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Companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple have thousands of job openings and are desperate to hire more talent. They will happily interview anyone(from US, India,

Companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple have thousands of job openings and are desperate to hire more talent. They will happily interview anyone(from US, India, China, heck Syria) if the person is qualified. So this is just xenophobia(surprising to see such thinking in comments here on HN). The effect though is that top valley companies have already instituted a policy to stop hiring fresh-grad H1bs to avoid risk. While so far, places like silicon valley have been unique in being centers of innovation, this will change. Till just a couple decades ago, you literally had to be physically in the office to work on a database server etc. Within a generation or so, the advantage of physically being in silicon valley will be immaterial.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Google, Microsoft, Apple aren’t Indian body shops. Not many of us think the former are abusing H1Bs like the latter.
- surferbayarea 9y ago
  In that case the solution would have been simple - just ban the top-10 in this list that are in consulting: https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.aspx https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.asp... Unfortunately, this is a political issue. Eq the changes proposed in http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article192336839.html http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-ho... will affect more than 10% of current employees at Google, Apple, Microsoft. Note - you cannot just fire these 10% employees and replace them with another warm body. I agree with you that the abuse is being done by a few companies(some of which are Indian - Infosys/TCS, others American - eq IBM/Accenture, French - Capgemini). However, the "solutions" that have already been executed by the current administration are aimed at appeasing the economically disadvantaged section of American society. The reason for rising unemployment is not foreigners stealing American jobs, it is driven by economic disparity and in some ways an artifact of how technology innovation disproportionately benefits the few. Throw out all 100% H1bs and other foreign workers and it will not move the unemployment index at all. PS: Reflect on the bias underlying your comment re:Indians. If you actually look at the data, you will see the companies abusing the system are not just Indian, but American, French, European as well.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    Oh I totally agree, and not all Indian companies are body shops. IBM is in my mind at the same level as infosys these days.
    - surferbayarea 9y ago
      Also the total number of unemployed people in US is 6.6 million. The number of H1b visas granted every year is 65000 (that's 2 orders of magnitude). If you were put in charge of solving the unemployment problem of USA, would you focus on the 99% bucket or the 1% bucket? So you would agree that the backlash is driven by xenophobia and not any possible rational or data driven argument.
      - surferbayarea 9y ago
        And xenophobia is ok - it is a deep human flaw and an artifact of evolution and resource constraints. As smart logical people we should be conscious of our xenophobic biases. Not being aware of that is what leads to things like 1930s Germany.
      - phonon 9y ago
        More like 15%. Arguably the total number of working H-1B visas (including extensions while waiting for a green card) (and working H-4 dependents) is the more relevant metric. That number is not tracked directly, but it's about a million or so, all at significantly higher wages than the median US personal income of $31,099/y. https://qz.com/949589/the-h-1b-visa-cap-tells-you-very-little-about-how-many-h-1b-visas-there-are/ https://qz.com/949589/the-h-1b-visa-cap-tells-you-very-littl...
        seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        Multiply the yearly grant rate by six and you get abiutnthe total number of H1Bs, so not quite a million. But regardless, it’s not like all unemployed are competing with body shoppers, while the HN crowd probablybisnt either.
code4tee 9y ago
Sorry, but there’s a massive difference between when Apple, Google etc hires an H1-B and when someone like TCS does. Very different jobs and very different reasons for using the visa.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago

Google, Microsoft, Apple aren’t Indian body shops. Not many of us think the former are abusing H1Bs like the latter.

surferbayarea 9y ago
In that case the solution would have been simple - just ban the top-10 in this list that are in consulting: https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.aspx https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2017-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.asp... Unfortunately, this is a political issue. Eq the changes proposed in http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article192336839.html http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-ho... will affect more than 10% of current employees at Google, Apple, Microsoft. Note - you cannot just fire these 10% employees and replace them with another warm body. I agree with you that the abuse is being done by a few companies(some of which are Indian - Infosys/TCS, others American - eq IBM/Accenture, French - Capgemini). However, the "solutions" that have already been executed by the current administration are aimed at appeasing the economically disadvantaged section of American society. The reason for rising unemployment is not foreigners stealing American jobs, it is driven by economic disparity and in some ways an artifact of how technology innovation disproportionately benefits the few. Throw out all 100% H1bs and other foreign workers and it will not move the unemployment index at all. PS: Reflect on the bias underlying your comment re:Indians. If you actually look at the data, you will see the companies abusing the system are not just Indian, but American, French, European as well.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Oh I totally agree, and not all Indian companies are body shops. IBM is in my mind at the same level as infosys these days.
  - surferbayarea 9y ago
    Also the total number of unemployed people in US is 6.6 million. The number of H1b visas granted every year is 65000 (that's 2 orders of magnitude). If you were put in charge of solving the unemployment problem of USA, would you focus on the 99% bucket or the 1% bucket? So you would agree that the backlash is driven by xenophobia and not any possible rational or data driven argument.
    - surferbayarea 9y ago
      And xenophobia is ok - it is a deep human flaw and an artifact of evolution and resource constraints. As smart logical people we should be conscious of our xenophobic biases. Not being aware of that is what leads to things like 1930s Germany.
    - phonon 9y ago
      More like 15%. Arguably the total number of working H-1B visas (including extensions while waiting for a green card) (and working H-4 dependents) is the more relevant metric. That number is not tracked directly, but it's about a million or so, all at significantly higher wages than the median US personal income of $31,099/y. https://qz.com/949589/the-h-1b-visa-cap-tells-you-very-little-about-how-many-h-1b-visas-there-are/ https://qz.com/949589/the-h-1b-visa-cap-tells-you-very-littl...
      - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        Multiply the yearly grant rate by six and you get abiutnthe total number of H1Bs, so not quite a million. But regardless, it’s not like all unemployed are competing with body shoppers, while the HN crowd probablybisnt either.

code4tee 9y ago

Sorry, but there’s a massive difference between when Apple, Google etc hires an H1-B and when someone like TCS does. Very different jobs and very different reasons for using the visa.