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

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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

#561

Post by yibg »

arn7av wrote: post #518

Update from USCIS: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/H1B... "Clarification" from Press Secretary: https://x.com/PressSec/status/1969495900478488745 1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. 2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter. H-1B visa holders can leave and…

Info from customs agents at airport is aligned with this statement. Specifically that it does NOT apply to current visa holders. How consistent that is, no idea.

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

#562

Post by JuniperMesos »

zem wrote: post #469
JuniperMesos wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People describe all of these countries as authoritarian for various reasons. Multiple Indian immigrants I have worked with in the US have expressed displeasure at authoritarianism in India today, which I find difficult to distinguish from just not liking Modi.

a quick google search for "modi authoritarian" would have given you tons of hits talking about it, with documented incidents and policies to back them up. calling it "just not liking modi" does the people justifiably alarmed about what he is doing to the country a great disservice.

That's precisely my point - people will call any country doing something that they dislike "authoritarian". There's no way for me to verify that without spending a bunch of time learning about what specifically Modi is doing that previous Indian political leaders weren't, and evaluate that in the context of Indian politics in general. This is a difficult enough problem when it comes to evaluating what political pundits are saying around your own country and society, and I am well aware that I don't have more than a cursory, outsider's understanding of anything at all that is actually going on in India.

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

#563

Post by JuniperMesos »

rayiner wrote: post #187
dira3 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Democracy isn't supposed to be two wolves and a sheep voting on who to eat for dinner. There are supposed to be checks and balances. One reason we are in the current situation is because we have discarded these checks and balances, allowing for the president to behave more like an autocratic monarch. If the other branches of government were performing their constitutional function, and if the executive observed the n…

No, democracy is supposed to be two wolves and a sheep voting on who to eat for dinner. What you’re talking about are the anti-democratic measures the founders put in place because they didn’t trust democracy. Look, it’s hardly settled that “democracy” is a good thing. The founders didn’t think it was—they restricted the franchise to property owners, and provided for indirect election of the president and appointment…

Sometimes democracy is the sheep area violently and unconstitutionally seceding from the wolf area and then ethnically cleansing the region of wolves, to make absolutely sure that no wolf will be around who can vote about what to eat (see e.g. the post-1991 history of Yugoslavia). A major reason why people living in immigrant-attracting democratic political entities care about immigration policy is because immigrants eventually change the composition of the voting electorate.

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

#564

Post by afpx »

habinero wrote: post #422
afpx wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Here's a regular occurrence for me:

I took my daughter to shop for clothes at Target. She picked out an outfit and wanted to try it on but it was in a pack and needed to be separated first. I found a clerk and asked her to separate it. But, the clerk didn't speak English - only Spanish. So, she took me to another clerk. But, that clerk also didn't speak English - only Arabic. And, neither could talk to each other.

If that's not societal "cognitive load", what is it?

These are just the harmless occurrences. I could go on to much more alarming examples, but I won't.

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

#565

Post by SwamyM »

arrowsmith wrote: post #446
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And yet, insanely, the Tories still get called "anti-immigration". They were the most pro-immigration government in British history, by far.

Same with the Republicans in the US and the deficit, "small" government, etc.

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

#566

Post by ztwye »

deadbabe wrote: post #549
ztwye wrote: post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might as well kick every single foreigner out of this country to let Americans find jobs. Of course us foreigners take it personally... Are you serious? How is this understandable?

How should the American workers who constantly get passed over in favor for H1Bs take it? Americans got so obsessed with being a “nation of immigrants” they elevated actual immigrants to higher status than American citizens themselves.

I don't get the higher status part. Why would big tech companies, for example, be more favorable to immigrants than americans? There are a lot of companies that will reject you simply because you are not american/greencard holder.

Obviously personal opinion but I don't think gutting H1B will lead to more jobs for americans or just more jobs in general. I can't predict the side effects, but I doubt the tech industry is going to stay the same

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

#567

Post by cs_throwaway »

thisisit wrote: post #384
cs_throwaway wrote: post #271

I think a lot of people arguing about the H1B visa are talking past each other. - There is no doubt a large volume of abuse by tech consulting companies. It's likely even worse than it looks, because the H1Bs in the U.S. are to support even larger teams offshore. I don't understand why we can't just blacklist these companies. - Some of medium-skill hires, e.g., did a 2 year MS degree from random university in the U.S…

To add lot of people don't seem to have read the full announcement. It says Secretary of Homeland Security can grant exception. That means companies like Tesla are more likely to get a pass - because manufacturing jobs and what not. Also, HN is hyper focused on tech consulting. H1Bs are used by doctors too especially in rural America. Doctors apply for J1 waiver and then get H1B for work. From what I have heard some…

Yes. As far as I understand it, the EO is not a rule, but will impact upcoming rules. H1B already has exceptions, so there is nothing new being said. It already has a cap exception for doctors and professors, so why not for critical private sector industries.

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

#568

Post by 1oooqooq »

esalman wrote: post #148
1oooqooq wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i understand playing safe with this administration, but why? h1b requires that one company signed as responsible sponsor on form i129. they are the ones on the line for the payment.

Let me guess, you're not an immigrant?

lived 5yr on L1A. It's a week to leave the country if laid off. But at the same time, most of the penalties/costs fall on the sponsoring company for all cases.

ICE black shirts make it more uncertain on enforcement, but there's still laws.

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

#569

Post by abeppu »

throwaway7783 wrote: post #456
frankharv wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That argument went out the door when the last administration chose to open the borders. We have laws against that. But they were ignored.

I really would like to understand what did last administration do to open the doors. Didn't they actually deport historically high number of people?

I think technically, in terms of "removals" based on an immigration judge ordering it, Obama still has the record. For "repatriations" which includes "removals", "returns" (no order, can be voluntary), and Covid-19 health related "expulsions", Biden holds the record.

I think data availability has been poor during the Trump administration, but from public numbers that I could find for spring of this year, it's not clear that even with all the raids the Trump administration is actually deporting more people than prior administrations ... but perhaps the goal is to keep more people in detention.

https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/immigration-enforcem... https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/yearbook/2019/table3... https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-people-were-deported-f...

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

#570

Post by xyzelement »

afpx wrote: post #564
habinero wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Here's a regular occurrence for me: I took my daughter to shop for clothes at Target. She picked out an outfit and wanted to try it on but it was in a pack and needed to be separated first. I found a clerk and asked her to separate it. But, the clerk didn't speak English - only Spanish. So, she took me to another clerk. But, that clerk also didn't speak English - only Arabic. And, neither could talk to each other. If…

This is such a good example. I was recently talking to an appliance repair company and the fact that the woman spoke good English is now a remarkable thing. Like it really stood out!
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