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U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

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281–290 of 965 posts

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#281
post #191

"We're not anti-immigration, we're only anti-illegal immigration!" * indefinitely pauses legal immigration *

[flagged]

The irony: many native Americans believe that all of your own immigrant ancestors should never be allowed to enter the US.

If you really believe what you wrote then I'd suggest to "GetThemOut*" your own immigrant heritage out of the country.

* as your trolling username says

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#282
post #191

"We're not anti-immigration, we're only anti-illegal immigration!" * indefinitely pauses legal immigration *

If you're saying that's hypocritical, it's not.

Being anti-illegal immigration and pro-legal immigration doesn't mean you want to flood the country with legal immigrants. That's the case in the UK, by the way, where the vast majority of immigrants are legal and it's the reason for the growing anti-immigrant attitude of the natives.

People who are anti-illegal immigration and pro-legal immigration also have requirements like:

- there should be a fixed number of legal immigrants

- they should be well vetted (this may be lacking in the US and UK)

- legal immigration should be points based

- quotas for legal immigrants should be increased contingent on the number of illegal immigrants which are expelled

- there should be checks to verify that visas are not abused (the way H1Bs are abused in the US with under qualified immigrants)

- asylum should be abolished because it's abused. It can be replaced by paying poorer countries to permanently host asylees.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#283
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Of not violating the law? Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a company can't use a candidate's citizenship in hiring decisions.

No - that's not right - they can't discriminate against people who have work-status, but they absolutely can discriminate against people who don't have status aka arbitrary foreign nationals.

And it would be absurd if they could not.

Also, in some cases, employers should be able to discriminate, it's totally different to hire someone on an n-month visa vs full time.

Granted, it's different if they are Green Card.

It's also perfectly normal to want to hire locals, if it can be done on a national basis, then I think for some roles, state ought to be fine as well. If state governments had a state preference for in-state nationals, that would be fine, for example.

The issue here is by far and away mostly one of transparency and efficiency - the rules should be clear and the bureaucracy should just function normally.

The fact that anything takes months, or that you need lawyers etc is a sign of dysfunction.

It should be about as complicated as getting a prescription. 'One trip to an office and done'.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a hiring manager. H1B candidates got exactly the same wage as native born. There were no differences.

Being paid the same as the other guy doesn't necessarily mean the wages themselves stayed the same. Adding H1B candidates to the talent pool exerts downward pressure on salary due to the law of supply and demand. I can't say for sure whether the allure of a green card or threat of deportation play a material factor in lowering the average salary that H1B immigrants are willing to accept. But in an environment where t…

The prevailing wage for H1B software engineers is a very good salary for most software engineers in the world.

It's common for the prevailing wage to be double what that person could earn in their country of origin.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is rather weird framing since usually an additional citizenship (especially one in a country like the US) is considered a valuable thing to have for your child. Usually people claiming birthright citizenship are weird are doing it because they also see it as valuable. It’s also woven into the traditions of New World countries. Regarding your concerns, I don’t see why it is unreasonable to simply renounce citizen…

I agree that you can "just renounce" although notice that this won't necessarily work (it will for the US assuming you follow the procedure properly) However being a dual citizen isn't necessarily all upside. Citizenship comes with requirements, particularly in some countries military service is mandatory and so if you're a citizen - even though you are a permanent resident of somewhere else, you must either go do yo…

> You also get treated differently if things go wrong.

Not treated differently. Treated the same.

You are required by law to enter your country of citizenship using that country's passport (this is true for every country). Not doing so can result in fines or jail time. This is precisely to stop idiots from playing the "foreigner" card to try to, for example get out of paying a speeding ticket or parking fines.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't understand the utility of having welcoming and creative/tenacious people involved in your science (which your questions listed are asking about) then you are not nearly the expert in qualifications you think you are.

You misunderstood my reply completely. I am saying we are not selecting for those people. When we hire at the university, we ignore creative, tenacious people and instead select mediocre people with a nice woke story that meets the woke requirements.

>When we hire at the university, we ignore creative, tenacious people and instead select mediocre people with a nice woke story that meets the woke requirements.

Which university? Name some "creative, tenacious people" who were rejected by said university.

There's nothing in your HN profile to out you to anyone, so have at it. If you are unwilling to do so, I call bullshit on your anecdote. Or as they say, "pix, or it didn't happen."

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies can though use proxies like whether a candidate would require visa sponsorship now or in the future.

> Companies can though use proxies So it's a decision between violating the law and acting unethically?

It's totally not illegal to discriminate against people who don't have work status and the mere suggestion is absurd.

It's totally unreasonable to suggest that companies should have to hire random people from nation xyz only to have to sponsor their impossible work visas.

And I say this as someone who was on work status for a very long time.

Clarity, consistency, simplicity, predictability - this is what people want.

Because 'discriminating against people of other ethnicities' is kind of as old as time, the issue triggers our empathy radar a bit, which is reasonable, but in reality what would be 'the most fair to everyone' is just clear rules, and very light but important anti-discrimination aka can't discriminate on age, race, gender religion aka the basics.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would be looking for work with you if you were offering them better pay and conditions than where they're currently working.

Money does not fix the supply problem the parent comment pointed out (at least for fields that need multi year training). Let’s say that tomorrow we need 1M nuclear physicists. How can money help? You still need to wait for the talent pipeline to divert.

Why are they needed in the USA, but not needed in their home country?

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#289
post #15

So for those that don't know, it's quite common for a visa renewal to be required to leave the country. Depending on the visa, you might have to do this every year. So just imagine, having a normal job in the US and you're asked to leave to renew your visa and this stuff happens. That's no more appointment, not even a new date and you're now very likely unable to work and possibly can't even enter the country to get…

Indeed it is. But that’s the point Miller, etc are trying to make.

We’re so screwed. Good luck to us ever building up goodwill again.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or imagine if an employee works for you and this happens to them.

I've had a couple of reports that this applied to. It's incredibly disruptive. "I've got to fly back to India to renew my visa." "Okay, when will you be back?" "I have no idea, it depends when I can get an appointment. It could be next week, it might be in a month." "[State department] We're pausing all visa appointments." "Well fuck." Meanwhile I've got a tech lead who is 12 hours away from the rest of the team. He…

I've worked at companies where we transfer people to Canada during periods like this in the same time zone. Sometimes they enjoy it so much they don't want to transfer back to the US.
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