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DHS proposes to repeal Work Authorization to Spouses(H4) of H1B visa holders
- mbroncano 9y agoWhy aren't they allowed to work in the first place? L2 visas are, and they're quite similar in intent.
- cylinder 9y agoL1 is limited to managers, executives or specialized knowledge workers. It's not a low bar.
- xyzzyz 9y agoMost software engineers would qualify for L1. One of the other requirements of L1 is that you need to spend a year in the company office outside of the US. During that year, you will learn some of the internal processes and technology used inside the company, which then will count as specialized knowledge.
- btbuilder 9y agoI know several software engineers who qualified for L1B (rather than L1A) after one year of working for foreign subsidiaries of US companies. One person was able to transfer to the US after 6 months due to L1 blanket status of the US company. This just requires presenting a form to a consulate and does not require an individual petition to be filed with USCIS first.
- int_19h 9y agoBecause US immigration laws have been written in an ad-hoc manner over a long time period, and are very inconsistent as a result.
- beedogs 9y agoAmerica's government is as cruel as it can possibly be lately. This is just punitive and disgusting.
- hcknwscommenter 9y agoIt is both punitive and disgusting, and it benefits no one.
- marchenko 9y agoI think it is meant to benefit US mid-tier tech workers, who are expected to experience less competition and downward wage pressure as the attractiveness (and even feasibility) of work in the US is substantially decreased for couples not consisting of at least one 'superstar' (persons earning well over $100k as an individual, or couples in which both members are earners at the top end of the ability distribution). I guess we'll see if that expectation bears out, of if companies respond by offshoring.
- hiram112 9y agoExcept for the US citizens who now might have a job or even a bit of wage growth after 30 years of non-stop immigration from mostly low wage countries, with the ensuing wage arbitrage used by US businesses.
- craftyguy 9y agoYou are completely wrong if you think no US citizen has gotten a job or not experienced wage growth in the last 30 years.
- TheAdamAndChe 9y agoIndividuals may do better than average, but the trend in the US has been a widening gap between the upper class and everyone else combined with stagnant wages[1]. This has been due to many reasons like outsourcing, (illegal) immigration, automation, dissolution of anti-trust legislation, and the trend away from unionization in most industries. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-class_squeeze https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-class_squeeze
- bborud 9y agoFor me as a European this is really simple: foreigners are not welcome in the US so I won't bother the US with my presence. If I'm going to be selfish: the US establishing itself as a politically unstable and inconsistent country means more opportunities closer to where I live. More talent staying in Europe, more talent attracted to Europe. If I were American I would worry about important talent pools now finding more opportunities in Asia.
- thisisit 9y ago> DHS anticipates that there would be two primary impacts that DHS can estimate: the cost-savings accruing to forgone future filings by H-4 spouses, and labor turnover costs that employers of H-4 workers could incur. Does anyone know what cost savings are they talking about?
- duskwuff 9y agoCost savings by the DHS by not having to process H4 applications.
- thisisit 9y agoHow does DHS save money by not processing these visas? Additionally what about the second cost saving?
- duskwuff 9y agoProcessing any kind of paperwork takes time and costs money. If the applications are no longer accepted, those costs no longer exist. The second impact is an increase in costs, not a savings. It's referring to the fact that companies who currently have H4 employees will lose those employees, and will incur costs in replacing them.
- product50 9y agoThey could have just charged a higher fees to process the applications if this was truly about cost.
- cylinder 9y agoWrong, USCIS is funded by filing fees.
- duskwuff 9y agoKeep in mind I'm not endorsing this analysis. I'm just trying to interpret it.
- NTDF9 9y agoFirst, they put everyone who are not like them at a disadvantage - Poor funding for some school districts - Lack of accessible transportation options for folks in far flung areas - Lack of funding for individuals to go to college/expensive education - In this case, damaging careers, families and not letting people work at all, akin to slavery. Then, they come out and say: - Why don't you work hard? - Why don't you get a job? - Why don't you save money? - Why aren't you more like us? Why aren't they more like you? Because you don't let them be like you. America is cruel!
- cylinder 9y agoIf this was such a cruel experience, the workers wouldn't be here and the H1B wouldn't be over subscribed.
- NTDF9 9y agoDo you live in chronological time? The rights were given to them, that's when a lot of spouses gave up their careers elsewhere to build a family life here. Now, like a video game, the rights are being yanked away. What are they supposed to do? Leave kids here and go back try to rebuild a life without family? Take everyone with them and try to readjust? Imagine being lured into college with funding and after 2 years, they just yank that funding away, leaving you hapless. What do you do then?
- nopinsight 9y agoIf enacted, more R&D tech centers might pop up in other countries, esp Canada. The demand for high-level global tech talent is strong enough that most of them would not put up with much and companies will be forced to adapt.
- product50 9y agoThis is a really cruel move. It honestly only affects a small population of spouses from Indian and Chinese immigrants who have to wait a long time for their green card application to go through (due to per country quotas). The reason why spouses of H1-B immigrants can't find jobs on their own, even when qualified, is because of H1 quotas which fill on the first day of application - and, if they aren't lucky to get it, they are just stuck. Also very few companies want to wait for 6+ months from the time the job has been accepted to when the candidate starts given H1 application needs to be filed on April 1st while the person can only start working on October 1st (if they are lucky to make through the quota). H4 EAD provided a way for them to be employed and do something with their life. With this repeal, that option will be taken away. On the other hand, Trump is doing a few things to alleviate the situation: 1. He will likely strike down hard against Indian IT companies which take more than half of H1 visa quotas. That should help spouses, who are qualified, to have a better shot at getting an H1. 2. He is proposing a merit based GC going forward vs. the current system where there are country quotas and where family applications take priority. Both these will help. However, I would have liked to see these happening first vs. H4-EAD taken away.
- rhizome 9y agoHe will likely strike down hard against Indian IT companies which take more than half of H1 visa quotas Is there any indication that any of these or their domestic representatives donated to Trump's campaign? I'd search but I don't know any names. Seems like a gravy train the companies would be attentive to maintaining, though.
- product50 9y agoI think he will likely increase the minimum salary bar for IT professionals to qualify for H1 from the current $60k to potentially over $100k. That will wreck a lot Indian IT companies business models where currently it is a price arbitrage game.
- hcknwscommenter 9y agoYou say he will do this, and he will do that. It is very odd how the administration puts out so many contradictory messages that people from all different viewpoints and political leanings make confident conflicting assertions about what will happen. But, when you look at the actual things that are implemented by the administration it is just straight up cruelty and class warfare.
- panic 9y agoThe DHS as an organization should be disbanded. It barely made sense when it was founded after 9/11, but now it's actively working against America's interests. Our borders and immigration rules are so unpleasant, people would rather work in other countries than deal with them even a few times a year.
- pjc50 9y agoThat's definitely working as designed. There's enough hostility to "immigrants" from voters that the system is deliberately made as hostile as possible. Same for the UK system.
- TheAdamAndChe 9y agoGiven that wages are a function of supply and demand, and given that wages have been stagnant for Americans since the 70's, why is having tighter constraints on the supply of labor a bad thing? Wouldn't this mean that Americans would have higher wages? Wouldn't a tight labor market incentivize investment in the growth of our own workers instead of working to maximize profits for corporations that already have historic profits by deleveraging workers?
- panic 9y agoWell, yes, based on a simple supply-and-demand model, that is what we'd expect to see. It's not what we're seeing in practice, though. We keep making immigration harder and harder, and it doesn't seem to be doing much to fix our economy -- certainly not enough to justify the real human cost.
- sawmurai 9y agoWell, just in case you might need this soon ... Switzerland ist beautiful! https://www.jobs.ch/en/vacancies/information-technology-telecom/ https://www.jobs.ch/en/vacancies/information-technology-tele...
- jmnicolas 9y agoIf you can speak German that is ...
- xyzzyz 9y agoOr actually, Swiss German. Most people in Germany don't even understand Swiss German.
- acoster 9y agoThere are French and Italian speaking regions too (well, there's Romansh, but that's tiny). But in all seriousness, in the main cities you can get by speaking English.
- noncoml 9y agoGet by as in find a job without speaking a word of French or German?
- sawmurai 9y agoWhile speaking either German, French or Italian certainly helps english is more than enough in most jobs. In IT most stuff we read / discuss online is in english anyway.
- c2h5oh 9y agoThat means I'll be refusing all non-remote US job offers without reading.
- softawre 9y agoNot trying to be rude but, isn't this their goal?
- darkdreams 9y agoThe E-3 visa (meant for Australians) doesn't have any work restrictions on spouses. Why isn't the administration targeting those visas/ead if this is indeed about "Hire American and buy American" ?
- falsedan 9y agoThe quota for E-3s is 10,000/year, it gets about 30% subscribed (with new applications, renewals aren't capped), and it's providing the free and open movement of labour that the AU-US FTA requires. but also: white Australians don't trigger racist reactions & clamping down on all Australian E-3 immigrants would not be as effect of a dogwhistle.
- hiram112 9y agoIs it really that Americans are just not racist against Australian workers , but are racist towards brown people on work visas? Or could it be something else? Maybe Americans don't tend to see their whole IT and Dev departments being filled with Australians, who are NOT willing to work in high COL areas on $60k year, share apartments and a car among 6 adults, and work 60 hours a week since the money they're saving won't buy them squat once home in Australia. This is not true for Indians and others from low wage nations. Most Americans aren't stupid. They know that businesses here use these visas to push down wages and working conditions. Considering this, I think Americans have been pretty damn friendly to most foreign workers for quite some time. But eventually, even the most friendly of societies is going to say enough is enough.
- falsedan 9y ago> Is it really that Americans are just not racist against Australian workers , but are racist towards brown people on work visas? The dogwhistle is signaling to racists exactly this: that removing the ability for spouses on H4 visas to get EAD will reduce immigration from non-white countries. So's your comment.
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- somberi 9y agohttps://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21716630-not-good-argument-against-them-h-1b-visas-do-mainly-go-indian-outsourcing https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21716630-not-go... For engineers like me who went to the US in the mid-90s on H1B, spouses were not allowed to work. The US government changed it, to be in sync with other countries that allowed American employees' spouses work in the host countries. This new move will have an effect on the spouses of American workers abroad, since host countries will retaliate as a mark of protest.
- d--b 9y agoOh man, I went through the H1B/H4 in 2010 and my wife was unable to work. That was a pain in the ass...
- walshemj 9y agoThis will effect the really high level very high skill immigrants who tend to have highly qualified partners who might well stop their partner from taking a job in the USA. I know of one CTO who came back to UK from SV because of pressure from his wife
- grad_ml 9y agoMessage is loud and clear. No Indians are welcome. Now indians on h1b need to figure out, if they will migrate to Canada with skills they have, will they start business in India. Govt have no intentions of improving GC process. Govt want to stop legal immigration under different disguises. I don't know how many people are aware that it takes 3-4 years to get I-120, after some one starts job on H1b. That means all H1b's, who have been here for 3+ years need to go back or become poor in USA.
- rvelag 9y agoGood to hear to revoke H4 EAD. Make it ASAP. At least prioritize for Talented one's. Not for these douchebag H4 EADs. Thank you Trump.
- markruno 9y agoI have done masters in US and I am on h1b visa I get 30k$ PA working as developer in java technology and my spouse on h4 visa gets 40k $ PA .If h4 visa is revoked is it better to apply for h1b visa or f1 visa.