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Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

reuters.com

441–450 of 1001 posts

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#441

IMO the problem is that H1B employees are stuck at the employer for the duration of their green card process, and so end up both paid lower and unable to escape abuse. I think a very high application fee is actually part of a good solution, but is useless by itself. A flawed proposal: * Dispense with the 'need to search for a qualified American' which just complicates the process without achieving the stated goal, an…

> * The worker gets to leave their sponsoring employer on the day of their arrival, if they choose to. The employment contract may not include any clawbacks of anything. This would be workable if it also results in the person losing their visa. There must be some downside for the employee, otherwise it's an invitation for abuse. If the worker gets to keep their visa then it's just a backdoor way to get a company to p…

The final scenario you describe already happens with immigrant visas. Once you have your Green Card you are free to quit the sponsoring employer and work for whoever you want.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#443

> India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries Having worked with the recent generation of Indians, I can safely say this can be a good thing. Baseline morality and work ethics for many (not all, but many) in the recent generation of Indians are so low. It’s a generational shift that I can tell. Get rich quick, wannabe try too hard to fit in and have fun with…

That’s applies to the USA and rest of world not just India or China.

That is an intellectually dishonest argument. You are invoking whataboutism knowing full well it doesn’t serve anyone well.

These kids that come from often wealthy or upper middle class families with faith and cultural grounding would be far better off in their life trajectory (and country as a whole with brain drain) if they stayed back, led innovation in their own country, and pushed their corrupt bureaucratic government ecosystem to change. Instead of opting for a mediocre hedonistic lifestyle in the west where they know they have no lasting stability (mind you it is 100+ years wait time for many in the current immigration process to get green card), often get stuck working in the same company and not able to move, can’t start things on their own again because of visa rules.

No one wins in this in the long run. Except maybe some corporations.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#445
post #205
post #85

I think there’s plenty of interesting debates to be had about immigration policy and its effects on the labor market, but one thing worth noting here is that the primary problem that damn near every other country on earth has isn’t immigration, it’s brain drain. A core strategic strength of the US over the last century has been that everyone with any talent wants to come here to work, and by and large we’ve let them…

This is so absolutely fundamental to US strategic advantage. A huge reason we have so many unicorns is because doing business and scaling in the US is easier than EU or other places. A huge part of why the Manhattan Project was successful was also because of substantial brain drain from Europe. I think Scott Galloway wrote about this or may have popularized it.

If you're only talking about the exceptional sure. But when Microsoft fires x and applies for ~x H1Bs the same day... That doesn't seem like what you're talking about at all.

If an employee is exceptional and a skilled unicorn wrangler... 100K is nothing.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#446
post #85

I think there’s plenty of interesting debates to be had about immigration policy and its effects on the labor market, but one thing worth noting here is that the primary problem that damn near every other country on earth has isn’t immigration, it’s brain drain. A core strategic strength of the US over the last century has been that everyone with any talent wants to come here to work, and by and large we’ve let them…

Being an immigrant, I think it’s net positive for everyone. I brought skills that, at the moment I immigrated, my home country could not leverage, even though it paid for my free education. I built on these skills and if my home country ever needs these skills, I would be excited to contribute.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top end of H1B has been great for America. In the last few decades, there has been growth of abuse of the program to get mid level talent at below market rates which really hurts the middle class in America. People need to understand that most reformists don't want to get rid of the truly exceptional immigration to the US. We need to limit the volume, especially the immigrants that are directly competing with a h…

The hollowing out of the middle class in the US isn't because of immigrants, it's because of a sustained campaign by capital to reduce the power of labor over the last 50-odd years and to concentrate wealth as best they can. Immigrant labor contributes to that because we've got inadequate labor protections and because we bought into the idea that lower consumer prices was a fine reason to ignore both labor and antitr…

>The hollowing out of the middle class in the US isn't because of immigrants, it's because of a sustained campaign by capital to reduce the power of labor

Importing cheap foreign labor to undercut unions and lower wages is one of the spokes of the wheel used by capital to reduce the power of labor (and always has been).

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#448

There's a ton of abuse, feigned work and loopholes, and rules that undermine the law and also make foreign workers a 2nd class. Amongst other elements that should be fixed: * Taxation without representation (i'm suggesting adding the latter, not removing the former) * The H1B worker must be paid at or above the higher of the median rate at the company for the role or at the employee's request by an independent valuat…

> Taxation without representation (i'm suggesting adding the latter, not removing the former)

Happens to permanent residents too, not only employment visas.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top end of H1B has been great for America. In the last few decades, there has been growth of abuse of the program to get mid level talent at below market rates which really hurts the middle class in America. People need to understand that most reformists don't want to get rid of the truly exceptional immigration to the US. We need to limit the volume, especially the immigrants that are directly competing with a h…

The hollowing out of the middle class in the US isn't because of immigrants, it's because of a sustained campaign by capital to reduce the power of labor over the last 50-odd years and to concentrate wealth as best they can. Immigrant labor contributes to that because we've got inadequate labor protections and because we bought into the idea that lower consumer prices was a fine reason to ignore both labor and antitr…

The largest contributor to the shrinking middle class has been more and more people are moving into the upper class.

You can look at Pew's survey here: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/12/09/1-the-h....

The upper-income tier grew from 14% -> 21% as the middle-income tier shrank from 61% to 50%. To be perfectly fair, the lower-income tier class did also increase from 25% to 29%. The story is complicated.

Re: Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says

#450
post #138
post #85

I think there’s plenty of interesting debates to be had about immigration policy and its effects on the labor market, but one thing worth noting here is that the primary problem that damn near every other country on earth has isn’t immigration, it’s brain drain. A core strategic strength of the US over the last century has been that everyone with any talent wants to come here to work, and by and large we’ve let them…

I don't think it follows that preventing that brain drain would have lead to appreciably better outcomes for those countries. The real sucking factor for the united states is the second to none availability of capital to spend on R & D. If you keep the brains where they were raised, there is no mechanism for them to actually turn their ideas into fruition because there is little funding to support this either in priv…

But a country with the capital would do, who knows maybe China tries to import those "brains" into their country to compete with the US
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