U.S. Changes Visa Process for High-Skilled Workers • Hacker News Board

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

#541

Post by yardie » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:14 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #400

thaumasiotes wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> American's used to be able to support large families of 4+ kids with only 1 working parent. Now you have households with both working and they can't afford to have kids. I'm broadly sympathetic to your viewpoint, but this isn't accurate. Children are fundamentally not expensive. The problem is that couples believe they can't afford to have kids, not that they actually can't afford them.

My health insurance costs alone would almost quadruple if I had a wife+kid

Most of it would be on your spouse. Unlike you they are completely subsidized by your employer.

My current plan:

$100/mo - me

$125/mo - me + child(ren)

$350/mo - me + spouse + child(ren)

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

#542

Post by bonestamp2 » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:14 PM UTC

calvinbhai wrote: post #507

As an immigrant from India, who worked in the US on H1B, I welcome this change, because this increases the chances of weeding out the bad apples and increases the chances for the good ones to get an H1b visa. This at least encourages genuine direct employers to hire those who have already contributed to the US economy (by paying out of state tuition which funds/subsidizes the university education of US resident/citiz…

> give H1b to every applicant who has graduated in the US

Agreed. I studied in the US, wasn't even applying for jobs and had job offers. But, I didn't have work authorization so I couldn't take them. I went back to Canada for years before I was able to get back again. I'm not mad, but the system could definitely be improved for those who are qualified. If we're going to compete with China, Russia, India, etc we have to do everything to attract and keep the best minds here.

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

#543

Post by onlyrealcuzzo » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #483

ben_w wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF is an outlier compared to London. From expatistan.com: Monthly rent for 85 m2 (900 Sqft) furnished accommodation in NORMAL area: SF: $3,663 (£2,789) London: £1,766 Difference: 58%

Worth noting that the difference there is exaggerated somewhat by the unusually low value of the pound at the moment.

Worth noting that tech workers in London make about 1/2 to 1/3 of what they do in the Bay.

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

#544

Post by mbrumlow » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:25 PM UTC

joshe wrote: post #538

mbrumlow wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've worked with a few H1-B holders in Silicon Valley and they're awesome. I see your point, but you can't group all H1-B holders in the same boat. The ones you worked were awesome, but I am sure many have worked with ones that were not awesome. I will note, I have worked with a few awesome H1-B holders too, but I won't fall for ALL being the same. > If you are, like me, a software engineer, you should cheer every…

At every level, high skilled, medium skilled, and low skilled, immigrants tend to increase jobs and wages for natives. This is the rough consensus of economists. There is lots of work to make this even more true, of the flavor "ok if we are only bringing in 1 million immigrants, who does this best". H1-B and student visas a consequence of that thinking.

While I see others saying economist say different.

But I would like to point out higher wages may be the result. But this normally comes at a cost of fewer citizen employees.

I don't see how you can argue H1B creates more jobs. But I can at least see how it might change pay for those not replaces or passed over.

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

#545

Post by FiveSquared » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:26 PM UTC

AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #497

joshe wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The workforce grew, look at the link and table 5. Basically woman and minorities joined the workforce. Worker to population ratio went up and the total number of workers went up faster than the growth in population.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say pretty much all the minorities have always been a part of the workforce.

Jim Crow laws, blackballing, and redlining. You ant allowed to work in certain jobs, if you speak out (see Kapernick), no job for you! And you can’t even live within reasonable distance of work!

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

#546

Post by rileyphone » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:33 PM UTC

snikeris wrote: post #506

mberning wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is hard believe so many people still don’t “get it”. You cannot inflate the supply of labor, regardless of the means, and get a good result for the average working stiff.

Hmm...how about: inflate the supply of labor, price of goods goes down and better goods are invented, then average working stiff benefits when buying these goods? I understand your point that the average working stiff might experience wage loss or lose their job altogether, but I'm not sure you're considering the benefits to consumers, which is another role of the average working stiff.

That's the entire point of the real wages statistic: the price of goods has remained relatively pinned to wages since that point.

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

#547

Post by tabtab » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:35 PM UTC

mdorazio wrote: post #319

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…

And if you're in IT consulting like me instead of a software engineer, you absolutely should not cheer every immigrant. Many people wrongly assume that most H1B visas go to truly high-skilled individuals working at large tech companies. This is not the case. Take a look at the numbers in [1]. The top 5 companies bringing H1B workers are doing so specifically to outsource IT functions at lower cost than US workers. Th…

My personal experience working with visa workers at multiple organizations is that many organizations do indeed use them as de-facto indentured servants. One visa worker got paid only once every 6 months. He tolerated it because complaining could get him sent back home. (It did cover his full pay, though.)

The claim H1B's are being used to "relieve labor shortages" is mostly untrue.

I disagree with a good many policies of the current administration, but they got this mostly right. I have to give them kudos.

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

#548

Post by guyzero » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:38 PM UTC

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.

But it's pretty much the only way to get a work visa in the US. What are the alternatives?

L-1? Not much good for US companies that want to hire at the US HQ locations.

O-1? Even the average master's degree holder doesn't qualify for this. Also, not eligible for a green card.

TN? Only really applicable to Canadians, not eligible for a green card.

Waiting for a green card outside the country? De facto discriminatory against Chinese & Indian applicants, the two biggest pools of high tech workers because the green card queue times are insanely long.

Americans don't seem to realize that it's really, really hard to get into the country legally to work and the H1-B is one of the few avenues to get a green card for a skilled worker.

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

#549

Post by madengr » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:41 PM UTC

Buge wrote: post #326

gesman wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Import tax on crap would solve it.

By "stuff" I was actually referring to digital products, digital technology, websites, technology companies, etc. An import tax on those would be harder than for physical products.

Yes, mostly crap.

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

#550

Post by jblwps » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 5:45 PM UTC

clarkevans wrote: post #490

lotsofpulp wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Efficiencies of scale killed small business. People had the choice of patronizing small business or large business, and they chose the latter.

Lack of capital investment killed small businesses. Everyone now has to pay a tax penalty to take your earned capital and invest it into local main-street businesses. This capital instead, though 401k, goes into trans-national firms.

I think that the lack of capital investment you're describing can be thought of as a particular instance of the economy of scale (at least, broadly construed): larger and/or conglomerated companies, prima facie, have to depend less on capital injections.