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

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

#341

Post by pfhayes »

OurBoysGirls1st wrote: post #267
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…

>> They aren't competitors, they are complements and create more jobs. We've had the H1B program for 25+yrs. We accept 65+20k workers a year. That is 85 20+ workers who have entered the country on this program. Lets round down and say 2million workers. These are 2million jobs that didn't go to local graduates, but instead to overseas graduates. Of those 2 million workers, could anyone cite any significant companies s…

H1-B workers are (by the nature of their visa) prohibited from creating companies

Founding a company is not the only way to create jobs

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

#342

Post by skookumchuck »

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…

If the US doesn't allow software engineers in, will they just disappear? Nope. They'll write code for foreign companies which will compete with Silicon Valley. I.e. the competition is there anyway.

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

#343

Post by thewhitetulip »

jorblumesea wrote: post #197

Why do we care about a masters degree from some India degree farm? It seems like the emphasis on accreditation misses the point entirely. There's no quality control in the US immigration process. For every brilliant engineer we get someone garbage. For every innovator or entrepreneur we get someone who is just the mother's uncle's in-law.

Contrary to the rhetoric, unless you are buying your degree from shitty colleges which exist on paper, it's very difficult to get bachelor's and master's degree in India.

I'm an Indian and I know that because the entrance exams are tough.

But yes, emphasis on masters degree missed the point.

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

#344

Post by rswail »

tossaccount123 wrote: post #274
Ar-Curunir wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, wealth inequality increased because we stopped taxing rich people.

The US didn't have an income tax at all until the 20th century, at least at the federal level

It also didn't have any public entitlements. It's also 100 years later. So the point is not particularly relevant.

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

#345

Post by fake124 »

briandear wrote: post #106
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…

When H1s are used to displace American workers at a lower cost, I am not sure “cheering all immigrants” is warranted. Some, but definitely not all. The Disney firings happened. And it has happened in many other places that aren’t as famous. When Disney has H1s displacing Americans who were already doing the job, that isn’t a “shortage,” which is the single purpose for which H1B was created. I am not disputing the val…

I was one of those Disney employees laid off in 2015 and there were no "shortages", they just wanted to save money. A few months later they wanted to do the same at their ABC unit. They told employees they were laid off and gave them a date and then walked it back because of the bad press.

https://aknextphase.com/disneys-wild-it-ride/

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

#346

Post by fake124 »

fake124 wrote: post #345
briandear wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When H1s are used to displace American workers at a lower cost, I am not sure “cheering all immigrants” is warranted. Some, but definitely not all. The Disney firings happened. And it has happened in many other places that aren’t as famous. When Disney has H1s displacing Americans who were already doing the job, that isn’t a “shortage,” which is the single purpose for which H1B was created. I am not disputing the val…

I was one of those Disney employees laid off in 2015 and there were no "shortages", they just wanted to save money. A few months later they wanted to do the same at their ABC unit. They told employees they were laid off and gave them a date and then walked it back because of the bad press. https://aknextphase.com/disneys-wild-it-ride/

Southern California Edison (SCE) also did the same thing as Disney. Abused the H1B and L2 program fired american workers and replaced them with foreign contractors.

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

#347

Post by pasabagi »

jayd16 wrote: post #340
tossaccount123 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

By this logic, any increase in productivity is bad because it reduces labor scarcity. That's just not how it works. > if we dropped 10 million software engineers in Silicon Valley from around the world, guess what? Guess what, we'd get a lot more overseas clients as they wrestled with the labor shortage abroad. (Although, the real problem would be the humanitarian crisis in housing 10m more in SV overnight, ha)

>any increase in productivity is bad because it reduces labor scarcity

Isn't it? Increases in productivity, normally called automation, must reduce labour scarcity unless demand for the product is proportionately increased. There are plenty of sectors where this is exactly what happens, and some where it isn't.

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

#348

Post by me45 »

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…

I am not against H1Bs, but the minimum pay should be raised to 100k. They should be able to switch jobs after 1 year so they are not slaves to their sponsor.

And every h1B application should be posted on a easily searchable site where American applicants can review and apply for that position if they meet the job criteria.

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

#349

Post by rswail »

OurBoysGirls1st wrote: post #271
defen wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. That is not at all obvious. How would you respond to Elizabeth Warren's "The Two-Income Trap"?

Thanks for bringing up this point. Anyone who has grown up in the US knows well how far down wages have gone. My father was an accountant. He could afford a house and raised a family of 5 on his salary at age 40, earning ~60k/yr. I'm an experienced developer. I make $200k/yr. I'm raising a family of 4 on my salary and i'm 40. I cant afford a house. Heck, I cant even afford more than a 2br apt. To me, it is completely…

It's not that wages haven't kept up with general inflation, it's that wages have not kept up with asset inflation.

So your 200K/year (accounting for inflation) probably buys roughly the same amount in goods and services as your father, but it can't buy real estate, because that has been inflated in an asset bubble.

These asset bubbles (stocks, real estate) are driven by the fact that owners of capital have been able to depress taxation on capital growth, while increasing (in proportion) taxation on income. They have also been able to use the US national debt to let the Fed maintain their asset bubbles.

Not to mention that in your father's day, inflation ate away at debt, much to the chagrin of the debt holders (ie suppliers of capital). Funnily enough, low inflation has meant that lenders do much better than borrowers.

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

#350

Post by austincheney »

luckydata wrote: post #13

Honestly this is a good thing. Right now the H1B is a bullshit immigration program for cheap engineers from India and China designed to depress wages in silicon valley. A change is sorely needed, this is not big enough but it's definitely a step.

That could be true for silicon valley. I don't know because I don't live there and refuse to move there due to the absurd cost of living and strange subculture.

It is not true, though, in most of the rest of the US. Visa holders make close to competitive wages at higher expenses to employers due to the costs of visa sponsorship. I personally know a senior principle engineer at one of the large .coms who has been living and working in the US for almost 15 years and has not bothered to achieve citizenship, because he is doing very well even working under a visa.

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