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USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

bloomberg.com

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Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#71

Post by vostok »

majormajor wrote: post #38
ashleyn wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paleoconservatism/populism isn't concerned about the economic benefits of immigration; it's concerned about "protecting" culture so that immigrants don't have the opportunity to reshape it in any capacity. A sizeable portion of Trump's base believes that they are in danger of becoming a minority in "their own" country and will sidestep the economic benefits of immigration to retain a demographic majority. To these vo…

What US Democrats ignore is that practically every damn country in the world does this too, often to a higher degree than the US. So there's a pragmatic question of how to avoid putting yourself at a disadvantage by being comparatively overgenerous that you don't have to be a "paleoconservative" or Trump supporter, or even Republican, to be concerned about.

Many countries will grant you a visa so long as you make over a certain amount. This is much more open than the American lottery system.

Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#72

Post by prepend »

Couldn't this be positive if it stops all the body shop h1b companies that just want cheap, basic programmers? This will then allow for visas for true skills where there are gaps.

I've worked with hundreds of h1b visa, 90% of them were just java programmers with a low bill rate. But there were also a few with really rare skills. I'd like to see more of the latter and less of the former. Especially since the number of h1b visa is capped.

Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#73

Post by learc83 »

komali2 wrote: post #13

Conservatives may generally view this as "good" regardless of the impact because (according to arguments I've heard) "the less globalization, the better." In my mind, however, it boils down to two pretty simple points: Given that (1) the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education, and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations, (2) the only way for the…

>1 the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education

It's not as a whole. Parts of it are, Education here is local, and there are states the size of Finland that compare with Finland in education outcomes.

>2 and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations

Income based repayment ensures that you will never pay more than 10% of your disposable income (income over 1.5x the federal poverty level), and loans are forgiven if you make payments for 20 years. This assumes you only take out federal loans (90% of loan disbursements are federal and are enough to pay for public universities).

This is very similar to the system Australia has.

Additionally, the US ranks 7th in number of adults with college degree--higher than every European country except Luxembourg.

And the US has 1/3 of the top 500 ranked colleges in the world, and nearly 1/4 of the top 5000.

Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#74

Post by davidw »

xraystyle wrote: post #30
komali2 wrote: post #13

Conservatives may generally view this as "good" regardless of the impact because (according to arguments I've heard) "the less globalization, the better." In my mind, however, it boils down to two pretty simple points: Given that (1) the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education, and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations, (2) the only way for the…

The stated purpose of the H1-B program is to allow companies to fill vacancies with international applicants if they are unable to find US employees qualified for the roles. I've never heard any sane, rational person object to this use case. The issue most people have is that the program seems to be rampantly abused. Companies are replacing US workers with H1-B's sourced from companies like Tata and Infosys at much l…

The logical remedy would be to eliminate the lock the employer has on these people so that they can get competitive offers and see their salaries bid up to something better.

Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#76

Post by matt_wulfeck »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #42

Instead of a lottery, we should have an H1-B auction. There are a limited number of H1-B slots, and the companies that offer the highest salaries get them. In addition, whistle-blower protection with automatic Green cards for anyone who reports employer abuse, with prison sentences for the entire company C-suite if a company abuses this process.

We’ve discussed the auction before here. My sentiment is that it would cause all of the H1Bs to be concentrated in the Bay Area at a handful of companies.

Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#77

Post by enra »

ng12 wrote: post #39
komali2 wrote: post #13

Conservatives may generally view this as "good" regardless of the impact because (according to arguments I've heard) "the less globalization, the better." In my mind, however, it boils down to two pretty simple points: Given that (1) the US is lagging far behind every developed nation in education, and higher education in the US is prohibitively expensive compared to other developed nations, (2) the only way for the…

> I just don't understand why we wouldn't want to make it as easy as possible to steal talent Because that's not what the H1-B is. The majority of H1-B holders are the IT body shops: Cognizant, Infosys, and Tata are the top 3 by a wide margin [1]. I agree with you in principle but I think the H1-B system is not a good implementation of those ideals. I have a hard time believing it does much more than depress the wage…

Seems the numbers in the graph and article don't are not easy to match up. In the graph, the sum seems to be over 100k for those top 20 companies, while the article states that 40-80k visas were granted.

I do agree that I think those outsourcing talent shop should be limited. You shouldn't have majority of your workforce on h1b.

As a counter point I don't think Google, Apple, Microsoft etc are not out of line. Also many startups that are founded by immigrants (50%) and often also hire international talent (since there isn't enough local one). Also startups are not able to compete on salaries like larger companies. If the article is beloved, 63% h1bs go to other than these top companies.

The OP comment still holds that I think startups and hiring international talent does contribute to the US economy and it's just not for "depressing white collar wages".

Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#79

Post by matt_wulfeck »

harmlessposter wrote: post #14

Time for companies to hire Americans and train Americans rather than attempting to suppress wages.

Specifically, stop simultaneously saying there’s a tech worker shortage while discriminating against workers over the age of 40.

Re: USCIS is challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications

#80

Post by learc83 »

vostok wrote: post #71
majormajor wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What US Democrats ignore is that practically every damn country in the world does this too, often to a higher degree than the US. So there's a pragmatic question of how to avoid putting yourself at a disadvantage by being comparatively overgenerous that you don't have to be a "paleoconservative" or Trump supporter, or even Republican, to be concerned about.

Many countries will grant you a visa so long as you make over a certain amount. This is much more open than the American lottery system.

https://www.uscis.gov/eb-5
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