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USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

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Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#91

Post by klipt »

qdpb wrote: post #90
klipt wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bay Area is fundamentally broken in that cities refuse to build new housing and schools. Supply is limited, demand exceeds supply, and engineers are competing against each other for that very limited supply. So if all us engineers' salaries went up, it wouldn't help. We'd just end up spending even more to out compete each other. (Well, I guess it would help push non-engineers out of the Bay Area, but is that real…

If there is nowhere to house new engineers, why do companies apply for H1-B?

That's mostly orthogonal to the H1-B question - why do they hire anyone? (Most of the hires are not H1-Bs.)

I'd guess the answer is, marginally, hiring people is still good for companies. But combined with the lack of housing development, it's slowly but steadily making life worse for everyone in the Bay Area who doesn't yet own a house.

If it continues this way, eventually people won't move here without ridiculously high salary offers, and companies will be forced to expand in cheaper cities instead.

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#92

Post by [deleted] »

x0x0 wrote: post #86
trhway wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what in your opinion the current salaries are and what they must be in order to attract enough professionals? I mean do you see a lot of people who aren't STEM professionals because they feel the salaries are too low? If they aren't STEM professionals than where they are?

I see a continued loss of excellent, experienced -- 10-15 years into their careers -- engineers from sf to Seattle, Chicago, Colorado, Boston, and Austin driven by an admixture of the poor wages in sf/peninsula compared to housing costs, poor transport plus long commute times, very high education costs for children, high daycare costs, and family unfriendly work policies. Three friends and at least nine acquaintances…

[deleted]

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#93

Post by prostoalex »

JOnAgain wrote: post #43

IMHO, fix this by replacing the 'random' with 'highest salary' (or total comp). Just go down from the top. - It would alleviate (though probably not solve) the downward pressure on salaries. - It would ensure that companies are well motivated to find domestic workers since they would, theoretically, be cheaper. - It would ensure that H-1B's go to the people who would add the most value to the economy (or else the com…

This seems open for abuse by stating an extremely high wage in the application, and then "adjusting" it once the candidate gets his visa.

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#94

Post by prostoalex »

gokhan wrote: post #20

So, let's say Google wants to move you to US and wants to pay you $200.000+ because you're a unique scientist that filling a position that can't be filled by a US citizen. After spending time and money for the interview process, they apply for H-1B on behalf of you. Than there goes the lottery, than no luck, than what? 168.000 is pretty decent number to turn down after your own companies spend all those resources jus…

Someone in the Google league is large enough to hire an individual in one of their non-US offices, and then apply for L-1 visa for intra-company transfers.

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#95

Post by trhway »

jedmeyers wrote: post #80
fernandotakai wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is there any cap on how many visas one single company can apply to?

No. And here, as an example, is the breakdown of visas issued per company for 2013: Rank H1B Visa Sponsor Number of LCA Average Salary 1 Infosys 16,397 $75,154 2 Wipro 7,178 $76,920 3 Tata Consultancy Services 6,732 $64,350 4 IBM 6,502 $83,883 5 Deloitte Consulting 4,727 $98,264 6 Microsoft 4,075 $109,546 7 Larsen & Toubro Infotech 3,793 $59,408 8 Accenture 2,653 $72,704 9 Ernst & Young 2,353 $86,380 10 Satyam Comput…

it seems that 9 out of 10 are obvious "body shops" (i.e. except the MS).

And speaking about "lazy government" - how one gets an LCA certified under 60K or even 70K in hi-tech?

When we talk about positive case for H1B we talk about MS-like situation while it actually happens to be less than 10% of the total, with the rest of 90% looking like a "cheap labor" situation that H1B opponents talk about.

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#96

Post by prostoalex »

x0x0 wrote: post #85
luisdaniel12 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not sure what you mean. Elaborate?

First, you simply asserted -- without any evidence whatsoever -- that the US lacks sufficient stem professionals. Two points: 1 - plenty of stem surveys (lumping all of stem together, as you did) show plenty of available candidates as calculated by the percentage of domestic stem graduates working in stem post graduation. see, eg, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/09/15/stem-gradu... 2 - if you wish to limi…

> pay enough so that living here isn't a financial disaster

Higher salaries and higher employment levels seem to correlate with higher, not lower, housing prices.

> solve transport problems making san jose and sf essentially separate cities

How would you even address that? It's run by public agencies controlled by three counties (San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara). You need to get financial commitments from all three counties, railroad unions, state agencies like CalTRANS, etc. They're bringing BART to San Jose, so maybe things are already slowly progressing in that regard.

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#97

Post by Eridrus »

cplease wrote: post #76
gusmd wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point, I have given that some thought too. Besides the problems already cited in the other comments, another problem is that smaller companies trying to grow might have a competitive disadvantage because of the upward pressure on the salaries.

I fail to see the problem here under this proposal. Small companies can buy the same talent at the same price, whether it's domestically or abroad. You seem to be arguing that small companies should have special dispensation versus large companies to circumvent immigration laws in order to lower their labor costs. If you think small companies have a thumb on the scale, then give them a thumb on the scale. e.g. specia…

What about startups that want to pay with equity instead of cash?

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#98

Post by qdpb »

klipt wrote: post #89
x0x0 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a continued loss of excellent, experienced -- 10-15 years into their careers -- engineers from sf to Seattle, Chicago, Colorado, Boston, and Austin driven by an admixture of the poor wages in sf/peninsula compared to housing costs, poor transport plus long commute times, very high education costs for children, high daycare costs, and family unfriendly work policies. Three friends and at least nine acquaintances…

The Bay Area is fundamentally broken in that cities refuse to build new housing and schools. Supply is limited, demand exceeds supply, and engineers are competing against each other for that very limited supply. So if all us engineers' salaries went up, it wouldn't help. We'd just end up spending even more to out compete each other. (Well, I guess it would help push non-engineers out of the Bay Area, but is that real…

Perhaps an interesting way to interpret what you're saying is that SF is bad enough that people no longer want to move there since all their surplus income will be consumed by housing costs (valid concern!).

But new immigrant salaries are as good as american salaries in terms of how much they can push prices up; so hiring H1-B is essentially similar to a pay cut for people (same $$, higher housing costs); following this pay cut some existing engineers will leave.

In the end you just end up with replacing some old engineers with new ones through a costly lengthy process.

This is the kind of absurd logical games one has to play in order to not acknowledge basic economics of supply and demand.

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#99

Post by Synroc »

kghose wrote: post #78
Synroc wrote: post #46

I'm originally from France, came to the U.S. for undergraduate studies in 2010. My first year here, I fell in love and started dating an American student, and have been dating her ever since. Similarly, I fell in love with the United States, and wish to spend my life here. Currently, I am currently on OPT, applied for the H1-B process this year with my great SF company, and now am waiting to hear back about my 28% ch…

1. You can apply for permanent residency under the extraordinary individual or highly qualified individual (if you have a specialty profession e.g. STEM) 2. Academic and non-profit jobs don't have a cap. You could take such a position and then apply for permanent residency. 3. You can apply for the green card lottery (I'm assuming you are born in France).

I like 2. and 3. Could I do 3. while doing 2?

Re: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

#100

Post by gorkemyurt »

Synroc wrote: post #46

I'm originally from France, came to the U.S. for undergraduate studies in 2010. My first year here, I fell in love and started dating an American student, and have been dating her ever since. Similarly, I fell in love with the United States, and wish to spend my life here. Currently, I am currently on OPT, applied for the H1-B process this year with my great SF company, and now am waiting to hear back about my 28% ch…

H1B System is definetely unfair to international undergrads.

Like Synroc I came here for my undergraduate studies and work for a company in SF. I have no intention of leaving unless i am forced to do so.

I spent 5 (4 years of school + 1 year OPT) amazing years in this country and made many american friends, dated american girls lived in two of the most vibrant american cities (SF and NYC) and really adjusted to the American life style. It really hurts to be forced out after experiencing all these great memories. I deserve to stay here..

And now I am sitting in front of my computer refreshing by browser every 30 seconds waiting for an email from my companies legal department.

ps. Synroc take your girlfriend with you and let's move to London or something..

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