars. What about getting degrees to do QA and code? It works in Germany very well, especially for kids who don't go to college. According to the math teacher, the demand and interest is there. So why don't we do something for the future generations rather than look for a short term fix?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The unstated premise behind your comment, and indeed this entire debate, is that there is only so much "room" for immigration in the US. This leads us to arguments about how large the quota should be, how it should be divided, etc. This is a flawed assumption. The US has nearly unlimited room to accept immigration, and on average every single immigrant we accept would increase the size of our economy. Immigrants are…
The U.S. has a fixed capacity to absorb immigrants while integrating them into our culture. In many places in the country, immigration is already too much, resulting in insular immigrant communities and tensions between immigrants and everyone else. Those are bad things. The unstated assumption underlying the assertion that "the U.S. has nearly unlimited room to accept immigration" is that culture, and institutions a…
...who can easily just think "got mine".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's absolutely no talent shortage in the Bay Area, provided you can pay But this is precisely what defines an economic shortage. There's no shortage of anything , if the price offered is right. I wonder if the discrepancy between supply and demand for labour in the Valley has to do with the fact that, unlike most other industries[1], so many companies aren't making money, and hence can't pay, but still demand m…
Definition of shortage on Google: a state or situation in which something needed cannot be obtained in sufficient amounts. Doesn't mention anything about not paying the market price. Those not willing to pay the market price can't buy a loaf of bread. It is prices that incentivize people to provide what we need. And when the bubble pops, prices will tell people the opposite. Either way, its just a market condition th…
That's the flaw in that definition. Price is the most important factor.
Edit: If price isn't accounted for then what isn't in a shortage at prices just greater than free?
The experience for getting a working visa in the US is absolutely atrocious, and let me preface this with the fact I am Australian and Australia offers an E3 visa which allows you to work in the US indefinitely for the sponsoring company. It doesn't have the same issues as a H1-B visa (lottery, restrictions on when you can apply), but offers just as much flexibility and power. I am currently a remote worker for a US…
I hate to say this, but in your position I'd suggest you collude with your employer to fake a degree.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The U.S. has a fixed capacity to absorb immigrants while integrating them into our culture. In many places in the country, immigration is already too much, resulting in insular immigrant communities and tensions between immigrants and everyone else. Those are bad things. The unstated assumption underlying the assertion that "the U.S. has nearly unlimited room to accept immigration" is that culture, and institutions a…
"My parents didn't leave their lives half a world away to come here for the weather." Agreed. They probably came here for a better life and opportunity just like most immigrants. What is your point though ? Your parents immigrated here and now you think " immigration is already too much". I am not attacking you personally but trying to understand your point. What is this culture and institution that you talk about ?