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New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

science.org

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Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#91

Post by swagempire »

satya71 wrote: post #6
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #3

>“You don’t have any accomplishments,” the lawyer told him. “You don’t have a patent, or even a product.” That scolding spurred Sanjay to make a list of what he needed to do to achieve his goal of staying permanently. He improved the technology his AI-based firm was developing, expanded its customer base, and filed for a U.S. patent, which was awarded earlier this year. In May those efforts paid off, allowing him to…

Not any more than other patent applicants. Currently all the layers in patent application process is incentivized to ignore quality. 1. Large companies pay a bonus for every patent applied and bigger one for approval. 2. Patent lawyers are paid for filed patents. 3. Patent office makes money on each patent. They view the review process as a cost center and optimize it for fast approval.

I'm not sure what you are getting at here. The lawyer's job is not to judge the quality of a patent -- in the same way a defense lawyer is not there to judge the innocence of their client.

The patent lawyer is just there to file the patent and help their client get past the approval process.

It is the PATENT OFFICE who's job it is to judge quality.

Have several patents, btw.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#92

Post by rayiner »

aiisahik wrote: post #80

I'm an Australian citizen who has lived in the US for over 20 years, gotten degrees from Yale and Berkeley. I've worked as a software engineer for over 10 years and am currently a cofounder. I'm so put off by the immigration process in the US that I have decided to leave the US permanently. Don't worry - i still work for the same US based company remotely from a more cost effective nation. I just don't pay your taxes…

That seems like a win-win. Hopefully remote work will reduce the need for immigration.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#93

Post by abduhl »

ndriscoll wrote: post #43
abduhl wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Patents are easy to get How many do you have? Patents are more difficult to obtain than HN gives credit and they cost a non-inconsequential amount of money too.

> How many do you have? That seems like an odd retort to me. Like I have zero because I find the whole idea ethically dubious. When I was at IBM, they had occasional patent brainstorming meetings. I remember saying to one of the more senior engineers that everything I worked on was straightforward/obvious, and he told me I'd be surprised, which didn't do much to sway my thoughts on the ethics there. Everyone who had…

How is it an odd retort? If you haven't obtained a patent then the likelihood that you've actually gone through the patent procurement process with the USPTO is extremely low on this website. It's hackernews, not patentexaminernews or patentagentnews after all.

It would be like me saying "designing your own operating system is easy" and having someone respond "how many OSes have you designed?"

And by the way, your own story bears out the same: despite working for IBM (a company where attorneys familiar with the patent process are no doubt legion), participating or being aware of these patent brainstorm sessions, and stating that everyone had one after a couple years, you have zero. So what would you know about the patent prosecution process? Certainly not enough to say that it's easy.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#94

Post by ChumpGPT »

aiisahik wrote: post #80

I'm an Australian citizen who has lived in the US for over 20 years, gotten degrees from Yale and Berkeley. I've worked as a software engineer for over 10 years and am currently a cofounder. I'm so put off by the immigration process in the US that I have decided to leave the US permanently. Don't worry - i still work for the same US based company remotely from a more cost effective nation. I just don't pay your taxes…

[flagged]

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#95

Post by cmrdporcupine »

ketzo wrote: post #20
lgleason wrote: post #4

Expect further downward pressure on US tech salaries.

Intuitively, yes; factually (looking at the last 30 years of tech), categorically false. Tech begets tech, tech jobs beget tech jobs. Personally, I think we are not remotely close to “peak software” in particular.

The reality of Canadian tech salaries would disagree with you.

Our immigration system targets skilled workers from abroad, and brings in a lot of them. It's a far more "rational" and less confusing system than the US, but also explicitly geared around bringing in skilled workers as permanent residents and it brings in a lot of them.

The downward pressure on compensation rates is real. Apart from exceptions in FAANG type companies, salaries here are often 1/2 of the rates of US employers, and it isn't because we're a lower quality product.

As a result a large % of us just move south to the US on a TN visa, or take remote jobs from US employers. Because the disparity in compensation is very high. And it's in large part because the market here is flooded with talent from abroad.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#97

Post by logicalmonster »

addicted wrote: post #13
lgleason wrote: post #4

Expect further downward pressure on US tech salaries.

Ah yes, the last 30 odd years of increasing immigration has exerted tremendous downward pressure on US tech salaries. And countries in Europe that have not seen as much Tech immigration have seen huge boosts in Tech salaries. Comparable Europeans earn almost 1/3 - 1/2 what their American counterparts do today!

> Ah yes, the last 30 odd years of increasing immigration has exerted tremendous downward pressure on US tech salaries.

I'm not 100% sure, so I have to ask. Are you being sarcastic about immigration not exerting tremendous downward pressure on US tech salaries?

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#99

Post by bee_rider »

danking00 wrote: post #30
lgleason wrote: post #4

Expect further downward pressure on US tech salaries.

People who gain citizenship are no longer in a precarious visa situation nor tied to their current employer. Moving people off visas and into PR/citizenship would seem to me to remove downward pressure on salaries. Heck, workers with PR/citizenship are probably more likely to unionize for higher wages because they feel safer.

But this admits that the more generous and open policy might also be more practical. Can’t have that, it is too good.

Re: New U.S. immigration rules spur more visa approvals for STEM workers

#100

Post by danking00 »

apwell23 wrote: post #77
danking00 wrote: post #63

Watching friends work through the decades long journey of citizenship, going to prestigious undergrad institutions, getting PhDs, publishing in journals, teaching part-time while working full time in industry, all just to get the right to stay in the country they’ve lived since they were 18 is fucking depressing. I doubt I’d qualify for EB-1 [1]. I’d have qualified for EB-2 at 28 when I attained five years of work ex…

> At 33 years old I’m still two years shy of the 10 year minimum for EB-2 [2] not sure what your link has to do with age requirement that you mention. eb2 has no age minimum. You also wrote bunch of other falsehoods like visa renewals requiring lottery, renewals don't count against yearly visa quota. Most of the stuff in your comment is not correct.

I’d be delighted to be proven wrong but the ten year minimum experience comes from the second reference:

> Letters from current or former employers documenting at least 10 years of full-time experience in your occupation

EDIT: I see where you misunderstood. I emphasized the age to show how long someone would be waiting for a non-precarious situation. I’ll edit above.

Apologies if I’m unclear, I mean getting the H1-B in the first place requires a lottery. People who graduate with US undergrad degrees can start on OPT or the like but must transition to something else when that’s exhausted. One friend just went through exactly this where she exhausted her OPT, lost work authorization, but missed three attempts at H1-B.

What else is wrong?

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