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House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

washingtonpost.com

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Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#41

Post by Someone »

kreek wrote: post #39

While I think this is a plus, it's still very depressing for the US. Are American schools really so bad that a country of 300 million can't churn out enough tech/science employees? I'm a freshly minted American (from Canada) and in my 20 person office there is one other American developer (who is also a co-founder). I've lived in Canada and Europe and the US is by far my preferred place to live, I'm not sure how long…

From the viewpoint of a country, this makes perfect sense, short term.

Why would one invest educating one's population if other countries are willing to do that for free?

Long-term, a problem is that, if local education drops too far, you need a huge import of 'human capital' to keep average levels of education constant.

Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#42

Post by yummyfajitas »

bfrs wrote: post #32

A GC grants economic freedom to indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term). The longer freedom is denied the more profitable it is for the corporate masters. One of the tricks of this modern day slave trade is to lobby Congress to set a quota (about 30% of the demand) on the number of people who are set free each year. For the groups with the largest numbers of indentured servants, additio…

...indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term)...modern day slave trade...

You are deliberately and dishonestly misusing these terms.

Slavery is a real problem in the world today. H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like. Slaves are not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_day_slavery

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/kristof-the-face-o...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/kristof-fig...

Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#43

Post by nanijoe »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #42
bfrs wrote: post #32

A GC grants economic freedom to indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term). The longer freedom is denied the more profitable it is for the corporate masters. One of the tricks of this modern day slave trade is to lobby Congress to set a quota (about 30% of the demand) on the number of people who are set free each year. For the groups with the largest numbers of indentured servants, additio…

...indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term)...modern day slave trade... You are deliberately and dishonestly misusing these terms. Slavery is a real problem in the world today. H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like. Slaves are not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_day_slavery http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/kristof-the-f…

"H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like."

I would not equate the H1B to slavery, but saying H1B holders are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like is akin to saying anyone is free to make a million dollars any time they want..Its true in theory, but not so straight forward in reality. For starters many employers will NOT hire an H1B holder, so that narrows your options right off the bat. The companies that do hire H1Bs will often only do that for certain positions, so your career plans had better be exactly in line with those positions..

Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#44

Post by yummyfajitas »

nanijoe wrote: post #43
yummyfajitas wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term)...modern day slave trade... You are deliberately and dishonestly misusing these terms. Slavery is a real problem in the world today. H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like. Slaves are not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_day_slavery http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/kristof-the-f…

"H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like." I would not equate the H1B to slavery, but saying H1B holders are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like is akin to saying anyone is free to make a million dollars any time they want..Its true in theory, but not so straight forward in reality. For starters many employers will NOT hire an H1B holder, so that nar…

For starters many employers will NOT hire an H1B holder, so that narrows your options right off the bat.

For starters many slave owners will torture and/or murder a slave if they try to escape, or don't do their work properly, so that narrows your options right off the bat.

In contrast, in the worst case, an employee on an H1B will be flown to India/China/Australia/wherever, where he is free to live his life.

See the distinction?

If you want to argue that we should replace a temporary work visa not intended to be part of a path to citizenship (the H1B) with another type of visa, go ahead. But don't do it with hyperbole that trivializes slavery.

Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#45

Post by nanijoe »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #44
nanijoe wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like." I would not equate the H1B to slavery, but saying H1B holders are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like is akin to saying anyone is free to make a million dollars any time they want..Its true in theory, but not so straight forward in reality. For starters many employers will NOT hire an H1B holder, so that nar…

For starters many employers will NOT hire an H1B holder, so that narrows your options right off the bat. For starters many slave owners will torture and/or murder a slave if they try to escape, or don't do their work properly, so that narrows your options right off the bat. In contrast, in the worst case, an employee on an H1B will be flown to India/China/Australia/wherever, where he is free to live his life. See the…

I'm not sure why you see the need to make a distinction, when the first thing I said was that I would not equate the H1B to slavery. What you did not clarify, was your statement that H1Bs were free to get another job any time they wanted

Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#46

Post by jbarham »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #42
bfrs wrote: post #32

A GC grants economic freedom to indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term). The longer freedom is denied the more profitable it is for the corporate masters. One of the tricks of this modern day slave trade is to lobby Congress to set a quota (about 30% of the demand) on the number of people who are set free each year. For the groups with the largest numbers of indentured servants, additio…

...indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term)...modern day slave trade... You are deliberately and dishonestly misusing these terms. Slavery is a real problem in the world today. H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like. Slaves are not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_day_slavery http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/kristof-the-f…

> H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like.

Red herring. H1B visa holders cannot quit their job if they want to maintain their green card application as the GC process (and multi-year wait) restarts with every job. That's obviously a very strong incentive not to change jobs.

Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#47

Post by redbrick »

klipt wrote: post #37
Jayasimhan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

..their unfair advantage.

Of course immigration is unfair. If you're born in Korea you may wait less than if you're born in China, but if you're born in the US, you don't have to wait at all! How is being born in the USA any less of an arbitrary distinction than being born in Korea?

This a ridiculous argument. Nationality/Diversity based immigration is fundamentally different than qualification/skill based immigration. The US does both. Hence nationality should not be taken into account for skill based immigration.

Re: House votes to end country limits for skilled workers seeking green cards

#48

Post by bfrs »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #42
bfrs wrote: post #32

A GC grants economic freedom to indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term). The longer freedom is denied the more profitable it is for the corporate masters. One of the tricks of this modern day slave trade is to lobby Congress to set a quota (about 30% of the demand) on the number of people who are set free each year. For the groups with the largest numbers of indentured servants, additio…

...indentured servants (H1B visa holders is the politically correct term)...modern day slave trade... You are deliberately and dishonestly misusing these terms. Slavery is a real problem in the world today. H1B visa holders are not slaves. They are free to quit and work elsewhere whenever they like. Slaves are not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_day_slavery http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/kristof-the-f…

Current U.S. immigration policy can be summed up as: The only way you can immigrate is to be a bitch for an approved company for as long as it pleases to keep you as a bitch. If you are a good bitch, i.e., will work long hours and sleep under the desk without whining for janitor grade pay and no equity, and don't quit on getting a better offer elsewhere, you will be promoted to the next level: government bitch, where you can have the pleasure of paying taxes without any representation.
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