4 ms·

The is a strategic blunder. One of the great historical advantages of the United States has been an excellent higher education system, a strong economy. It's an

The is a strategic blunder. One of the great historical advantages of the United States has been an excellent higher education system, a strong economy. It's an environment that has attracted some of the most talented people from around the globe to come here. Unfortunately, current immigration policy hamstrings that advantage, and this announced policy just further kneecaps it. The biggest flaw in the H-1B system is that it's a nonimmigration visa. A very common path, is to come to United States on an F-1 student visa, graduate, then get a job on an H-1B. But the H-1B is time limited, and indentures people to a specific employer. Get a crappy job, get low balled, you're screwed, and god help you if you don't start your green card paperwork early enough. Couple this with the limited number of visas, we're simply turning away talented people and encouraging them to go home and compete against the United States on the international stage. It's stupid. Instead, we should create a new visa that's allows anyone that graduated from an American university to stay in the United States, work get a job, change a job. Allow their spouse and children to come, and also work. Essentially, give them a diploma and a green card.

hiram112 8y ago
The worst thing you could do, as a nation state with a (dubious) lack of talent, with a long-term view of being competitive, would be to allow your companies to maximize short-term profits by importing and training foreigners (many who won't stay and who will not spend their wages domestically), depressing salaries, and making the field as unattractive as possible for native citizens. Do you think smart native students can't see that all the grad students are foreigners, all the entry level jobs are filled with H1Bs and F1 visa-holders, and that salaries aren't really that great compared to finance, or medicine, or dozens of other fields that have barriers to entry, or at least aren't completely overrun with workers from low wage nations? Instead of letting the market work as it's designed - where demand pushes up wages, we flood the industry with labor and depress wages, then throw a few billion dollars at public school unions to teach kindergartners to program (i.e. buy IPads), and expect things to work out well. :/
- jonathankoren 8y ago
  I'm sorry but this nationalist rhetoric makes no sense. Are the immigrants being trained and leaving, or are they staying and driving down wages so low that Americans don't want the jobs? If the later, then why not keep bringing in immigrants to do the jobs that Americans turn their noses up at? If they're coming over here, filling our grad schools and taking our jobs in our high wage nation, aren't they now high wage earners? Even your "letting the market work as it's designed" plan doesn't make sense. So if there's no one to do the jobs, you think that American companies are just going to tough it out for a decade, raising wages even higher, until a new crop of people get trained up, and then depress market again? Isn't that horrible because the wages are being depressed? Why would a company do this? Why wouldn't they just leave, thus depressing the economy even more? Immigrants stay when you encourage them to stay. Not only do they get jobs contributing to the American economy, but they also have kids here. None of this makes sense through any sort of economic lens. It does make sense, if all you care about is if people from different places, with different languages, different customs, and different looks aren't getting ahead in your society. There's a word for that. In fact, there are several of words for that, but I'll go with the simple one. It's racist. And just, so we're both clear, I'm calling you a racist.
  - ap3 8y ago
    H1B is not a market - you are locked to your sponsoring employer. If you switch jobs the other employer has to file the paperwork. If you lose your job you have 30 days to find employment or you have to lesve the country- most immigrants would do anything not to be in this position.
    - jonathankoren 8y ago
      Agree. It has to do with the fact that the H-1 is a nonimmigration visa. I’d make it one, or better yet just allow for a quick F-1 to permanent residence change.
ashwinaj 8y ago
Whenever there is a post on H1B, there are two contrarian views: 1. Let everyone in 2. Let no one in There has to be a middle ground, skewing on either side depending on economic conditions, job availability etc. You have to concede not all foreign workers are good (subjective I know and also I'm saying this as someone who is on H1B). So the idea of giving a green card to someone just because they have a US graduate degree is not wise at all. I believe that it is something that should be earned (I don't know what the definition of "earned" should be) not given away; I bet if the roles were reversed, us foreign workers would expect the same criteria in our home countries.

hiram112 8y ago

The worst thing you could do, as a nation state with a (dubious) lack of talent, with a long-term view of being competitive, would be to allow your companies to maximize short-term profits by importing and training foreigners (many who won't stay and who will not spend their wages domestically), depressing salaries, and making the field as unattractive as possible for native citizens. Do you think smart native students can't see that all the grad students are foreigners, all the entry level jobs are filled with H1Bs and F1 visa-holders, and that salaries aren't really that great compared to finance, or medicine, or dozens of other fields that have barriers to entry, or at least aren't completely overrun with workers from low wage nations? Instead of letting the market work as it's designed - where demand pushes up wages, we flood the industry with labor and depress wages, then throw a few billion dollars at public school unions to teach kindergartners to program (i.e. buy IPads), and expect things to work out well. :/

jonathankoren 8y ago
I'm sorry but this nationalist rhetoric makes no sense. Are the immigrants being trained and leaving, or are they staying and driving down wages so low that Americans don't want the jobs? If the later, then why not keep bringing in immigrants to do the jobs that Americans turn their noses up at? If they're coming over here, filling our grad schools and taking our jobs in our high wage nation, aren't they now high wage earners? Even your "letting the market work as it's designed" plan doesn't make sense. So if there's no one to do the jobs, you think that American companies are just going to tough it out for a decade, raising wages even higher, until a new crop of people get trained up, and then depress market again? Isn't that horrible because the wages are being depressed? Why would a company do this? Why wouldn't they just leave, thus depressing the economy even more? Immigrants stay when you encourage them to stay. Not only do they get jobs contributing to the American economy, but they also have kids here. None of this makes sense through any sort of economic lens. It does make sense, if all you care about is if people from different places, with different languages, different customs, and different looks aren't getting ahead in your society. There's a word for that. In fact, there are several of words for that, but I'll go with the simple one. It's racist. And just, so we're both clear, I'm calling you a racist.
- ap3 8y ago
  H1B is not a market - you are locked to your sponsoring employer. If you switch jobs the other employer has to file the paperwork. If you lose your job you have 30 days to find employment or you have to lesve the country- most immigrants would do anything not to be in this position.
  - jonathankoren 8y ago
    Agree. It has to do with the fact that the H-1 is a nonimmigration visa. I’d make it one, or better yet just allow for a quick F-1 to permanent residence change.

ashwinaj 8y ago

Whenever there is a post on H1B, there are two contrarian views: 1. Let everyone in 2. Let no one in There has to be a middle ground, skewing on either side depending on economic conditions, job availability etc. You have to concede not all foreign workers are good (subjective I know and also I'm saying this as someone who is on H1B). So the idea of giving a green card to someone just because they have a US graduate degree is not wise at all. I believe that it is something that should be earned (I don't know what the definition of "earned" should be) not given away; I bet if the roles were reversed, us foreign workers would expect the same criteria in our home countries.