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Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

421–430 of 679 posts

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#421
post #398
post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So basically, you don't know , and you're violating Hanlon's razor because you think its wrong this time. The fact that this administration routinely implements policies of all types in this way suggests that rambunctious implementation is the default explanation for any particular outcome.

Violating Hanlon’s razor like it’s some universal always true rule?

A razor is a default presumption, yes. It allows you to "shave off" unlikely explanations.

When you find yourself violating a philosophical razor, it's a strong indication that you should question your priors.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#422
post #388
post #212

[flagged]

Immigration is great when it's done at the right pace. The pace of the last 10 years has been jarring. It's counterproductive at this point just because of the extra cognitive load alone. Can we take a 20 year break then start it back up slowly? And, economically, I think it'll be fine. Won't it be great for the rest of the world to share in the economic success of the US? I'm looking forward to a day when most natio…

> extra cognitive load alone

I don't know what dogwhistle this is supposed to be.

There's no "cognitive load" in things other people do that you aren't involved with.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#423
post #363

A lot of aggrieved comments blaming US leadership, but nary a word about the leadership of countries which create conditions that people have to emigrate from. Populations of most countries offshore the blame for the lack of economic opportunity or social conditions where they live. I don’t blame the common folk, it’s the leaders and elite of such places who are responsible for their countries relative success or fai…

With the ungodly level of poverty upper-class Indians are used to stepping over back at home, it's no wonder that there's no consideration given to working people here.

We hopefully have a different ethical structure. Extreme racists are largely a minority in the west, whereas birth naturally defining your life is simply common sense in some of the countries that we accept the most immigrants from. I'd be more inclined to accept people who are escaping that structure (like Mexicans, for example, who are running over the border instead of flying into six-figure jobs), but those who are coming here are from the class who have the most say in the conditions of the poor in their own countries.

The descendants of compradors, still winning, but playing the racist card because they know the US is still sensitive about what they did to black people, and how they never made up for it. Most of the immigrants I know are racist, and will explain why not being racist is stupid, at length.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#424

UK around Brexit time thought kind of similar: let's keep the "riffraff" immigrants out by applying higher criteria. The narrative also changed this way: we don't want immigrants in general, but you , with your highly paid PhD-requiring job, you can go in, on a 2 year rolling basis. Then everyone's a winner, except for unwanted, unskilled labour. But a lot of skilled labour left anyway. Partly because the general atm…

Immigration exploded after Brexit. While the official line was "Let's keep the riffraff out". the reality was that the Tories used Brexit to bring in plenty of cheap labour from specific countries, and the income requirements are applied very selectively.

Foreign students were also encouraged to study here and remain after studying. Initially even family reunion immigration was encouraged, although that's changed now.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/5579/live/8ea3a...

The UK has been playing this game for centuries - bringing in cheap foreign labour on the quiet, then using that as political leverage with "We will protect you from the foreign invasion" messaging.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#425

These new restrictions are uniquely capricious and gleefully harmful to people, but they are really only an extension of behaviors that have gone on for some time. I'd like to share a related story from the previous Trump administration: My roommate in 2018 was an Indian here on an H1-B. He was working for a large consulting firm. (You've heard of it.) I don't recall his title but it was sort of an SRE/infrastructure…

San Francisco's airport still owes me a pair of boots that they confiscated. Try finding shoes at 5 am after arriving on a red eye because the border guard fancies your boots. The cab driver thought it was a funny story, he knew many that were far worse. I think that's the last time I visited the USA.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#426
post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i did not know until today there is this much anti-immigrant and especially anti-indian sentiment in tech. idk, it was very eye opening and very sad to read those. i am telling myself that people who were posting those things are small in numbers.

It's not surprising really. There needs to be an enemy group, one that some portion of the supporting population has some grievance against. First it's hispanics (illegal immigrants taking your jobs), then trans (men in womens washrooms), then Indians (taking your tech jobs), then it'll be some other group.

Yeah. It's deeply stupid and so counterproductive. I hate it.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#427
post #363

A lot of aggrieved comments blaming US leadership, but nary a word about the leadership of countries which create conditions that people have to emigrate from. Populations of most countries offshore the blame for the lack of economic opportunity or social conditions where they live. I don’t blame the common folk, it’s the leaders and elite of such places who are responsible for their countries relative success or fai…

> The H-1B is a classification of non-immigrant visa in the United States that allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, as well as fashion models and employees engaged in Department of Defense projects who meet certain conditions

This is not about emigration. Frankly, as a European I would find moving to the US a serious downgrade in living quality.

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#428
post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What country isnt descending into authoritarianism these days?

Most of Europe, Central and South America, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, South Korea - the majority of the world that could not already be described as authoritarian

Including India in that list is pretty wild

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#429

This is such bad policy making. Its like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. And for a party which idolizes the founding fathers these people seem to have forgotten the lesson from Benjamin Franklin. They went from letting 100 criminals go than make 1 person suffer to punishing 100 criminals to full extent of the law and then justify the action if 1 innocent is presented. End justify the means. And for anyone who is s…

Did you mean

"punishing 100 innocents to full extent of the law and then justify the action if 1 criminal is presented?"

Re: Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately

#430
post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can "sort" it? Nudge nudge wink wink? Amazing.

Yea why wouldn’t Satya or Microsoft be able to call the president’s office and figure out how to pay the fee? Set aside this “nudge nudge wink wink” stuff - I’m providing a solution to the acute issue, not a moral judgement. Looks like it was sorted https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/20/donald-trump-h1b-vi...

"A breathtaking level of corruption" is not a solution.
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