Live data from Hacker News

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

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

571–580 of 679 posts

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

#571
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re using the term “democracy” in an Orwellian way. The people voted for the guy who promised mass deportations. There were signs and everything. Multiple surveys have found that, if everyone had voted, he would have won by an even larger margin. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5447450/trump-2024-elec... A non-functioning democracy would be if the people voted this way and mass deportations didn’t happen. Lik…

You're using "Orwellian" in an Orwellian way. What do mass deportations have to do with this bizarre sudden policy change that leaves people scrambling with a 15 hour window? You're claiming this is exactly what people had in mind when they voted?

Before the election, the New York Times did a great podcast on how politicians have promised one thing to the voting public( low immigration) while doing a different thing (high immigration) since the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/podcasts/the-daily/electi.... Even the New York Times recognized that the election was about maintaining the status quo—where “measured” policies always just seem to result in more immigration—versus Trump’s promise for dramatic change.

While dramatic change to H1b wasn’t specifically on Trump’s platform, unlike mass deportations, which was second, it’s within the spirit of the dramatic change Trump promised: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/platform.

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

#572
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…

> The pace of the last 10 years has been jarring Is this satire or just solely based on feelings? The rate of legal immigration hasn't changed significantly since 1990 (35 years ago) when it had a huge spike (during Bush1); it then spiked again during Bush 2.

[deleted]

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

#573
post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 i…

If H1Bs disappearing doesn’t result in more jobs then there was never any point in hiring H1Bs in the first place. Just trimming the fat.

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

#574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be quite the coincidence then for all the voting precincts to swing towards the same candidate as the fraud. I find it likelier that people’s preferences simply changed.

Possible but a simple software update can also do the trick. That's just a fact and the reason why no one should trust a democracy based on voting machines. Experts have been warning against voting machines for decades.

Yeah, and in at least the past two elections the side that won has tried to promulgate memes that the voting machines are reliable and it's wrong to suggest that there's fraud going on; while the side that lost has tried to promulgate memes that there was something fishy about the election. I support wholesale reform to the American electoral process that would assuage the concerns of all parties and make it much more verifiable that every legal vote was counted and no illegal votes happened.

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

#575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It certainly felt as if behind the Republican party of yesteryear, there were some real values and ideals that benefited the nominally American status quo power structure. Maybe I've just fallen for the whitewashing.

You haven't. Reagan was one of the most popular and beloved presidents in the last 100 years. He was elected in back-to-back landslides.

Because his dog whistle was Good. Being popular doesn't mean he wasn't punitive to the progress of society and it's benefits.

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

#576
it's hard to imagine Chinese government officials giggling, because the rare smiles they make look like they were designed and approved in commitee meetings on a case by case basis, but this ongoing assult on rational conduct must be messing them up, perhaps this will trigger a new round of purges as there ability to keep a strait face is tested in these unexpected and unprecidented ways

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

#578
post #252

I guess it's safe to say there won't need to be an H1B lottery next year. I do think we need a visa category for people who have completed an education in the US. Yes, there's OPT for certain fields for F1 visa holders but it's not enough. But all that's a part of broader immigration reform that simply won't happen, particularly in this political climate. As horrible as this all is for those affected, particularly fo…

> I do think we need a visa category for people who have completed an education in the US. Yes, there's OPT for certain fields for F1 visa holders but it's not enough.

There's already enough of a problem of foreigners enrolling in low-quality or even basically-fraudulent American higher education programs, specifically because their goal is to do whatever they can to get legal residency in the United States rather than gain an education only available in the US or contribute to American intellectual life. Such a visa category would exacerbate this problem.

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

#579
post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 i…

If H1Bs disappearing doesn’t result in more jobs then there was never any point in hiring H1Bs in the first place. Just trimming the fat.

You are assuming the companies will perform the same without the H1B workers, then sure there's no point at all. I disagree though

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

#580
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…

> The pace of the last 10 years has been jarring Is this satire or just solely based on feelings? The rate of legal immigration hasn't changed significantly since 1990 (35 years ago) when it had a huge spike (during Bush1); it then spiked again during Bush 2.

Buddy, the US currently has highest % immigrant that it has ever had, and it's getting really close to the max that a non-authoritarian government can sustain.

For comparison, here are the immigrant pcts for top 20 most populated countries:

India (0.3%), China (0.1%), United States (15.2%), Indonesia (0.2%), Pakistan (1.7%), Nigeria (0.6%), Brazil (0.7%), Bangladesh (1.7%), Russia (5.3%), Mexico (1.3%), Ethiopia (0.9%), Japan (2.8%), Philippines (0.1%), Egypt (10.0%), Vietnam (0.3%), DR Congo (1.0%), Iran (4.2%), Turkey (8.1%), Germany (19.8%), Thailand (5.0%)

I understand that lots of people want to live here, but we're not just going to crash our country for some extra GDP. You guys can have all the mega global corps.

Post reply on HN