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Gaming the H-1B system for good
- tn13 11y agoThere are good number of employers who have some other illegal holds on their employees. Such as bonds, compensation agreements or in some cases financial deposits
- EduardoBautista 11y agoThis does nothing to address the problem of the initial application.
- chillydawg 11y agoNo, but it helps create a market for what is essentially a very valuable good that was being farmed by giant body shops. The underlying system is flawed but I doubt the us congress will ever pass a sensible immigration bill so workarounds like these are as good as it gets for now.
- vaishaksuresh 11y agoActually the giant bodyshops don't prevent people from transferring. It is the tiny body shops that are operated illegally here in the US that try and do this. I've worked at one big body shop and know for a fact that the H1B via is considered a gateway to come onsite. Many employees can and do choose to then transfer to other companies. What triplebyte is doing is not helping the cause at all. Big companies don't care about people transferring. They'll just file for more visas. This is actually hurting than helping.
- Joky 11y agoIt tries to hurt the big outsourcing companies, but unless it manages to transfer (tens of) thousands of engineers each year they just won't notice it... Also, very often a company needs someone qualified and found a particular candidate they want and tries to apply for him. I'm not sure how taking one of the many low qualified "engineer" coming with these outsourcing companies would fit the need here.
- Harj 11y agoWe do full technical interviews with applicants and at this point, we have a pretty solid dataset on how to calibrate them and would be confident any engineers we're working with have the skills startups are looking for. Our goal isn't to directly hurt the outsourcing companies, it's to help talented engineers find work they enjoy and not be held back by visa fears. Even doing that for a few people would be worthwhile.
- sremani 11y agoI would not call low qualified engineers, by there is a lot of mismatch. For eg. more and more H1Bs look like App based like SAP, Oracle, Business Intelligence etc. kind of skills set. There are some Application General purpose programmers and far few System level programmers. H1-B (in Outsourcing shops) talent pool is not such a Gold mine when you take into account the kind of skill-set needed for start-ups. Its a needle in the hay-stack situation. But some companies and some talent may very well benefit from this but not at a scale that would change the dynamics.
- anovikov 11y agoIs it the lottery in the literal sense? I.e. are applicants who match the requirements and wanted by employers are randomly selected just as the DV lottery winners are?
- ktu100 11y agoyes, your understanding is correct. The odd was 1 out of 3 this year I think.
- anovikov 11y agoit only proves again that H1B process is seriously broken. they must have sorted people by salary in the offer picking higher paid.
- mehrdada 11y agoYes. There are two lotteries: one exclusively for people with US Masters or PhD degrees (20000 winners) and one for the rest. If you do have a US advanced degree and don't win the first lottery, you have one more chance in the wider applicant pool.
- bradleyjg 11y agoYes. And, as alluded to in the article, one of the things the body-shops do to game the system is flood as many applications as possible, knowing that they won't get all of them and not caring which ones they do or don't get. Perhaps the petition fee should be non-refundable for H1B dependent employers.
- silveira 11y agoNo. If you are talking about the H1B lottery, the applications are of a candidate-company-position. When there are too many applications, there is a lottery to select applications that will be examined. After examination, your application can be selected or denied (or they ask for more information). If you are selected, then you are going to work for the company-position of your application. If you pay for the premium process service, the answer of the examination is faster.
- kunle 11y agoThis is pretty interesting. One thing I've seen happen with H-1B employees is that they feel trapped as a consequence of being sponsored by their employer. If this enables those 'trapped' individuals to more easily switch jobs, then it won't matter as much that the big companies are gaming the lottery.
- anpk 11y agoSo the solution is transfering them to triplebyte and then match them to a startup? Who pays them in the meanwhile because I believe its illegal to be on H1b and not be employed (being paid)?
- Harj 11y agoThey wouldn't be transferred to us or spend any time unemployed. Once someone goes through our process, we become their advocate and find them startups they'd be a good match for. They don't have to leave their employer until they've found one willing to hire them, at which point they can begin the transfer process.
- anpk 11y agoIf you are acting as any recruiter, how exactly are you gaming the h1b system?
- singlow 11y agoBy improving the mobility of h1b holders and depleting the return on investment for the staffing agencies.
- anpk 11y agoI understand what they are attempting, but I guess I was more intrigued by the "gaming" part. Was hoping they found some loophole, but its not very interesting if they are acting as regular recruiters.
- chillydawg 11y agoI think triplebyte act as a standard recruiter in this case. Eg Dave moves from UK to US on a H1b woring for some body shop. Dave then applies to triplebyte saying "yo, I hate this gig, get me out". Triplebyte then shops his CV around to startups looking for people like Dave and once a match is found they take their usual 10-30% first year salary as fee, which should more than cover any H1B admin. At no point is Dave employed by triplebyte.
- untog 11y agoThis is an interesting idea. H1B visas are entirely transferrable, but some employees never find that out (the shady outsourcing companies aren't exactly incentivised to point it out). That said, whenever I've transferred my H1B my future employer has been paying for it - if they didn't, I'd be suspicious about how committed they really are. So, if Triplebyte (a hiring agency) pays it instead of the employer then, sure, go crazy. But it doesn't make a huge difference to me. That said, I can see opportunity for a hiring agency that is knowledgable about the H1B process and could even refer lawyers to companies. Many new startups have no idea what they're doing, and are turned off from employing people on H1Bs because of it.
- Harj 11y agoWe do indeed refer lawyers to companies, in particular ones who have filed a number of these petitions for YC startups in the past so we know they're good.
- kgp7 11y agoThis assumes that the H1B's filed by the outsourcing companies are engineers your startup would want to hire. Unfortunately thats not true, most good quality engineers are almost never employed by these outsourcing firms. The general nature of their work also is mostly maintenance based , and it tends to attract bottom of the barrel 'engineers' who often couldn't find any other job. I am skeptical whether any of these 'engineers' would pass the interview gauntlet at many startups.
- Harj 11y agoThis is why we think there's an opportunity for us (Triplebyte). Smaller companies have to focus their recruiting on pools with a high expected ROI (top technology companies/schools/etc). We're specializing in identifying talent without using any of the the usual signals (we do our technical interviews without looking at resumes). We can focus on pools of talent that other companies might not consider because they expect the majority of candidates wouldn't be a good fit. Also in this particular case, I fundamentally believe there are a number of talented engineers working at these outsourcing companies because it was their only option and they're too afraid to move.
- negrit 11y agoIt also assume they won't terminate the H-1B when the employee is leaving.
- snotrockets 11y agoIANAL, but you can apply for a transfer without the original employer knowledge, and once that transfer is approved, then the previous employer can do nothing about that.
- baby 11y agoFrom everything I read, your current employer HAS to accept the transfer. Makes it way more trickier than what the blog makes it look like.
- arikp9396 11y agoconsidering YC expansion in hardware region, why they are still inclined in hiring programmers, considering that hardware startup needs hardware techie and makers? Please help me sort this out. (Apologies for being out of topic)
- harichinnan 11y agoI was on H1B with a true blue American startup. They developed cold feet when it came closer to sponsoring Green Cards. To start with GC wage levels are much higher than H1B levels. Also close to 15K+ needs to be spent for processing+ years of patient follow up to USCIS queries/denials and surprise site inspections. The new fangled startups won't have the long term strategy/planning to get me a green card. I had much better luck with a staffing vendor running an office off his basement. People misunderstand the H1B outsourcer lock-in. They hold people in through green card processes/delays. Not through H1B itself. Google for Employment based GC delays for Indians and Chinese.
- harichinnan 11y agoYou can help end this by supporting legislation. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/213 https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/213
- Someone1234 11y agoThat legislation has absolutely nothing to do with employers helping their employees gain a green card. It just redistributes the H1Bs differently. Did you reply to the right post?
- jsprogrammer 11y agoIf the H1Bs are distributed differently, couldn't employees move to the employers who are willing to help them? This benefits helpful employers. Seems right.
- Someone1234 11y agoIt doesn't distribute them to different employers, it distributes them to different countries. Not the same thing at all. There's no reason at all to think that anything would change in terms of the H1B Vs. employer relationship if that legislation would pass. We'd just have different nationalities in the same situation we do now.
- tosseraccount 11y agoA scholarly take on the guest worker visas from Civil Rights advocate Norm Matloff ... [ http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/h1b10min.html http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/h1b10min.html ] ... major attraction for employers, especially in Silicon Valley, is the "handcuffed" status of H-1Bs ... There is no tech labor shortage. No study, other than those sponsored by the industry, has ever shown a shortage.
- parfe 11y agoCalling the program indentured servitude didn't test well with focus groups.
- shas3 11y ago> There is no tech labor shortage. "Tech labor shortage" is not a clear-cut black-and-white issue. The market is not fully elastic to easily use terms such as 'shortage', etc. Say, you need to build a team of 5 machine learning scientist with specific experience in image recognition, there may be 100 people in the country specializing in this field, and perhaps 10 of them are the job market, and 7 are international citizens. Then you have a serious case of shortage, and face the possibility of losing the project/business/market to a company in Israel, India, or China that has the requisite staff or to a company in Canada or Australia, where immigration laws are more sensible. At the same time, there may be no shortage for generally skilled engineers fresh out of college.
- tosseraccount 11y agoAre you saying high tech is not really affected by supply and demand like other industries? Many industries claim they need special laws. How is Silicon Valley different than any other business?
- tosseraccount 11y agoHa ha. The Ycombo super moderator came by and "voted" down every anti special guest worker subsidy post on this page. Two to three down hits every post. Thanks for the thoughtful contribution to the debate !
- djb_hackernews 11y agoI sort of like this except startups typically pay below market salaries which is sort of against the spirit of the H1-B visa right? And if the startups aren't paying below market salaries then why do they need H1-Bs? Suppose I am an SF based startup and I get a candidate from triplebyte that is on H1-B and is paid 66k by a body shop as a Level 1 Computer Programmer [0] but she is obviously talented and got taken advantage of by the body shop. Is it legal/ethical for me to still pay her ~66k if it seems like she really should be a Level 4 Systems Software Developer[1] at 138k? [0] http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-1131&area=41884&year=16&source=1 http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-11... [1] http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-1133&area=41884&year=16&source=1 http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?code=15-11...
- untog 11y agoI sort of like this except startups typically pay below market salaries Do they? Ones that rely heavily on equity might (and I don't think you can count equity in such situations) but the tech sector is so full of money these days that I don't think developers are paid below market at all.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- negrit 11y agoYou should not throw number like this out there. It's misleading and It's not how it works :)
- padiyar83 11y agoIts a myth that H1b visa employees are not paid in par with local employees and are hired solely to save/cut costs, you cannot make that allegation without data that shows the wage gap between H1 vs non H1 workers, keeping all other factors same. Yes some outsourcing companies do pay less, but that's not the industry norm, most companies that hire H1b visa holders as direct employees (as opposed to contracting them from outsourced firms) pay them on par with existing employees if not better.I am a H1b employee from past 7 years and I have always been paid the same as rest of the employees doing that kind of work and was hired for being best amongst those who interviewed for the position and not because I was any cheaper than the next guy who interviewed. PS: edited to correct a typo.
- FD3SA 11y agoDoes Triplebyte do TN visas? They're almost trivially simple to do, so the candidate could take care of it themselves without any help from the sponsoring company.
- ammon 11y agoYes, we do
- FD3SA 11y agoThat's great to hear, you'll be getting a few Canadian applications in the future.
- boulos 11y agoCareful about TN though. The T in TN is temporary, so it prevents you from applying for say a Greencard or an H1-B (which are attempts to be not temporary). Disclaimer: IANAL but I recently looked into a lot of this.
- FD3SA 11y agoTN allows for 3 years per visa and unlimited visa renewals, so as long as you demonstrate that you aren't trying to gain citizenship, the US embassy shouldn't mind. As a Canadian, I have no interest in becoming a US citizen. On a TN visa you can open bank accounts (including investment), buy cars and real estate and do everything other than start a company. It's incredibly convenient and painless compared to an H1-B. Most people gunning for H1-Bs want to become US Citizens. Canadians have no such need, we just want to work in the US legally and be able to buy stuff and make investments, all of which you can do easily on a TN.
- NearAP 11y agoI read through the article and I wouldn't refer to their approach as 'gaming' the H-1B system. People who are on H1-B tend not to leave their companies for 2 main reasons 1) They've entered into some agreements where they agree to pay the company some big penalty if they leave. This is clearly illegal but still happens. So, the employee knows he/she can do a job transfer but the penalty holds them back. Some of them might be advised to seek a lawyer but they worry about the expense involved. Bottom line is they are scared to move because of this. 2) The person has started the Green Card Process and does not wish to 'go back to the end of the line' which happens if they switch jobs unless they have gotten to the final stage of the Green Card Process and have waited for 180 days with no decision taken on their application.
- e15ctr0n 11y agoThis is the most thoughtful and well-reasoned comment in this entire thread. Would like to see Triplebyte respond to it.
- rodrigokumpera 11y agoIt's right on spot, if you're on H-1B, there's very little reason (or time) to switch jobs if green card sponsorship in not on the table.
- vskarine 11y agoI transferred H1-B multiple times and here is my take on this: This can solve some problems but not all. Some things to think about: - For example, if you go work for outsourcing company that pays only when there is work to be done (this is illegal by the way) then as soon as you try to transfer visa, you will be kicked out of US and company will be in trouble. The reason for this is that when you transfer visa they require you to provide pay stubs for at least trailing 3 months. If these pay stubs don't add up to what you were suppose to get paid, you and the company will be in trouble. - Early stage StartUps will generally pass costs and co-ordination of getting green card on you. - More problems will come when you try to apply for green card. Transparency in salary is not something startups like so management will be reluctant to advertise your salary publicly which is mandatory during the process (postings around the office, outside the building, newspapers, company website, etc).
- Amanjeev 11y ago> you and the company will be in trouble. If you as an employee take action for not being paid while on H1B status, you are more or less OK. This step includes filing for a DOL complaint and adding copy of that complaint as the H1B transfer.
- lacker 11y agoI have seen some companies advertise "The salary for this position is up to $999,999" to get around making the real salary public.
- ojbyrne 11y agoI've transferred several times, and I've never been asked for more than 2 check stubs (i.e. 4 weeks). Also companies have to advertise your salary publicly (at least around the office) for H1B.
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago> Also companies have to advertise your salary publicly (at least around the office) for H1B. What, really? Sorry I don't really know anything about H1B but when you say advertise does this mean it needs to be on like a bulletin board or something? Or does this mean it simply needs to be available for anyone who asks? Also, why does it need to be public?
- srameshc 11y agoThis is not 'Gaming' for benefit of better talent over good or bad. This is simply 'Transfer' and everyone who has an approved H1B knows that transfer is an option. So this is an advertorial which simply says you transfer your H1B to us and we will get you a contract somewhere, regardless of your talent.
- sytelus 11y agoWhole H1B system is essentially modern form of slavery. I've seen people becoming multi-millionaires exploiting this slavery system. Companies in India have amassed massive revenues exploiting the same. The way it works is you put advertise in newspaper for minimum expected wage for tech worker. Then you buy a genius 3rd world tech worker and sell him/her to clients for approximately twice that rate. Then you put significant chunk of income which was supposed to be all theirs in to your pocket. Even if you managed to sell only 10 tech workers you will be minting close to million dollars a year for absolutely doing nothing but the initial paper work. Companies like TCS, Wipro etc typically have 100s thousands of such workers for sell. The reason this is slavery is because your ability to negotiate your wages is extremely limited. Sure, you can transfer your H1B but companies which accommodates such transfer is few and far between because of cost and legal people they have to keep on their staff. Most startups are immediately out of question for employment, for example. Further, if your H1B is coupled with green card application then it puts further friction in changing jobs. So in effect, H1B is just glorified tech slavery. The way to fix this system would be to allow H1B workers to apply anywhere they want without effecting other processes such as green cards. This would immediately not only stop slave labor but also bring wage parity to market.
- harichinnan 11y agoUsing the term slavery for describing a highly paid white collar job is doing disservice to the descendants of slaves. Let's not get too far with the terminology.
- Apocryphon 11y agoIt's somewhat more accurate to liken it to indentured servitude.
- refurb 11y agoSo you're saying H1-B workers can't leave? That's not true.
- 11y ago
- vigneshv_psg 11y agoAs far as i know, most of the outsourcing companies have a contract with the employee that will make the employee pay a huge fine if he quits them after moving to the US. I'm not sure about the legality of this, but a lot of companies enforce this somehow. (source: i'm indian and i have a lot of friends who moved here on a H1B through the 'outsourcing' companies).
- mwnz 11y agoThis really isn't gaming the H-1B system at all.
- jamisteven 11y agoH1b's are killing IT salaries in the states.
- anpk 11y agoCan you provide some sources?
- finance-geek 11y agoCan you provide a source that shows the laws of economics not applying to technology labor markets? As for your source -- how about common sense and the most basic econ 101 chart on supply, demand and price? http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.... The higher the supply the lower the price.
- aianus 11y agoI don't know if it counts as a 'source' but tech companies in NYC/Seattle/SF pay $75,000/yr+ to 19-20 year old interns with almost no experience. And not as a rare occurrence, I had 10 offers at the same time any given term and so did most of my classmates. Hardly sounds like they're being exploited and suffering due to a glut in supply. Either that or "exploitation" rates in the US are double the market rate in Canada/EU.
- kspaans 11y agoI started at $70k CAD in 2012 in Waterloo, ON right out of uni. Admittedly I had "2 years of experience" due to my co-op work terms while studying at UW. Counting for cost of living and exchange rate the US offer is probably still higher, but not 2x. (That said, I've seen startups in Toronto offering $50k/year lol!)
- aianus 11y ago$70-90k US was the co-op rate in 2011-2013 when I was doing it. The starting grad rate in SF is closer to US$150k (CA$200k) right now after stock.
- FlyingSnake 11y agoI was working on H1-B for 6 years in the USA. The long wait time, and utter unpredictability of the Green Card system was insane. Being Indian didn't help either, as we are subjected to 12+ years of wait (EB3 quota). The stupid H4 laws made my highly qualified wife unable to work. Finally I kicked the plush job and American dreams and moved to Europe. My employer called me ungrateful and selfish for leaving after he spent $7k on my visa. I loved the USA but honestly life has never been better. I'm sure there are few people on HN who want to keep immigrants out of the USA, but that's bad policy in the long run. I hope this debate around H1B will facilitate a better visa regime.
- erispoe 11y agoA lot of people here a critical of the visa system because it drives wages down. This is an effect of employers having way too much leverage in the current system, the H1B being attached to your current employement. If you provide for equal rights between americans, permanent residents and non-immigrant workers, you cut that leverage out of employers' hands and empoyer non-immigrant workers to negociate market rate compensation. Work visas shouldn't be attached to current employement. Switzerland, a country with 28% of foreign population, has a system where you can quit your job and claim unemployement benefits for at least 6 months before your work permit actually expires.
- _hartem 11y agoHaving lived in both Switzerland and US I have to say that US is much more friendly towards the immigrants from non-EU countries. Swiss make it nearly impossible for people outside EU to get a permanent redidence permit (have to wait for 10 years for a C permit) whereas in US there are multiple paths (EB1-3, NIV) and a plethora of employers (tech companies in West and East coast at least) who would offer GC sponsorship as part of the deal.
- eshvk 11y agoSure. But other EU countries are way more friendly. For example, Sweden I believe gives you a path to citizenship of close to 5 years. In the U.S., it would be > 5 years assuming non spousal green card.
- pduszak 11y agoTest
- ywy9876 11y ago+1
- ywy9876 11y agoGood!
- lgleason 11y agoStartups have already been in a position of being able to do this. Basically another way to reduce the cost of engineers. After all, it's not a sustainable business unless your MBA's and management are making many multiples of the rank and file employees.....dripping sarcasm.
- 1024core 11y agoI think it was mentioned before by someone else, but I'll just repeat it because it bears repeating: H-1B visas should not go by lottery, but by descending order of salary. At a high enough price, it's cheaper to hire an American... ;-)
- rezashirazian 11y agothis would be a good idea if it didn't corner the visa for tech companies in the valley that generally pay much higher wages. All briliant non-tech scientist would have no chance of getting the visa.
- fredophile 11y agoFirst, there are other categories a brilliant scientist could use. The O visas are set up for this type of person. Second, if brilliant, non-tech scientists aren't getting as high a wage as a code monkey then can you really say there is a shortage of non-tech scientists? One of the main justifications of the H1B program is that it fills a shortage. If there is a real talent shortage then wages should increase as the supply of available workers dwindles. Allocating visas based on wage is a rough attempt to identify the biggest shortages and fill them. It also helps address the criticism that H1B visas are used to drive down wages.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- proberts 11y agoI practice immigration law and work with startups. I think that this is an excellent idea/model. My only concern is that the startup/employer not seek reimbursement from the employee for any of the costs associated with the H-1B process (filing fees and legal fees), including the fee (equal to 25% of the employee’s first year salary) paid to TripleByte by the startup/employer. This is prohibited. The main point of the thread, however, from my standpoint is that startups should not shy away from hiring employees who are in H-1B status simply because they are startups. While USCIS might question the operations and finances of the startup, almost always these concerns/questions can be overcome.
- gopalv 11y ago> my standpoint is that startups should not shy away from hiring employees who are in H-1B status simply because they are startups. This does solve the hiring manager's problem, but will raise red flags with the outsourced employee's personal risk profile. There is another rush for a lawyer if the startup you were hired into gets restructured (acquired/merged). Honestly TripleByte can offer a small "outplacement" insurance package to the employee being hired (as a revenue stream) - which works out nearly the same as having a "talent agent" retainer in the business, except one who knows how to navigate the legal wrangles when you need a new gig.
- titomc 11y agoThis is my life story in US till now. My H1B visa was applied thru one of the biggest Indian consulting companies and I started working in Kansas. The project was awesome and I loved the work and our team was programming for the connected cars. We were paid peanuts by our employer around 62K which was the bare minimum mandated by LCA in Kansas location. But I didn't care about the peanuts they were giving me , I loved the project and my client. We were doing something cool which wasn't CRUD ;) During that time , I got promoted and my salary increased by 200$/month. At the same time , another vendor took over our project. So the resource management people from my employer called me and told "Since you are earning more salary ( 62K + 200$/month ) , you are not eligible for any other job location as per the company policy and you have to go back to India. So book your tickets & get ready to fly back ! The amount of depression I had to face was immense. It was December in Kansas and it was very cold. I remember smoking 2 packs of cigarettes inside my apartment every day. I had a used car which was under loan from DCU. My apartment lease had 5-6 months left. I was in total jeopardy thinking what to do. Thank god I was not married & had kids going to school, because pulling kids out of school and flying them back to India , making them adjust to the environment back in India would have been a nightmare. Kids will have had a huge culture shock. Still, being a bachelor, I felt very bad. But I put myself together and started applying for companies thru linkedin and indeed. Two companies responded and I went thru many levels of interview ( I already had flight tickets booked, my bags almost packed and gave power of attorney to my friend to sell the car and settle the loan ). With all those things happening in the background , I cleared the interview for both of the companies for full time employment. I had to fly to company locations for face to face. ( Both companies arranged the travel & stay ) Both companies were ready to transfer my H1B visa. I chose the big financial services company thinking about my job security as an H1B worker. Here comes the catch ! They were not ready to negotiate the salary. They are no small company ( It is the top financial services company) The HR knew very well knew that I was on H1B and the stupid me told them that I desperately need to transfer my visa , since my Indian employer told me to go back to India. So they took advantage of the situation and were not willing to negotiate. I had to settle with 80K/year with the big financial services company and they transferred my visa in premium & I resigned from the Indian employer. It was either take it or leave situation and I had no other choice but to accept the offer. To summarise , I am no low skilled worker and I cleared the interviews very well. I am well qualified and good at my programming skills. The American counterparts in my office earn more than me ( ~120K ) for the same skillset and work that I do. So how did I ended up like this ? Just because of this broken immigration system. I had to transfer my visa without negotiating my salary because of my situation and the rule that I will be out of status from the very next day my employer stops my payroll. " I was the victim of this broken immigration system of US ". My situation is one of the examples of how employers abuse H1B workers. I am getting married in Jan 2016, so I will stay with my current employer which took advantage of my situation. And hey my future wife can't work on H4 !. She recently resigned her job at Oracle in India and is preparing for the wedding. I feel bad for her because now she has to sit in the apartment and watch TV wasting her productive years in US. She is a Masters degree holder in finance & has excellent communication skills in both English & French. So what do I plan to do now ?. Since im getting married in Jan 2016, I will wait till then. Once I get married , I will switch employer and negotiate a good salary because right now I am not in that situation while I was in Kansas. Will I wait for my greencard to be processed ( 6-7 years ) NO. Why ? I am 30 now , so it will be 38,39 when I get my freedom and that too with the ever changing rules of USCIS. I don't want to try my luck. Will I wait for my I-140 to be approved so that my wife can work ? NO. Why ? Again I dont trust this broken immigration system. So what am I going to do about this ? , Canadian Express Entry gives importance to skilled workers rather than the lottery system and I will get PR within 6 months. My fiance is a degree holder and will get extra points for French. So we will qualify for the PR system. I don't want to wait in this uncertainty till I grow old to get my freedom. I rather trust Canadian Express Entry and move to Canada.
- rodrigokumpera 11y agoMoving to a startup when under H-1B could be a very risky and possibly disastrous choice. If those are companies that are illiterate on the most basic things, such the difference between an H-1B application and a transfer then there's a good chance they will fuck it up on the important parts. Important things like H-1B renewal schedule, green card sponsorship, visa renewal expenses and so on. You change jobs and the next thing you know is that you're stuck in the USA for up to 6 months because one of the overworked founders didn't apply for the renewal early enough. The above is an easily manageable one compared to all the horror scenarios that a mismanaged H-1B immigration can be.
- arank 11y agoUnderstanding the mindset of people who are working at these giant corporations mainly TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Wipro is important if this plan has to be successful. Many of my friends work at these companies and have been to US to work onsite with clients. When I asked them why they don’t look for another job in US, their take was that they don’t want to settle in US. They have their family, friends in India and they just want to make their “money” and return home. They don’t consider themselves “cheap labor” as the article states because they do save a lot of money as compared to what they were making in India. They also don’t want to take a risk of branching out and working at a startup unless its a big name. Which is understandable, very few of them have worked at startups and with most startups failing they don’t want to take the risk of finding another job or going back to India empty handed. Unless they have studied in US and did a couple of part time jobs or internships in US its tough to convince someone to be a part of your startup. That said, I will love for this idea to be successful. Good luck!
- dirkdk 11y agoIn general I think no visa is compatible with startups. Even a relative simple H1B transfer takes months. All work visas are linked to an employer, and this is at odds with the fluid nature of startups
- something123 11y agoSo is this a program that makes it easier for people to change jobs after coming to the US on an H1B? Doesn't sounds like they're gaming anything, but it does sound like something that's sorely needed. As and aside, with all the offtopic comments going one: while the H1B program is definitely flawed I think it's amazing that no one stops to consider the ethics of draining the 3rd world of its talent. If there are all these amazing talented programmers in India or wherever, then maybe YC should open an office there
- hienchu 11y agoThose "company" should try Shanghai's car plate lottery system as well :P