Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In

Oh, it is difficult to overstate just how broken the system is until you've experienced it and a more sane alternative (my daughter was born here in the US and I'm Canadian).

However, from a lifestyle perspective of a great programmer it's a non-issue. Once a person has an H1-B it is trivial to change companies. So even though technically you're tied to an employer (visa + healthcare), in a city like SF where a great programmer can get a job in a day (literally), it's a total non-factor.

But seriously after experiencing the american healthcare system a couple of times the only phrase I can use to describe it is "pure evil". I can pay my way out of that pure evilness, but it is evil that 99% of people can't. So I can totally understand if you don't want to be a party to that system for moral reasons, but that's a lot harder to be consistent about.

Even the "need" for exceptional programmers is really about companies getting a good deal on labor:

> it's easy to imagine cases where a great programmer might invent things worth 100x or even 1000x an average programmer's salary.

Wouldn't it be nice to hire people that are 100-1000x more productive while only paying them marginally more?

> But if you talk to startups, you find practically every one over a certain size has gone through legal contortions to get programmers into the the US, where they then paid them the same as they'd have paid an American.

The whole argument hinges on this unverified anecdote.

Sorry, but your personal experience isn't universal.

The H1B visa already guarantees:

1. You can take up any job related to your major (in college).

2. You are required by law to be paid the same or higher wages as Americans, for your job position/title.

Almost every H1 worker I know has switched jobs at some point. The whole idea of the "indentured H1 worker" is completely fabricated. My suspicion is that it's a cover-up that allows anti-immigration people cloak their hatred for immigrants as concern.

Basically, during the first 6 years (or until a greencard application is filed), H1 workers can work for any employer in their field of study. After the greencard application, they're job choices are slightly narrowed down to jobs that are substantially similar to their previous one. However, recent executive action by Obama will make it easier for workers with pending greencard applications to change jobs.

A lot of people in this thread seem to be really short sighted. Yes every tech worker's salary will drop significantly if the United States allowed more open immigration laws. But think about this - what would have happened if elon musk, vinod khosla,Sundar Pichai though the united state was not worth the trouble ? Silicon Valley would prolly exist but wouldn't have the monopoly on software that it has.

I am not an american but I am really happy that the united states government has strong anti-immigration laws. This might not be an popular opinion but the United States has mooched off talent from the rest of the world without paying for it. It has actually allowed rapid development of the start-up scene in my country who are in direct competition with the bay area. The best part is unlike the bay area most of the tech workers are able to save a majority of their money as the living cost is dirt cheap compared to the disgusting wealth extraction from the young and talented that happens in the bay area.

Now just for a second imagine if these tech hubs grow and take a large market share from the likes of google and facebook ?

As a student of Computer science who doesn't happen to be the the united states all this is really good news and I wish the govt doesn't listen to PG as it results in the 95% to decentralize the wealth generated from technology from the hands of PG and silicon valley. ( And I am of the believe that power is always best kept in the hands of the many compared to the hands of the few )