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H-1B Employer Data Hub

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Re: H-1B Employer Data Hub

#21

Post by raincom »

morsmodr wrote: post #18
holy_city wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking anecdotally (which maybe the dataset backs up?) - yes. Immigration bureaucracy has slowed to a crawl, processes that used to take 6 weeks are now taking 6 months. It's unfortunate, since the news only talks about the administration's policies on undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, not how the administration is dragging their feet on _all_ immigration processes. It's just not worth it to sponsor an H-…

I am a front-end developer on an H1 visa. There is a reason for the slowdown. A lot of companies, Indian IT or consultancy firms in the US are abusing the H1 visa process. They use lawyers and high sounding words to make roles such as functional/manual tester or other non-critical non-STEM roles to sound as technical STEM based roles. IMHO these roles can be easily done by American locals without STEM or technical ba…

I think that's where USCIS is telling employers to prove that the occupation that a company tries to fill, is indeed a "specialty occupation".

Right now, USCIS is not forcing established American companies (FAANG, Microsoft, etc) to prove "specialty occupation". There is a reason for it: these big companies can take USCIS to federal courts, thereby curtailing the discretion of USCIS. So, USCIS is going after feeder companies: staffing companies (body shops); outsourcing comnpanies (WITCH and MNC consultancies like Capgemini, Deloitte).

One can turn any job into a specialty occupation with a four-page description of buzz words.

Re: H-1B Employer Data Hub

#22

Post by captainredbeard »

klipt wrote: post #19
copperx wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by 'wasted'?

Probably something like this: http://www.entrylaw.com/blog/thousands-more-wasted-visas

It's surprising that so many visas are allocated to non-immediate family members. That article states over twice as many are allowed vs. employment visas.

Re: H-1B Employer Data Hub

#24

Post by Bhilai »

raincom wrote: post #16
holy_city wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking anecdotally (which maybe the dataset backs up?) - yes. Immigration bureaucracy has slowed to a crawl, processes that used to take 6 weeks are now taking 6 months. It's unfortunate, since the news only talks about the administration's policies on undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, not how the administration is dragging their feet on _all_ immigration processes. It's just not worth it to sponsor an H-…

USCIS is delaying every immigration application--not just H1b stuff. Even though there is no explicit policy to delay applications, I heard officers are told to delay. Since there is no backlash, it is going to be like that for a while.

Genuinely curious: Why don't the applicants give up and go back to their home countries ? H1B processing is very slow, Green Cards are taking decades, so is it still worth it ?

Re: H-1B Employer Data Hub

#26

Post by holy_city »

morsmodr wrote: post #18
holy_city wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking anecdotally (which maybe the dataset backs up?) - yes. Immigration bureaucracy has slowed to a crawl, processes that used to take 6 weeks are now taking 6 months. It's unfortunate, since the news only talks about the administration's policies on undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, not how the administration is dragging their feet on _all_ immigration processes. It's just not worth it to sponsor an H-…

I am a front-end developer on an H1 visa. There is a reason for the slowdown. A lot of companies, Indian IT or consultancy firms in the US are abusing the H1 visa process. They use lawyers and high sounding words to make roles such as functional/manual tester or other non-critical non-STEM roles to sound as technical STEM based roles. IMHO these roles can be easily done by American locals without STEM or technical ba…

They altered the rules for the H-1B visa program to deal with abuses.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjsemotiuk/2019/01/02/recent...

The slowdown has nothing to do with H-1B abuses or exploitation. Nor is it because the administration "isn't tech savvy."

It's because the current administration was elected with a mandate from their base to stem immigration in all forms. They do not want more immigrants in this country, and are doing everything they can to prevent more people from coming here, staying here, or being allowed to stay here.

Re: H-1B Employer Data Hub

#27

Post by hammock »

holy_city wrote: post #14
minimaxir wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is the file size of the 2018 data much smaller compared to the other full years? Are there that many fewer H-1Bs?

Speaking anecdotally (which maybe the dataset backs up?) - yes. Immigration bureaucracy has slowed to a crawl, processes that used to take 6 weeks are now taking 6 months. It's unfortunate, since the news only talks about the administration's policies on undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, not how the administration is dragging their feet on _all_ immigration processes. It's just not worth it to sponsor an H-…

Stats from the data

  Year...Employers...Approvals
  2019........22K..........76K
  2018........55K.........334K
  2017........49K.........373K

Re: H-1B Employer Data Hub

#28

Post by int_19h »

captainredbeard wrote: post #22
klipt wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably something like this: http://www.entrylaw.com/blog/thousands-more-wasted-visas

It's surprising that so many visas are allocated to non-immediate family members. That article states over twice as many are allowed vs. employment visas.

It's a quirk of the American immigration system in general - it's tilted towards family migration more so than skilled migration, especially in contrast to pretty much all other developed countries.

Re: H-1B Employer Data Hub

#29

Post by Tyrek »

morsmodr wrote: post #18
holy_city wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking anecdotally (which maybe the dataset backs up?) - yes. Immigration bureaucracy has slowed to a crawl, processes that used to take 6 weeks are now taking 6 months. It's unfortunate, since the news only talks about the administration's policies on undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, not how the administration is dragging their feet on _all_ immigration processes. It's just not worth it to sponsor an H-…

I am a front-end developer on an H1 visa. There is a reason for the slowdown. A lot of companies, Indian IT or consultancy firms in the US are abusing the H1 visa process. They use lawyers and high sounding words to make roles such as functional/manual tester or other non-critical non-STEM roles to sound as technical STEM based roles. IMHO these roles can be easily done by American locals without STEM or technical ba…

I feel like there's a misreading of the premise of the H-1B program here. If you'll refer to the USCIS website here [0], you'll note that the main prerequisites for the H-1B visa are a) Educated or Licensed b) Paid on par to American workers c) Not impacting the pay of American workers

Upon review, it's apparent that the 'visa for people with skills that the American market doesn't have' argument doesn't fly - the requirements only establish that the visa holder be competitive with Americans. You might be thinking of the 'extraordinary ability' category of visas, which are O-series (instead of the H-series of H-1Bs).

I'm also unclear on your criticism of consultancies - there's no criteria for the job to be STEM in nature, and I don't think it's an extraordinary view to hold that other fields may be technical/specialized. Fundamentally, very very few employees are irreplaceable (for good reason) by someone with sufficient motivation/training.

In defense of H-1 visa holders (especially fresh grads), I'd argue that if you outcompete locals (on even salary conditions) through fairly rigorous recruitment processes, overcoming the lack of local network and cultural/language barriers and survive the lottery cull, then the position has been earned. [1].

Finally, your argument about 'having the time to gauge applications' is absurd. Either the process was working before, or it wasn't. If the program was compliant prior, then extending processing times is fundamentally a violation of due process, and effectively re-interpreting existing law.

[0] https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-worker... [1] Fair disclosure, this was my path

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