3 ms·

Yeah but the number of H1-Bs per year (65000, some of which are reserved for Chile or Singapore) isn't set by the market, but arbitrarily by the government. Why

by klipt 11y ago

Yeah but the number of H1-Bs per year (65000, some of which are reserved for Chile or Singapore) isn't set by the market, but arbitrarily by the government. Why is that number set in stone regardless of economic climate? It was obviously more than enough during the 2009-2012 slump, when there was no lottery, but not enough now.

nostrademons 11y ago
Political reasons. There is a segment of America that believes that's already too much immigration for a group of people that don't share their skin color and will be making more money than them. I'd rather see the caps disappear too, but changing from a lottery to an auction seems politically achievable (particularly since it helps Apple/Google/Facebook, all of which have strong lobbying arms, while hurting TCS/Infosys/Wipro, who most Americans would be happy to see disappear), while declaring open-season on tech immigration would engender strong resistance from people who have nothing to do with tech.
- klipt 11y ago
  I just find it weird that every year, the US gives 55,000 green cards to random people with high school education via the green card lottery, compared to 65,000 temporary work visas to much more educated people, yet it's the latter that's contentious! My girlfriend has a PhD from an ivy league university, and even she didn't get an H1-B!
  - hackerboos 11y ago
    The DV lottery is a good thing. It keeps America culturally rich by giving folks from countries that usually don't emigrate to the US an easy path to citizenship. This American Life had a good show about a DV winner from Somalia: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/560/abdi-and-the-golden-ticket http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/560/a...
  - WildUtah 11y ago
    The majority of the House voted to eliminate the DV lottery and release the H1-B cap on graduates of American grad schools. There's currently an extra 20k H1-Bs for foreign grads of American schools and that cap would be lifted. That would be a great compromise. Ph. D.'s instead of high school grads is a good trade. But it was lost among the politics of higher profile illegal alien amnesty negotiations. And then the amnesty didn't go anywhere either. I think Trump may have mentioned this compromise at the last debate -- even he liked it.

by klipt 11y ago

nostrademons 11y ago

Political reasons. There is a segment of America that believes that's already too much immigration for a group of people that don't share their skin color and will be making more money than them. I'd rather see the caps disappear too, but changing from a lottery to an auction seems politically achievable (particularly since it helps Apple/Google/Facebook, all of which have strong lobbying arms, while hurting TCS/Infosys/Wipro, who most Americans would be happy to see disappear), while declaring open-season on tech immigration would engender strong resistance from people who have nothing to do with tech.

klipt 11y ago
I just find it weird that every year, the US gives 55,000 green cards to random people with high school education via the green card lottery, compared to 65,000 temporary work visas to much more educated people, yet it's the latter that's contentious! My girlfriend has a PhD from an ivy league university, and even she didn't get an H1-B!
- hackerboos 11y ago
  The DV lottery is a good thing. It keeps America culturally rich by giving folks from countries that usually don't emigrate to the US an easy path to citizenship. This American Life had a good show about a DV winner from Somalia: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/560/abdi-and-the-golden-ticket http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/560/a...
- WildUtah 11y ago
  The majority of the House voted to eliminate the DV lottery and release the H1-B cap on graduates of American grad schools. There's currently an extra 20k H1-Bs for foreign grads of American schools and that cap would be lifted. That would be a great compromise. Ph. D.'s instead of high school grads is a good trade. But it was lost among the politics of higher profile illegal alien amnesty negotiations. And then the amnesty didn't go anywhere either. I think Trump may have mentioned this compromise at the last debate -- even he liked it.