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USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

uscis.gov

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Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#71

Post by quatrefoil »

beacon294 wrote: post #56
quatrefoil wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There should be no cap for people who have received higher education degrees in the US. Then you're effectively creating a loophole. There would be a proliferation of private schools that accept anyone willing to pay enough $$$ and churn out barely-competent graduates just so that people have a better shot at citizenship. "Attended a school in the US" is not a good proxy for being an asset to the country. > There s…

It's possible to require an accredited degree.

Accreditation doesn't mean that the school is prestigious or selective, or that the degrees are useful. You have no shortage of silly and easy degrees you can pay for at accredited schools, and I don't think they should give you special immigration privileges. Communications, advertising, dance theory, you name it.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#72

Post by vsskanth »

lolinder wrote: post #48
vsskanth wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. You previously had to fill the entire H1B petition and pay full fees (including lawyer fees to prepare the petition) just to enter the H1B lottery. Your fees get refunded if you do not get selected in the lottery. You're still out lawyer fees though. The $10 fee to enter your name and later fill the entire petition is a fairly recent change https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/08/2019-24...

Fair, but this isn't a new change this year. If the catastrophe that you say will happen was going to happen, we should already be seeing it since at least 2020.

Yeah it's been pretty bad ever since then. You can see the massive rise in registrations from 2020.

https://redbus2us.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/H1B-Visa-Re...

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#73

Post by lmm »

bubblethink wrote: post #59
lmm wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So why not just grant H1-Bs to the companies that are willing to pay their talent the most? Because then the acceptance rate would be x% for people from India, y% from China, and 0.001% for everywhere else, which would be politically untenable.

H1B does not have country caps. So the acceptance rate is already that based on the distribution of applicants. You are thinking of green cards, which do have country caps, and that's why this whole set up is quite asinine. It creates a large immigrant population with limited rights and no realistic path to permanent residency.

> So the acceptance rate is already that based on the distribution of applicants.

Currently it's a lottery which you can at least argue is fair in the sense that every applicant has an equal chance. If they made it so that only the highest paid were accepted, that would skew the distribution much further.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#74

Post by athowawaym »

dalyons wrote: post #67
HeatrayEnjoyer wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A disadvantage in what way? Unless I'm missing something this just sounds like markets being markets. As a worker, why would I accept a job that pays less and requires me to live in Alabama if I can do better?

Because chemistry and IT/swe are not the same jobs. And America also needs chemists

[dead]

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#75

Post by nostromo »

olliej wrote: post #62
nostromo wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the major donors for both parties support illegal immigration. Republican donors enjoy the labor of illegal immigration which is much cheaper than domestic labor. Any crack down on unauthorized workers in agriculture or hospitality, for example, would disrupt lots of big donors. Democratic donors have openly stated that demographic changes would help them win more elections. These are the "demographics are de…

> Democratic donors have openly stated that demographic changes would help them win more elections. How does "illegal immigration" impact this? You know undocumented workers cannot vote, right? Hell, you know documented, legal, residents also cannot vote? The only people who get to vote in US elections are US citizens. Demographics shifts obviously help the modern DNC, for the same reason it helped the GOP a century…

While migrants can’t vote in national elections, they are counted in the census (California has an additional four or five seats in congress just from illegal immigration, for example).

Secondly, the children of illegal immigrants are citizens and can vote. It takes decades for this strategy to pan out obviously. It can be sped up by family unification policies once an immigrant has a child citizen.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#76

Post by athowawaym »

karmasimida wrote: post #28
jedberg wrote: post #4

It seems like it would be so easy to fix the H1-B program but no one wants to and I feel like I must be missing something. The purpose of the H1-B is to allow companies to hire foreigners with special skills that can't be found amongst US citizens. So why not just grant H1-Bs to the companies that are willing to pay their talent the most? Let any company apply and list a salary which they have to agree to pay for at…

> So why not just grant H1-Bs to the companies that are willing to pay their talent the most? Because industries pay differently. Unless you argue H1Bs all go to big techs. The problem with H1B program is, no matter how it is structured, it WILL be gamed.

[dead]

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#77

Post by athowawaym »

saltcured wrote: post #49
jedberg wrote: post #4

It seems like it would be so easy to fix the H1-B program but no one wants to and I feel like I must be missing something. The purpose of the H1-B is to allow companies to hire foreigners with special skills that can't be found amongst US citizens. So why not just grant H1-Bs to the companies that are willing to pay their talent the most? Let any company apply and list a salary which they have to agree to pay for at…

The problem with replacing a lottery with a salary ranked cutoff is that all skills do not exist on a single linear axis proportional to economic value. It is not as if all academics are currently highest paid across the economy, so why would that be true of imported academics? To me, an ideal skilled worker system would define quota categories by skill/job at a much finer granularity, i.e. hundreds or thousands of d…

[dead]

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#78

Post by horns4lyfe »

dalyons wrote: post #67
HeatrayEnjoyer wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A disadvantage in what way? Unless I'm missing something this just sounds like markets being markets. As a worker, why would I accept a job that pays less and requires me to live in Alabama if I can do better?

Because chemistry and IT/swe are not the same jobs. And America also needs chemists

America HAS chemists.

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#79

Post by dixie_land »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #55
quatrefoil wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lion's share of H-1Bs go to big tech companies where people make $250k a year or more. And where total comp of $400k+ is common for senior roles, with no regard for visa status. Yes, it alters market dynamics and the whole reason it's done is that the same skills are not available domestically for that price (or at all) - but talking about "low-wage labor" and "exploitation" as the whole point of the program is pre…

> A lion's share of H-1Bs go to big tech companies where people make $250k a year or more. And where total comp of $400k+ is common for senior roles, with no regard for visa status. Since you're apparently so acquainted with the stats, please enlighten us outsiders: what percentage of H-1B employees make $250K a year or more, and what percentage of H-1B employees make $400K+?

Not being hyperbolic, ALL of H1B friends I personally know makes 250+ total comp. Many makes around that in base salary. ( most my friends are late 20 and early 30s )

Re: USCIS announces strengthened integrity measures for H-1B program

#80

Post by arcticbull »

ojbyrne wrote: post #68
tomrod wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some pushback on your logic chain: > foreigners with special skills that can't be found amongst US citizens This is honestly rare, unless you couple it with a wage level that is lower than the domestic market will bear. Some individuals involved in R&D, but outside of that there are few skills that are not found in the US. I believe the condition isn't not found, but rather, in low supply? > make the visa transferrab…

H1Bs are transferrable. I did it at least twice.

Transfers are cap-exempt, but the new employer still needs to file LCA and hence do the prevailing wage determination. You're effectively applying for a new H-1B for the balance of the time remaining on the first one, exempt from the cap. [1]

[1] https://flag.dol.gov/programs/LCA

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