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Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#251

Post by yibg »

xtracto wrote: post #197
HippoBaro wrote: post #16

It was nighttime in Singapore when the ruling was announced. My husband and I scrambled to find a flight back. The best we could find, at any price, lands 25mins after the deadline. We are on our way there.

I feel for you. I just wonder, at this point why would someone look to go back to the US "At any price", given how bad are they being treated? From what I can see, it seems most of us non-US people are "persona non grata" in the US. I myself am and live in a so called "shithole country ". But specially because of my Technical skills, I've got plenty of opportunities over here. I would never think on living in the USA…

All your things are there, your entire life. Maybe other family members, children's schools etc. Not easy to just never go home.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#252

Post by jmyeet »

I guess it's safe to say there won't need to be an H1B lottery next year.

I do think we need a visa category for people who have completed an education in the US. Yes, there's OPT for certain fields for F1 visa holders but it's not enough.

But all that's a part of broader immigration reform that simply won't happen, particularly in this political climate.

As horrible as this all is for those affected, particularly for people who have been waiting patiently in line for 10-20 years, it's also true that:

1. There absolutely is H1B visa abuse, specifically by the bodyshops like Infosys and Tata;

2. H1Bs are used to suppress wages for the entire workforce; and

3. In an era of permanent layoffs and high unemployment in the tech sector, preference should absolutely be given to existing US permanent residents and citizens. That's the declared intent of the H1B program but the reality hasn't really worked that way.

The employers have brought this on themselves and ordinary people will suffer because of it. I do think that if you layoff more than 2% of your staff in any given year, you should be unable to sponsor any visa for a period of 2+ years.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#253

Post by softwaredoug »

tempodox wrote: post #244

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/rest... : > … the effective date of this proclamation, which shall be 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025. That doesn’t leave much time. I would have expected that current visa holders wouldn’t fall under this rule. Shouldn’t it be a legal standard not to apply new rules retroactively?

This is a “better safe than sorry” measure by these companies. I think it’s not 100% clear on existing H1Bs.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#254

Post by tempodox »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #234
0xdde wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're using "Orwellian" in an Orwellian way. What do mass deportations have to do with this bizarre sudden policy change that leaves people scrambling with a 15 hour window? You're claiming this is exactly what people had in mind when they voted?

Anyone who had paid attention to Trump’s track record should have expected chaos. Along with the ability to pay Trump to be spared from the chaos. Temporarily, at least.

Hitting the nail on the head.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#255

Post by abeppu »

Havoc wrote: post #134

This has very strong "cruelty is the point" vibes. There are a fair bit of international flights in the 10-12 hour range. Add some time to pack, get to airport, baggage check, get through security & how the flight times line up and this seems calculated in a way that is precisely not doable. Never mind people not perpetually online and only seeing this a couple hours later Meanwhile there is to my knowledge no reason…

48 hours would also have been crazy.

This should be a bill introduced in Congress, discussed in committee, voted on, and enacted with a date months in the future when it goes into effect, so that people, companies and government agencies can prepare and plan ... you know like an country with laws and procedures.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#256

Post by Cheer2171 »

0xy wrote: post #226
Aurornis wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> H1Bs are slave labor How did we get to a point where people casually call H1B tech workers often earning $120K or more “slave labor”?

When their identically leveled peers earn $300k.

Even assuming that is true, is that unfair? Yes. Unjust? Yes. Exploitative? Yes. Racist? Usually. But slavery? Absolutely not.

Or give me your definition of slavery.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#257

Post by someperson »

dotnet00 wrote: post #243
someperson wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can be pretty sure your retired parents won't, if ever you need them to move in with you The immigration system should be designed to block retired parents from moving country to live with their working age adult children who have migrated. One reason to have immigration is to improve a country's dependency ratio: the ratio of working age population to children and retirees. The ideal immigrants are young well-…

Your ideal immigrants are young parents with healthy children, who are apparently willing to abandon their own parents? And somehow this is a good thing?

Abandon is the wrong word.

Should the country receiving the immigrants let elderly grandparents be cared for by their own country's pension and aged-care and healthcare industry, instead of burdening the receiving countries?

Absolutely unequivocally yes.

The grandparents can always come visit on tourist visas and the immigrants can visit their original country too.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#258

Post by darth_avocado »

0xy wrote: post #226
Aurornis wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> H1Bs are slave labor How did we get to a point where people casually call H1B tech workers often earning $120K or more “slave labor”?

When their identically leveled peers earn $300k.

There is not a single company where US citizens that are identically leveled peers are paid $300k where H1bs are paid $120k. Places where citizens get paid $300k, H1Bs are making the same money because it’s illegal to to discriminate based on nationality or visa status when it comes to pay.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#259

Post by intended »

ericmay wrote: post #204
intended wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you wrote reminds me of descriptions of the Soviet Union.

In which way? Because of the poor implementation?

The capriciousness, lack of concern with reality, the poor implementation…

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#260

Post by politician »

bmacho wrote: post #196
rayiner wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re using the term “democracy” in an Orwellian way. The people voted for the guy who promised mass deportations. There were signs and everything. Multiple surveys have found that, if everyone had voted, he would have won by an even larger margin. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5447450/trump-2024-elec... A non-functioning democracy would be if the people voted this way and mass deportations didn’t happen. Lik…

I propose a new form of government. I call it "liberal democracy". The gist is that when liberals are in power they make sure that fascist never get in power again. (So it's not a democracy, only in name.) E.g. they can make fascism illegal, and don't allow them to run for seats. This has the following advantages: Over democracy: no danger for it to swing into fascism or autocracy. Over autocracy: bad governments can…

I'll bite. Do they get to decide what "fascism" means and change it to mean whatever they want on a whim? It might be simpler to just say that they can make whomever they don't like today illegal and don't allow them to run for seats.
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