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USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

uscis.gov

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Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#141

Post by bubblethink »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #133
sgjohnson wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? There’s a 100+ year wait on EB2 and EB3 Green Cards for people born in India. Only 7% of GCs can go to people of any one country. At the current cap of 49000, it means only 3400 EB2 GCs can actually be issued to Indians per year. An approved application doesn’t equate to a green card actually minted and issued. There’s a 12 year backlog on applications alone. ( https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal…

> There’s a 100+ year wait on EB2 and EB3 Green Cards for people born in India. No-one knows what the actual wait period is until the priority date for applications established - this is all based off estimates and extrapolations. A priority date is not a backlog in applications - it's the date which, if you applied before then, that you can file for adjustment-of-status which is more or less a pro-forma process. The…

>this is all based off estimates and extrapolations

This is not exactly rocket science. The supply is largely fixed (a few thousand a year), and the pending inventory is ~1M (based on published data). Barring legislative change, the extrapolation, even if off by several factors, moves the dates in the range of years or decades. There is no meaningful difference once you are past a few decades. At that point, the worker is at the end of the career and unless (s)he gets residency through some other path, the original work path is moot.

>wait times of between about 8 and 12 years since 2014

This is not a fixed delta. It was close to 10 years for someone in 2010; it's not 10 years if you file today - it is several decades. Demand has vastly outpaced supply.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#142

Post by dartharva »

fooker wrote: post #130
slaw wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ideally the admin should close H1B for few years until job market recovers.

Here's what will happen if they do that: A large number of universities will go under without tuition fees from international students. Professors will leave these universities to pursue industry careers, soneven if the job market recovers the universities won't. Without competent specialized people from the universities, US will lose the tech edge very very quickly. Cutting edge tech requires a large number of peopl…

H-1B is a work visa, not a student visa.

And I highly doubt the kind of universities that rely on tuition revenues from foreign students are ones leading the US's tech edge. The universities that actually matter in this regard will be well-equipped to survive a small setback of less foreign admissions.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#143

Post by dartharva »

dheera wrote: post #2

I find the entire H-1B program somewhat ridiculously designed. 0. There should be no cap for people who have received higher education degrees in the US. What's the point of educating people and equipping them with everything they need to be successful in the US, advance the US (including creating lots of jobs) and then deporting them right after? 1. There should be no cap for people who are going into STEM, AI, or o…

Do foreign students get the same support from US government bodies for financing and scholarship as domestic students do?

Aren't almost all students paying in full for their education? Aren't they just consumers of the product American universities are selling?

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#144

Post by bubblethink »

sgjohnson wrote: post #105

One thing I find really, really weird about the US immigration system is that immigrating illegally is trivial (apparently even more so nowadays than it was 15 years ago), and it even comes with a loophole that can make you a legal immigrant later, yet legal immigration is a very tedious and often impossible path. I have a relative that 15-ish years ago simply overstayed their tourist visa and never left. Some 5 year…

>For a married European that would love to live in the US, like myself, legal immigration paths are simply not viable.

As a European, you have several options. H1, O1, L1, etc. are all fine. None of them have any guarantees, but realistically, you'll be able to apply for a green card through an employer and get one within a couple of years under EB2/3. You can also apply for EB2-NIW or EB1A by yourself even from outside the US if you qualify, and you don't need to get a visa at all. You'd get a green card directly.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#145

Post by alwayslikethis »

sgjohnson wrote: post #127
thomasahle wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> simply overstayed their tourist visa and never left. Some 5 years later... How did he make money during those 5 years?

> How did he make money during those 5 years? Worked in jobs that didn’t ask for proof of employment authorization. Being white also probably helped a lot. I’m actually willing to bet that most americans aren’t even aware that white people can also immigrate illegally.

I have difficulty believing that. There are lots of white people in South America.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#146

Post by Glyptodon »

tomrod wrote: post #25
jedberg wrote: post #4

It seems like it would be so easy to fix the H1-B program but no one wants to and I feel like I must be missing something. The purpose of the H1-B is to allow companies to hire foreigners with special skills that can't be found amongst US citizens. So why not just grant H1-Bs to the companies that are willing to pay their talent the most? Let any company apply and list a salary which they have to agree to pay for at…

Some pushback on your logic chain: > foreigners with special skills that can't be found amongst US citizens This is honestly rare, unless you couple it with a wage level that is lower than the domestic market will bear. Some individuals involved in R&D, but outside of that there are few skills that are not found in the US. I believe the condition isn't not found, but rather, in low supply? > make the visa transferrab…

Low supply should mean that it's not available unless wages are a lot more above market. Which lives well with highest pay first.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#147

Post by ramraj07 »

eatbitseveryday wrote: post #101
tock wrote: post #97

US immigration is an absolute nightmare especially for Indians. In Europe its simple. Job offer above minimum salary? Apply and get a blue card yourself. Has been in the country for over 5 years and speak the language? You get citizenship. In the US its nearly impossible to get a Green Card. Forget how difficult it is to get an H1B visa in the first place because of the lottery system.

Find true love in an American and immigrate as family. That’s easy peasy

Calling that true love at that point is like calling a mcChicken a healthy bite.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#148

Post by Glyptodon »

quatrefoil wrote: post #51
0xcde4c3db wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing you're "missing" is that it absolutely is, in practice, about laundering low-wage foreign labor. It's not actually complicated. It's obfuscation of exploitation. Same as it ever was. You're just not supposed to believe that your country is doing that.

A lion's share of H-1Bs go to big tech companies where people make $250k a year or more. And where total comp of $400k+ is common for senior roles, with no regard for visa status. Yes, it alters market dynamics and the whole reason it's done is that the same skills are not available domestically for that price (or at all) - but talking about "low-wage labor" and "exploitation" as the whole point of the program is pre…

In my area the top H1 salaries are mostly doctors and radiologists in the $200k to $500k range, but a huge chunk of the overall H1s go to teachers making sub $50k/yr. Along with random stuff like aircraft mechanics (also sub $50k) and postdocs (sub $60k). But a lot of random ones seem like scams - school district has a computer lab technician at $36k, for example.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#149

Post by p_l »

bilekas wrote: post #136
hirvi74 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, the special skills that many foreigners tend to have that many Americans do not is the ability to tolerate absolute and utter bullshit. I'm not kidding. I am not satisfied with my job/employer -- bad environment, bad culture, etc.. I have coworkers from all over. Of the non-US native ones that I interact with, they all absolutely love our job and/or employer. I've asked them about it, and I generall…

> In my experience, the special skills that many foreigners tend to have that many Americans do not is the ability to tolerate absolute and utter bullshit. I'm not kidding. This actually made me giggle a little bit and while I have seen this, what I've seen more of is that a company hiring internally has offshore employees who have a vast amount of company specific info and experience that the company simply can't hi…

Internal transfers that have such knowledge don't go on H-1B though, but L-1B

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#150

Post by sfifs »

jedberg wrote: post #4

It seems like it would be so easy to fix the H1-B program but no one wants to and I feel like I must be missing something. The purpose of the H1-B is to allow companies to hire foreigners with special skills that can't be found amongst US citizens. So why not just grant H1-Bs to the companies that are willing to pay their talent the most? Let any company apply and list a salary which they have to agree to pay for at…

The purpose of H1B is to keep wages in control amongst highly qualified American workers so that owners and executives can create a more competitive financial advantage in P&L and stock price juicing

I'm surprised even in HN we are taking PR at face value.

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