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Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

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Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#71
post #63
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> H1B is transferable between employers Its not easy as it sounds. Being a single that time, I have transferred my H1B myself and it was a nightmare. I had sleepless nights and uncertainty. My GreenCard process was reset. Any H1Bs who knows about the system really well will not risk transferring because of the risks to their green card process. There is no honest company which pays a fair salary for H1Bs. If you see…

I have done the transfer. It is not difficult if you find a company willing to pay for lawyers to handle it for you. But yes, if you are only in the first phase of your green card application you will be set back. And I promise you, there are companies that pay a fair amount to H1B workers. I have worked for four of them myself. I don't know what kind of companies you work for or where in the country you are, but the…

I am not in the country anymore. Was in US for 4 years. Left it for Canada as a permanent resident.

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#72
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economics allows us to directly measure these things and the price of labor hasn't gone up in the last 30 years... Real compensation per hour (for workers as a whole) has gone up 40% since 1987. This number is adjusted for inflation. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/COMPRNFB Pay in software has been rising more rapidly than pay for the country as a whole. Is this even remotely in doubt? http://insights.dice.com/201…

There are studies performed on this stuff by actual economists out there, to save you using self-reporting surveys from online recruitment companies. http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-i... http://www.epi.org/publication/pm195-stem-labor-shortages-mi... >The average hourly wage for college-educated workers in computer and math occupations rose 5.3 percent over 11 years, from $37.27 in 2000 to…

If your study is claiming that software engineer compensation rose no more rapidly than the population at as a whole (they also saw a 5% increase), then something is deeply wrong with your study.

Note that "Computer and math occupations" is a broad catch-all term which includes all sorts of professions, such as:

Computer User Support Specialist: Provide technical assistance to computer users. Answer questions or resolve computer problems for clients in person, or via telephone or electronically. May provide assistance concerning the use of computer hardware and software, including printing, installation, word processing, electronic mail, and operating systems. Excludes "Network and Computer Systems Administrators" (15-1142).

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes150000.htm

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151151.htm

No one claimed that the guy who fixes your printer or helps you change the font in word experienced large pay increases.

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#73
post #65

I think an issue lost in the discussion is that citizens are losing jobs because of this. I'm all for the plight of the immigrant, but as an American, my concern is first and foremost with my fellow countrymen.

You really think there is not enough jobs for American software developers?

If you are a decent software developer there is a guaranteed job for you, unless you code in COBOL or FORTRAN. Heck, people are jumping ships and we hire people from English or Humanities background who go and do 6 months intensive coding boot camps. Wake up and go find opportunities for yourself. Jobs don't come to you. Get yourself out there and be known. Put your hobby projects on Github. Attend Meetups and network with people. People hire a lot at tech meetups.

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#74

I'll just suggest that it's probably a great time for tech companies to open a Bangalore or Gurgaon office. Bangalore in particular is a good choice - the people are smart, the infrastructure is good, and it's a very pleasant place to visit. Perfect weather all year and the best breakfast in India. Also a very strong tech culture; second in the world to SF, in my view, and without many of the social pathologies [1] t…

In fairness, "expats giving us jobs" is hardly the same thing.

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#75
The hubris and self-righteousness of SV billionaire bully-boys has reached the point where I'll favor practically anything that takes them down a peg. I'd love to see the Republican controlled federal government treat them the way the Democrats have treated, for example, the gun and coal industries.

If a gun manufacturer should be held liable for the results of people misusing a gun, then why shouldn't Airbnb be held liable for harm people may suffer as a result of renting or leasing through Airbnb?

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#76

"..the company can’t prevent the departure of Americans.." this is part of the problem. I have seen people (especially young ones) jumping ships in less than six months from startup to startup in SV because of the competitive market salary. Even though larger companies can take this hit but for a startup of <10 employees this can prove to be very detrimental. I agree that Indian consultancies have been abusing the H1…

> Should there be some sort of collateral such as one year contract? It would be a fair deal if employers also agree to let go of employee only with many months of severance payment. Also, startups using vesting schedules to incentivize people to stay.

Agree. It should be a two way street.

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#77
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is amazing! However I would like to point out, H1B is not only for Silicon Valley. There are many automotive companies which require foreign talent in specialized fields. Very smart people with multi-disciplinary knowledge are nowhere to be found in auto sector. Signal Processing and vibrations and programming and control systems understanding etc. is required to deal with things like active noise control which…

"lottery based skilled visa" sums it up. I am not assuming that you are in Detroit. I used to work remotely for an Automotive company in Detroit for their telematics unit. Some colleagues I know commute from Windsor.

Lottery based skilled visa means that there's many more skilled people on the other side, and less spots for them. Unless you have a way of quantifying extremely small differences in skill (and keeping the process balanced), I don't see how you feel a lottery is unfair.

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#78

> Their lobbyists claim there is a “talent shortage” among Americans and thus that the industry needs more of such work visas. This is patently false There is no way SV would have grown to what it is now without foreign talent. So the shortage has been real for the last 30+ years. Not sure why this point is still controversial. > most Silicon Valley firms sponsor their H-1B workers, who hold a temporary visa, for U.S…

> There is no way SV would have grown to what it is now without foreign talent. So the shortage has been real for the last 30+ years

I don't think you can prove this point, because you're arguing a counterfactual without proving the base claim that foreign talent was in fact necessary or that similar development wouldn't have otherwise happened.

You're also confusing what is meant be a labour shortage, which isn't about the absolute number of qualified candidates per se, but the number available at a given price. That is to say that there may be a sufficient pool of workers, but they demand a higher wage than firms would like to pay. As a result firms choose H-1Bs to suppress wages.

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#79
post #29

ex H1B here. Yes Trump is right.(though I do not like him personally, he is right in this matter) Most of the corporate America is exploiting H1B workers. I have worked in one of those firms and I have friends in many other firms. These are not Indian body shops, these are American companies. Everyone's topic of discussion when we hangout is how our H1B visas were being exploited and there is nothing we could do abou…

Did you hire a lawyer to do the paperwork or did you do it yourself ?

Re: Trump Is Right: Silicon Valley Using H-1B Visas to Pay Low Wages to Immigrants

#80

The hubris and self-righteousness of SV billionaire bully-boys has reached the point where I'll favor practically anything that takes them down a peg. I'd love to see the Republican controlled federal government treat them the way the Democrats have treated, for example, the gun and coal industries. If a gun manufacturer should be held liable for the results of people misusing a gun, then why shouldn't Airbnb be held…

So by that you mean, propose changes but then never have any of them implemented in any way and be blocked entirely by an obstructionist opposition party? I'm not sure thats what you really want.
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