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Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

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Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#171
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to. Your foreign workers can be independent consultants receiving money from you, paying their own taxes. You just need their W-8BEN every year.

That makes them compliant with American law. Your company may still not be in compliance with local law (which can differ significantly in the liberal interpretation of what the us thinks a contractor is), and that can cause serious issues.

Earnest question: what serious issues do you envision if the company doesn't physically operate in that country?

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#172
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the requirement. It's frustrating to see otherwise smart people on every single tech board ever since decades to not understand work visa and employment green card requirements and the difference between them.

That is the requirement. The law applies standards to ensure that domestic workers aren't adversely impacted by the hiring of foreign workers. This includes putting essentially bogus ads in newspaper classifieds, and requires that they're paying the same to H1-B workers in the same role as a domestic worker, among other comical things. The program has defacto evolved to one in which the US can tap into a skilled glob…

Are you sure you are not conflating this with PERM? H-1B only requires a prevailing wage determination. There is no “ludicrously specific” job description, nor a requirement to post ads (just a notice at the workplace).

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how the article knows "new" employees, but something doesn't click for me. H1B visas kick in on October 1st of each year. August 17th can only be for H1B transfers. Might still be a new employee, but definitely not someone coming from overseas.

Also from where is the article getting that they're low paid? Its paywalled. If you see their filings the salaries are on par.

You can’t really refute the claim that H-1B drives down the market price of labor by citing their price in the market. You have to show those wages would be the same even without the immigrant workers. From a basic supply and demand perspective that sounds unlikely, but markets are complex dynamic creatures so perhaps it’s the case. Nevertheless it needs to be shown.

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#174
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inhumane would be beating the employees. 10 years at Google will open more doors than the applicant could ever go through

After living and working in a place for 10 years you no longer have "a place to go back," the new place is your home, regardless of whether USCIS and US immigration laws categorize you as a "non-resident alien." Uprooting people's lives, including that of US nationals (10 years is long enough to meet someone and have kids, even people that do not have a US citizenship or permanent residence either) is not humane. Vis…

Small nit, anybody who stayed in the US for 10 years is very unlikely to be a nonresident alien (which is mainly an IRS tax classification and doesn’t have much to do with having an immigrant visa)

source: current resident alien

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#175

> Pichai’s firm filed applications for low-paid foreign workers Google salary bands are the same whatever visa you're (not) on, and they're certainly not low-paid. This "article" is ridiculous xenophobic garbage.

I don't think anyone is implying Google pays differently based on visa status. The implication is that Google would rather hire a foreign worker who is willing to accept lower wages as opposed hiring locally - and therefore put downward pressure on all employees wages.

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#176

There are multiple missing things for this: 1. Layoffs happened regardless of visa status, so visa workers were part of the layoffs. 2. The visa applications for H1B could be for workers already working in the company under a different visa like TN or F1 3. The positions affected by layoffs and positions filing for H1B could be different. For example, a front end position may be affected by layoffs, but the visa appl…

Points 2-5 all contain the words could be. Sure, the reason for submitting applications for H1-B could be any of the reasons you listed, or the applications could be for the obvious economic incentives.

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#177
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These folks were already hired. You seem to be suggesting that Google should have rescinded their offers. Normalizing reneging on job offers is a bad path to go down.

This happened to many when the layoffs started

Not at Google!! I know some smaller companies did it because they had no choice.

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#178
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

99% of what makes a developer valuable is their skill in communication, not their skill in coding.

This is precisely what the parent commenter doesn't understand. He thinks the job of a programmer is all about technical skills. In fact that is only a part of the job. You need to be able to write, speak, and communicate in fluent English to be effective. And most Indian nationals, Peruvians, Columbians, et al cannot rise to that level.

Given the context, it's a bit ironic that you fail to spell "Colombians" correctly . I mostly agree with your assessment though. For most latinos it takes several years working full time in English to get to the level you mention.

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#179
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

92.2% of the American-born native English speakers I work with can't write worth a damn, either.

You're standards are to high. The kinds of mistakes native speakers make are often technical -- not using commas correctly, dangling they're participles, switching affect/effect. And that's because they're transcribing the voice in there head. Annoying to grammer prescriptivists but the meaning ends up being clear and understood. A'int gonna end up being authors or technical writers for sure but it doesn't get in the…

Standards are "too" high isn't it?

Re: Big Tech Resumed Hiring Foreign Workers Just Weeks After Layoffs

#180

I don't see why that is inconsistent. Companies doing layoffs keep hiring people, what are the news?

The implied “problem” is that these companies are loopholing the H1-B process to hire for positions that American workers were laid off from. Of course, lawyers know how to make things work. > The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce by authorizing the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherw…

The H1b requirement is the loophole to prevent americans from hiring non-americans. A world without loopholes is a world without H1Bs.
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