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New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#321

Post by cmurf »

jackweirdy wrote: post #228
cmurf wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bloomberg suggests this is going to get upstaged by the administration's proposed changes; but they're not really revealing any details about the draft. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-30/trump-s-n... This months old Vanity Fair article gives some insight that Trump feels there is a role for immigration policy to make it easy for foreign students getting good jobs in the U.S. and innovating here; whil…

It looks like you posted the Bloomberg link again the second time, not the Vanity Fair link

Rats. Here it is.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/steve-bannon-racist-c...

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#322

Post by School-Cotton »

ScalaFan wrote: post #259
itshoptx wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the nuances of immigration and why people seek the worker visas... My dad moved here from Europe in the early 60s, went through INS, got a green card, a job, and 6 months later was drafted into the Army and went to Vietnam. Unlike Americans at the time, my dad was given the choice to accept the draft or go back to Europe. He accepted the draft, fought in Vietnam, was injured, and EARNED his citizenship t…

I believe that a green card and eventual citizenship is still available through a similar path today. You just have to want it bad enough to sign up for the American military and followup with proper paperwork. Not many immigrants want to sign up for that duty though.

Source?

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#323

Post by kstrauser »

pm90 wrote: post #313
kstrauser wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd find that persuasive if I hadn't worked with H1-Bs hired solely because they'd work more cheaply and for longer hours than their local counterparts. The current H1-B program on paper looks great. In practice, in my experience, it seems to be abused all to hell.

Well, if we are going by anecdotes, then all the H1B workers I know have been extremely talented, culturally assimilated, make more than 130k workers. Can you see why we don't rely simply on anecdotes in this forum? I'm certainly not denying the existence of a problem. I am pointing out the flaw in your reasoning that simply raising the minimum salary will benefit American society (Businesses + Workers). It won't, be…

I'm not sure how you're completing misreading what I'm saying. I also work with brilliant H1-B holders that surely make more than $130K and are worth every penny. Each of them have skills that simply aren't available nearby. That's what the system's meant for.

I have also seen it used in incredibly abusive ways. Bumping the minimum salary to $130K would remove the profit motive of using them to undercut the local labor market. Quite frankly, the best talent can command make more than $130K anyway. You think someone's going to pack up their family, move to another continent, and land in a small town in Iowa happy to make $50K?

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#324

Post by dukeluke »

readhn wrote: post #288
dukeluke wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any reason why h1b visa holders shouldn't have a high bar to reach. The whole point of the program is to bring the best of the best, not the average or mediocre, which could likely be filled by an American somewhere.

130k salary is absurdly high amount of money for people outside of IT and finance. Stop living in a bubble. It will price out a lot of talent that will be forced to leave the country. Wich is a huge mistake for American society.

I disagree that it would be a huge mistake. American wages are stagnant, and lowering the labor pool will raise demand for workers.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#325

Post by gautambay »

ones_and_zeros wrote: post #25

Here is the summary straight from the horses mouth: https://lofgren.house.gov/uploadedfiles/high_skilled_bill_sx... A few points: - This does not raise the salary requirement to $130k/yr. This only applies to employers that do not want to do the extra paper work for "attestations regarding recruitment and non-displacement of U.S. workers" - It takes a "market based" allocation strategy which allows "cash bonuses and…

Thanks for this!

I've been on multiple H1B visas, at both large companies and startups. I've also sponsored H1B visas as an employer. I would support this bill.

The headline is a classic example of sensational journalism by the Times of India.

The $130k salary requirement applies only to "dependent employers", defined as employers with over 15% of their workforce on H1Bs. This is clearly aimed at reducing H1B misuse by TCS, Infosys, and their ilk.

The vast majority of companies who employ people on H1Bs aren't "dependent" employers by this definition, and hence will be unaffected by the salary increase rule. If anything, they'll benefit from more visas being available to non-dependent employers.

Also, startups will likely benefit from the 20% requirement.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#326

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

readhn wrote: post #260
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Consider someone who has just finished their PhD in a relevant area. If they're hiring fresh grads, it should be an American. There's plenty of them.

There are not. By the time you graduate with a masters or PhD you often accomplish a body of research work in a SPECIFIC field, have publications, patents. So yes you are a "fresh" grad but with 5-10 published scientific papers to your name. High tech scientific companies often don't have a luxury of choosing between multiple qualified candidates. Often you have 1-2 qualified applicants ( which takes a long time to f…

If they're this incredibly rare then I don't see why paying them 130k is a big deal.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#327

Post by rak00n »

PeterisP wrote: post #136
winter_blue wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've commented on this before, at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13433540 I'm copying the comment below: --- I'm on an H-1B, and the thing that infuriates me about the dialogue on this is that they are effectively trying to ban skilled immigration, and exclude people like me from coming. If you don't qualify for the family-based or refugee route, employment-based immigration is the only viable pathway. The amo…

One could argue that H-1B is a visa that never was intended to apply for fresh graduates - it's a vehicle for "importing" specialists that USA doesn't have, bringing in unusual expertise that USA can't build locally. Yes, "People from outside who have lots of experience (and skill) and can command a much higher salary upfront" is the exclusive target audience for the intended goals of why the H-1B visa is implemented…

STEM F-1 students can work under OPT for 3 years. I'd say that's good enough considering the fact that H1B also get issued for 3 years.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#328

Post by a2m »

winter_blue wrote: post #121
anondon wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the impression that this new bill is like putting lipstick on a pig which is the current system. I was hoping the amendments to the H1-B bill would be one of the silver linings of a Trump presidency, but I guess not anymore.

I've commented on this before, at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13433540 I'm copying the comment below: --- I'm on an H-1B, and the thing that infuriates me about the dialogue on this is that they are effectively trying to ban skilled immigration, and exclude people like me from coming. If you don't qualify for the family-based or refugee route, employment-based immigration is the only viable pathway. The amo…

> If you raised wage requirements, you'd basically be not allowing people like me to continue to stay and work in the US

yeah, we know. that's kind of the point.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#329

Post by bzbarsky »

webmaven wrote: post #233
princetontiger wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$130K is not barely livable.

Keep in mind that $130k is also total comp. including bonuses that you are elegible for, but might not actually get, and even if you do, might not be in a form actually worth the face value.

> including bonuses that you are elegible for, but might not actually get

This does not seem to be true. https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/FactSheet62/whdfs62Q... says:

  Cash bonuses and similar compensation may be counted
  or credited toward the $60,000 only if payment is
  assured.
and it's not clear to me that the proposed updates change anything about that other than the numeric value.

Re: New H1-B Visa bill doubles the salary requirements to $130K/yr

#330

Post by st3v3r »

readhn wrote: post #239
mi100hael wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why's everyone so focused on IT? Everyone can learn how to code, it's not a real science. I think that's exactly why people are focusing on IT. The H-1B program is meant to allow companies to hire foreigners with rare skills that are hard to find domestically. In reality it's abused to import cheap labor and undercut average American workers doing common work like building applications or administering systems. The…

The abuse of h1b program by IT firms is the issue that has to be separated out and resolved on its own. There is no reason why we should send a freshly graduated physics scientist back to Uganda or whatever because he can't find an employer willing to pay him/her some abstract 130k salary straight out of school (which is A LOT OF MONEY). Again, when I hire - I do it strictly based on skills and experience. If I have…

While yes, that newly minted physicist shouldn't be sent back upon receiving her diploma, the H-1B visa is NOT the program that's supposed to keep her here.
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