4 ms·

The discussion about H1Bs is getting dominated by SV. The brunt of the changes are gonna affect other industries, for example, someone i know is currently doing

The discussion about H1Bs is getting dominated by SV. The brunt of the changes are gonna affect other industries, for example, someone i know is currently doing a masters in biotech at a really good research university, and she is really scared about the 130k lower limit for H1B applicants. According to her, even postdocs in her field don't make that much! If the new H1B system passes as is, then its gonna cause a massive brain-drain in most fields that are not SV tech related.

xamuel 10y ago
Ever tried hunting for a job in academia? There are hundreds of super-qualified U.S. candidates for every opening. If your friend's so amazing she beats all of them, 130k is a steal.
- dhruvrrp 10y ago
  You do realize that the average salary of a tenured professor in the US is around $100k right? It goes up to $200k for some private universities but I would say 100-150k is what most top public universities pay. So 130k is a shitton of money in academia. Ignoring all of that, average salary of a senior biomedial engineer is 90k. The rest of the USA doesn't live in the 100k++ bubble that is SV.
dxhdr 10y ago
> The discussion about H1Bs is getting dominated by SV SV dominates the H1Bs: http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Category.aspx?T=OC http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Category.asp...
- dhruvrrp 10y ago
  But it doesn't. The problem is Indian outsourcing sweatshops. Why does everyone else have to suffer because of them? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/06/us/outsourcing-companies-dominate-h1b-visas.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/06/us/outsourcin...
  - dxhdr 10y ago
    > But it doesn't I'm following your use of SV as a pejorative for the tech industry. The tech industry accounts for most H1Bs. > Why does everyone else have to suffer because of them? Perhaps there are alternate solutions than a price floor on foreign labor; Japan has a points-based system where you must meet extensive criteria to be considered a highly-skilled professional worthy of importing. I would agree that "must be paid $140k+" seems like a crude version of a vetting process.
verst 10y ago
The details matter here: If you are a H-1B dependent employer ( 8 H-1B workers if the company is < 26 total employees, 13 if 26-50, and 15% of workforce if 50+) then: You can either (1) prove that no US citizen is being displaced and no suitable US citizen could be recruited, or (2) pay the dependent employer exempt minimum wage of $130k. In the case of (1), or if you are not considered H-1B dependent, you still need to pay the prevailing wage for the job (which as you mentioned is likely low for postdocs).

xamuel 10y ago

Ever tried hunting for a job in academia? There are hundreds of super-qualified U.S. candidates for every opening. If your friend's so amazing she beats all of them, 130k is a steal.

dhruvrrp 10y ago
You do realize that the average salary of a tenured professor in the US is around $100k right? It goes up to $200k for some private universities but I would say 100-150k is what most top public universities pay. So 130k is a shitton of money in academia. Ignoring all of that, average salary of a senior biomedial engineer is 90k. The rest of the USA doesn't live in the 100k++ bubble that is SV.

dxhdr 10y ago

> The discussion about H1Bs is getting dominated by SV SV dominates the H1Bs: http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Category.aspx?T=OC http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Category.asp...

dhruvrrp 10y ago
But it doesn't. The problem is Indian outsourcing sweatshops. Why does everyone else have to suffer because of them? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/06/us/outsourcing-companies-dominate-h1b-visas.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/06/us/outsourcin...
- dxhdr 10y ago
  > But it doesn't I'm following your use of SV as a pejorative for the tech industry. The tech industry accounts for most H1Bs. > Why does everyone else have to suffer because of them? Perhaps there are alternate solutions than a price floor on foreign labor; Japan has a points-based system where you must meet extensive criteria to be considered a highly-skilled professional worthy of importing. I would agree that "must be paid $140k+" seems like a crude version of a vetting process.

verst 10y ago

The details matter here: If you are a H-1B dependent employer ( 8 H-1B workers if the company is < 26 total employees, 13 if 26-50, and 15% of workforce if 50+) then: You can either (1) prove that no US citizen is being displaced and no suitable US citizen could be recruited, or (2) pay the dependent employer exempt minimum wage of $130k. In the case of (1), or if you are not considered H-1B dependent, you still need to pay the prevailing wage for the job (which as you mentioned is likely low for postdocs).