U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#291

Post by dudus » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:54 AM UTC

peferron wrote: post #213

H-4 holders (spouses of H-1B, for the uninitiated) should be allowed to work. That they don't is inhuman and de facto hurts women, since the overwhelming majority of H-1B holders (at least in the Valley) are men. It's forcing women into a stay-at-home role as if it were the 50s. It's especially hard for H-4s because they are newcomers to the USA who may not have local friends or family. My wife went through it for a…

That's a great point. Specially because L-2 holders can work. I never understood why it was different for H-4

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#292

Post by luckydata » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:55 AM UTC

femiagbabiaka wrote: post #220

zjaffee wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You understand that the predictions for industry growth on those pages are virtually the same as the number of CS bachelor's degree graduates every year. We don't need to important more labor that that which is getting educated inside of the United States short of those who demonstrate extraordinary ability (i.e. those who come into the country on EB1 rather than on H1B).

> You understand that the predictions for industry growth on those pages are virtually the same as the number of CS bachelor's degree graduates every year. they're not... > We don't need to important more labor that that which is getting educated inside of the United States short of those who demonstrate extraordinary ability (i.e. those who come into the country on EB1 rather than on H1B). We can't produce enough in…

That's a lie that's being propagated by tech companies. The US educates more than enough engineers to keep up with demand. The argument about "structural imbalance" in the job market has been debunked over and over again. I assume that it's not lack of google coverage stopping from researching the issue so linking you a few papers won't change your mind one bit, so I won't bother wasting time doing that.

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#293

Post by blocked_again » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:02 AM UTC

I opened the article with so many expectations. Then realized it changes nothing. How does having enough money to get a masters from US make one high skilled developer? The only people who are going to benefit from this are the American Universities.

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#294

Post by myegorov » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:02 AM UTC

devereaux wrote: post #205

maximente wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm sorry but this comment reads like a puff piece. the red flag for me was when you simultaneously claimed that economics is complicated and then almost immediately... make an economic claim? look, i get that you want to signal positive sentiment towards immigrants. that's great. but it's not at all clear what you're saying is true - one would need to factor in inflation, minimum wage growth, purchasing power, and t…

Dude, just … no. It's not about signaling or positive sentiments. All human beings are equal. Being born in one place doesn't make you special or entitles you to a job. US citizen or whatever-country citizen, all that matters is what you can do. Meritocracy, you know. If someone else can do the job better than you or me, they should be hired. Being born in the US or gender or anything else you can think about shouldn…

By way of a thought experiment: If all human beings are equal, is this a necessary and sufficient condition to let a homeless person stay with you for a night? Assuming this is an option for a relative or friend. Why not willingly give up your job now? Surely someone can lay claim to your job on some merit basis. If you have children, do you distribute your time and affection in proportion to merit?

I don't see why I should give up my hard won comfort -- won collectively by my ancestors, neighbors, compatriots, myself -- to strangers. It's natural to accord special status to yourself, then to some close kin, ..., then to fellow citizens, then to the rest of humanity.

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#295

Post by lloydde » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:02 AM UTC

vilhelm_s wrote: post #160

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

H1B's are immigrant visas, they terminate in greencards after one renewal. The only problem is that a few countries have long lines (India, China, Philippines) on how many greencards can be granted this way per year. That should be done away with.

There is nothing in the H1B that entitles you to a green card. You can only renew the H1B once, so after that you need to either somehow get a green card or leave the U.S.

Although the previous comment is very incorrect, this information is also not correct.

The greencard process is a multi step, often many year process. If you are from a country with per country limits you can be approved for a green card, which will allow your H1B to be renewed indefinitely, but you still have the alien conditions including needing to maintain the same/similar employment.

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#296

Post by htfy96 » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:03 AM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #173

arcticbull wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not false it’s just irrelevant. People are people no matter where they’re from, the US has some of the toughest immigration laws anywhere, immigrants boost the economy and the US is squandering it’s opportunity by letting countries like Canada take in the worlds best and brightest.

I take you haven’t been to Japan, South Africa, Korea or China. We’re not tough by a long shot.

To be fair, it is not tough at all for a "high-skilled" foreigner to work at China by getting a Z-visa - I guess most employees at Bay Area fall into this category.

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#297

Post by keegancsmith » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:03 AM UTC

peferron wrote: post #213

H-4 holders (spouses of H-1B, for the uninitiated) should be allowed to work. That they don't is inhuman and de facto hurts women, since the overwhelming majority of H-1B holders (at least in the Valley) are men. It's forcing women into a stay-at-home role as if it were the 50s. It's especially hard for H-4s because they are newcomers to the USA who may not have local friends or family. My wife went through it for a…

I was an h1b holder working in Silicon Valley. My wife not being able to work was the main reason why we left after 2 years. Kind of silly to go through that whole song and dance of getting a skilled person to move across the world only to treat the spouse as if the only purpose they have is home keeping.

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#298

Post by luckydata » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:04 AM UTC

remarkEon wrote: post #161

femiagbabiaka wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software engineers have a habit of assuming problems are more intuitive than they actually are. Even with H1B, there are literally not enough engineers in the Valley to saturate the demand from companies. BLS estimates that the number of employed software engineers will go up 24% next year, that’s insane. Also, I’m not seeing this supposed depression in salaries. The median salary for a software engineer is 103k a ye…

>Even with H1B, there are literally not enough engineers in the Valley to saturate the demand from companies. Why is this? This sounds like a huge U.S. talent development problem. How does this visa change help to fix this issue? >I can’t find any to prove that H1Bs are dragging down salaries. The very fact that the number of employed software engineers is expected to go up by 24% in a single year is the evidence you…

It makes for a good story but it's actually bullshit. There's no labor shortage in the sciences. There's just a shortage of companies willing to pay living wages.

https://archives.cjr.org/reports/what_scientist_shortage.php

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#299

Post by luckydata » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:05 AM UTC

aeontech wrote: post #137

ajxs wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However anecdotal this claim may be, it seems fairly intuitive given the basic economic model of supply and demand. Can you explain how greatly increasing the supply of developers by importing them from overseas will not affect the demand, and therefore negatively affect the cost of labour?

Qualified supply is nowhere close to matching demand. Ask anyone that has to do recruiting for their teams. Source: personal experience

That's nonsense. As an industry we have an enormous age and gender bias. I know plenty of older folks that are great software engineers and can't find work because nobody will give them a chance to interview.

here for some actual facts: https://archives.cjr.org/reports/what_scientist_shortage.php

Re: U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers

#300

Post by rdlecler1 » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:06 AM UTC

tossaccount123 wrote: post #147

joshe wrote: post #94

I've worked with a few H1-B holders in Silicon Valley and they're awesome. A great improvement would be to allow H1B holders to change jobs easily (maybe after a year). It's too easy for them to get stuck in not great situations. It would be great for everyone if they could move to better fitting jobs, especially for startups who have trouble running H1-B programs. If you are, like me, a software engineer, you should…

>To prime your intuition a bit, consider how woman and minorities more than doubled the work force from the 1960s to 1990s with no loss in jobs or lowering of wages. You do realize there hasn't been a raise in real wages since the 70s when you account for inflation right? Coincidentally during that same time period the income gap exploded because the wealthy had plentiful cheap labor and were able to pocket the produ…

It to mention housing prices.