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Updates to H-1B

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Re: Updates to H-1B

#781

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be surprised if more than 5-10% of H-1B positions are ones where the hiring company has even looked for US applicants. But H1B employers are required to certify that they took good faith steps to recruit U.S. workers for these positions and were unable to find qualified candidates to hire. You really think a business would do that? Just go to the government and tell lies?

Yes - it seems this is routinely done for H-1B positions. You meet the requirement for having advertised the job by running an ad for 1 day in the back of the fisherman's chronicle. You tailor the job description so closely to the H-1B candidate you've already decided to hire, that it'd be easy to defend why you rejected other candidates (should they inconvenience you by seeing the ad and applying).

When you get a chance please look up the difference between H-1B and PERM.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#782

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is only 4% of the world's population, so there's an enormous number of extremely smart people who live outside its present borders. I don't think anyone believes that even the world's greatest educational system can bring all of its students up to an extremely high level of general intelligence. We should be letting very smart people born outside the US emigrate here, which is a win-win for everyone involved

Sure. But the government of the United States is, allegedly, there for the benefit of its citizens. I'm not really following where this "should" comes from. "Should" in what volume? "Should" over what time frame?

[flagged]

Re: Updates to H-1B

#783

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many contradictions! You pay well, but not so much. You search for qualified applicants but can hire a student. You require linear algebra but ok with technical writer. Looks like your managers don't know who they need to hire or don't want to really hire.

> Looks like your managers don't know who they need to hire or don't want to really hire. It's prevalent in government-adjacent companies. It's all a completely opaque byzantine system to mask the nepotism and the fact that a lot of those people just siphon money from the government like it's a jobs programs. Not to mention that their application systems are usually complete garbage like Workday or Taleo.

The defense industry _is_ a jobs program, I thought this was clear to everyone. It's cheaper than keeping all the vets on the payroll directly and also cheaper than letting them become another homeless crisis on top of the existing one.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#784
post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

Not to pile on, but if linear algebra is really a part of the day-to-day job and not some manager’s mistaken idea of a proxy for more general talent, then you’re hiring specialists and the pool will not be that large. People who remember all their math and enjoy it and can also code, are also very employable at all the AI companies and departments, including at Meta. And how do you know if someone’s eligible for secu…

> And how do you know if someone’s eligible for security clearance without applying for it?

The short answer is "You can't, not with 100% certainty.".

Based on my experience from decades ago, the long answer is "Anyone who's a US citizen and doesn't lie about their drug use and debts can get a Secret clearance.". Things MIGHT have significantly changed since my clearance lapsed way back when, but I doubt it.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#785

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's much much better for America if tech companies hire workers in the US, regardless of whether they are citizens. Americans are eligible for those jobs, and that money stays within our economy. Versus employing workers elsewhere, where American's can't easily be hired, and those resources leave the US. I want to pick on this point, because it's the general refrain about this topic. If there is some thing that Ame…

The US is only 4% of the world's population, so there's an enormous number of extremely smart people who live outside its present borders. I don't think anyone believes that even the world's greatest educational system can bring all of its students up to an extremely high level of general intelligence. We should be letting very smart people born outside the US emigrate here, which is a win-win for everyone involved

> which is a win-win for everyone involved

Well... not for everyone involved. It's definitely a "lose" for the countries they are leaving from, that educated them.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#786

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would they have preferred not being able to live/work in the US at all?

I would have preferred for a multi-billion dollar company to use the H1-B program as intended and to pay an American wage to someone living and working in America.

I'm just responding to the portion where you said the only one that benefits is amazon. Surely at the very least, the immigrants themselves benefit if the alternative was no ability to work in the US?

Re: Updates to H-1B

#787

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For clearance specific kinds of jobs, I use https://www.clearancejobs.com/

Don’t we first need security clearance before applying to these jobs? Or at the time of joining the company helps us to get clearance?

Some employers will pay the cost to get a security clearance. Others will not. IME, employers will tell you in the job description which kind of employer they are.

"Must have a currently active $TYPE clearance." and "Must be eligible for a $TYPE clearance; position contingent on acquiring a $TYPE clearance." are the sorts of phrases to look for.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#788

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm more inclined to believe that H1B workers have other benefits to employers such as longer tenure due to the restrictions of moving jobs. That is a financial motive. Companies don't want to pay the kind of compensation which would induce employees to be loyal to the company, and so they use H1B quasi-indentured servitude as a cheaper alternative.

It doesn't quite work that way. H-1B employees need to have above average compensation or their field. This is part of the application process.

> H-1B employees need to have above average compensation or their field.

In the past decade or so, I have personally worked with an H-1B in the SF Bay Area who was working a full-time software position advertised as requiring a Master's degree, but was making something like $120k/year.

"Must be making above the median pay for the position" might be the way it's SUPPOSED to work, but it's clear that it doesn't ALWAYS work that way.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#789

A supposed shortage of qualified US applicants for tech jobs, especially software developers, doesn't jibe with the huge numbers of US developers currently looking for work, including highly experienced older workers suffering from age discrimination. I'd be surprised if more than 5-10% of H-1B positions are ones where the hiring company has even looked for US applicants.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

> No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed.

FYI, a "US person" means a US citizen or a Permanent Resident.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#790
post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to pile on, but if linear algebra is really a part of the day-to-day job and not some manager’s mistaken idea of a proxy for more general talent, then you’re hiring specialists and the pool will not be that large. People who remember all their math and enjoy it and can also code, are also very employable at all the AI companies and departments, including at Meta. And how do you know if someone’s eligible for secu…

> if linear algebra is really a part of the day-to-day job [...] then you’re hiring specialists It kind of bothers me that the parent and other readers here are passing off knowing linear algebra as some kind of esoteric skill. Linear algebra is a year 2 course in a undergraduate eduation. There are polished libraries to make it fast. Unless you mean enough knowledge to be writing linear algebra libraries , there is…

How many years do you expect most working professionals to remember the content of each of their undergrad courses - unless they use it on a regular basis?
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