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Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

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Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#161

Post by IamLoading »

rendx wrote: post #128
ed wrote: post #57

The fee applies only to new applicants, per https://www.axios.com/2025/09/20/trump-h-1b-immigration-visa...

"Section 1. Restriction on Entry. (a) Pursuant to sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), the entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), is restricted, except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplement…

it was corrected by Karoline. Very surprising, when they announced it yesterday, they universally said for all.

https://x.com/PressSec/status/1969494255857987597

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#162

Post by 13415 »

rayiner wrote: post #153
13415 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That argument is not sound. English is an official language of India, of course Indians are much more likely to seek work in the UK and the US than people from Latin America. You have failed to present any evidence concerning the skill levels of Indian H1B holders, and, moreover, since India has the largest population of all countries, those 130M college graduates must have gone through some very tough selection.

> English is an official language of India, of course Indians are much more likely to seek work in the UK and the US than people from Latin America. The U.S. is also much closer to Latin America, and has a large Latino community already. The disparity in H1bs (70% versus 2% for Mexico/Brazil/Colombia) is just too huge to explain by language preferences. > since India has the largest population of all countries, those…

This is the most desperate and feeble attempt to save an argument I've seen in a long time. How about you try find some actual evidence to support your claims instead these wild constructions.

> The disparity in H1bs (70% versus 2% for Mexico/Brazil/Colombia) is just too huge to explain by language preferences.

You base your position on these kind "hunches"? "Just too huge to explain". No, it isn't just too huge to explain. It's really that simple. India is the largest country of the world in terms of population, English is an official language of India, hence there is a substantial amount of people with high qualifications who use those qualifications to seek employment in major English speaking countries like the US and the UK with visas like the H1B. There are also many Chinese people in those countries but the language barrier makes it much harder for them.

People from Latin America have a hard time getting hired for highly qualified jobs in the US for various reasons, one of them being the language barrier.

By the way, if there was some conspiracy to hire Indians with low qualifications, then you'd still have not done anything to explain why these people should be Indians as opposed to Latin Americans. The argument makes no sense. Can't you see that? I'm genuinely puzzled.

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#163

Post by jaybrendansmith »

titzer wrote: post #151
yibg wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope majority of the voting population sees this for what it is. The question is is there anything that can be done about it. There is midterms but that's a long ways out, especially at the speed things are moving now. Congress isn't keeping the executive branch in check, neither is the judiciary.

As it turns out, power without accountability inevitably leads to corruption. There is no functioning mechanism in operation today that forces the government to follow the law. Any law. Not even the constitution.

Except their oath. They have no honor.

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#164

Post by sarchertech »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #141
sarchertech wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but they have always been able to do that. It's always been cheaper to hire employees overseas than to employe H-1Bs here. Making H-1Bs more expensive increases the delta and probably makes it more attractive for some jobs. But clearly there is some value in employing people in the US or they would have already moved the jobs.

> Sure, but they have always been able to do that. I think the newness (some period before 2020) of tech in general tended to intimidate those legacy shareholder groups who got in early. And I suspect that early shareholding was often dominated by employees, etc (not sure tho). I think those interests plus the proximity to adjacent industries created strong interest in US Gov's (now-former) incentives to create to br…

Ok but if that’s the case it’s happening with or without an extra 100k in H-1B costs. The best you can say is that the extra fee speeds it up.

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#165

Post by sarchertech »

rs186 wrote: post #150
sarchertech wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your post >while paying a third of the salary If they're paying $300k, they are paying $200k extra to employ that person in the US.

That 0.3% seems quite a bit off.

10k * 100k is 1 billion, which is 0.3% of 300 billion.

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#166

Post by fcanesin »

sailingparrot wrote: post #90
fcanesin wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, and it started from today.

No, it's for new H1-Bs and renewals, and it starts tomorrow.

You are correct [although what was said at the oval office was different].

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#167

Post by sarchertech »

nojito wrote: post #147
sarchertech wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. I'd need to see the exact data you're citing. 2. It's a common tactic to employ people on H-1Bs in a lower paying job title while having the perform the work of a higher paying title. 3. You'd need to adjust for average number of hours worked.

None of what you said is true. https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Impact-of-H-...

“In fiscal 2018, 70% of approved H-1B petitions were for workers 30 years of age and older—a significant indicator that those workers already possess at least six to eight years of experience. Further, H-1B workers’ educational levels, which are an important determinant of skills, indicate they should be filling higher-skilled positions. In fact, 63% of all H-1B workers held an advanced degree (master’s, professional, or doctorate degree),32 meaning one could reasonably conclude that a majority of H-1B workers have the educational attainment and/or years of experience to fill positions at wage levels 3 and 4. These data suggest it is likely that H-1B employers are underpaying workers relative to their skill levels.”

https://www.epi.org/publication/h-1b-visas-and-prevailing-wa...

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#168

Post by sarchertech »

throwaway7783 wrote: post #145
sarchertech wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure everything Trump does is insane, but all I've been hearing is how "H-1Bs are good actually".

Where do you hear this? All I'm seeing is people praising this on X, people split here on HN, and people being downright racist towards Indians on Reddit h1b forums

Mostly my own friend group and r/programming.

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#169

Post by sarchertech »

yibg wrote: post #134
sarchertech wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure that can be your stance. But that's not we're talking about. I'm talking about people on the left who have historically been anti H-1B, but who have moved over to the pro H-1B camp because Trump acted against the program. To that point though, there were ~40k O visas issued last year. And presumably that number would have been much higher if the H-1Bs were harder to get. And unlikely H-1B the O visas actually ha…

I understand. I'm not doing a good job communicating my position. I'm in the camp you're describing: I've historically been complaining about the H1B program and how it's run, I'm also pro H1B now after this announcement like you say. To elaborate, I'm not pro or anti H1B per se. I'm for bringing in skilled immigrates with a reasonable qualification criteria. I agree that H1B has been abused in the past and should be…

That’s fair.

I think as usual Trump did things in the most disruptive, ridiculous way possible.

I think there are enough Tech and finance jobs to pay the 8.5 billion that this will cost to bring in 85k workers.

Re: Microsoft memo advises H1B employees to return immediately if currently abroad

#170

Post by maxbond »

sarchertech wrote: post #28

It's wild to watch the zeitgeist among many programmers swap in real time from being against H-1B visas to pro H-1B visas the second Trump goes after them. It is possible for a stopped clock to be right twice a day. Left and right doesn't have to disagree on literally every single thing. If you're on an H-1B and you get fired or laid off, you have 60 days to find a new job or be deported. That creates an underclass o…

Are you sure that the people supporting H1B now are the same people who opposed it before? Do you think it's possible the people in favor of H1B were quiet before because they were happy with the status quo, and the people against H1B are quiet now for the same reason? It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.
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