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I agree with what Kerr is suggesting. It makes a lot of sense. I also agree with a many Americans who are anti-H1b that it suppresses wages, hence makes it att

I agree with what Kerr is suggesting. It makes a lot of sense. I also agree with a many Americans who are anti-H1b that it suppresses wages, hence makes it attractive to higher foreign workers, quite often for jobs that are not truly state of the art, but do require the technical know how. This is why it makes sense for the H1-B to be a highest paid gets first kind of a visa. That way there's a strong incentive to not hire lowest paid employees. In fact, I think a better way would be to give two 3-year temporary green cards. if at the end of 6th year if the person still has job, it becomes a permanent job. This removes any control that an employer has to depress the wages, and be fair to the American as well as immigrant labour. Such a system can be made available to at least the undergrad/grad/doctoral degree holders from the US universities. By limiting the immigrant talent, US has already ensure China is taking a huge leap in terms of tech advances. India will figure out how to make the leap soon. All the while, Canada is making the most of USA's anti high skilled immigrant situation, but inviting them in droves. We'll see a different Canada in the next 5-10 years, mainly due to the huge number of tech immigrants (of Chinese or Indian origin) moving to Canada.

enraged_camel 8y ago
>>In fact, I think a better way would be to give two 3-year temporary green cards. if at the end of 6th year if the person still has job, it becomes a permanent job. No, the entire reason companies get away with paying H1Bs below market rate is because the visa is tied to employment. It needs to be decoupled so that visa holders can freely and easily switch jobs without worrying about losing their status.
- x0x0 8y ago
  Or both? ie grant them to people being paid the highest wages first, and limit the h1b holder to mandatory 1 year employment with the sponsoring company then 5 years of free to switch at will. We'd still be willing to sponsor as we aren't keeping h1bs via the visa; we keep employees because they want to work here. The pain with sponsoring isn't the cost; it's the time and uncertainty. Sponsoring costs compare favorably to the standard 25% a contingency recruiter charges.
  - enraged_camel 8y ago
    >> grant them to people being paid the highest wages first I'm against that because it would give FAANG a massive advantage, since they can afford to pay really high salaries compared to, say, a startup.
    - x0x0 8y ago
      average salary of h1b holder in bay area is $91k [1]. If startups can't beat that, they don't deserve employees. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/h-1b-visa-workers-earn-six-figure-salaries-2018-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/h-1b-visa-workers-earn-six-f...
      - enraged_camel 8y ago
        You seem to have not comprehended the parent poster's suggestion. He wants the highest salaries to be given precedence. This has nothing whatsoever to do with whether startups can afford the average salary.
        x0x0 8y ago
        My point -- communicated poorly -- is the average salaries h1b startup employees are being paid is quite low. There's lots of room for them to grow. Further, why shouldn't we allocate visas to the most valuable, ie highest paying, uses?
        enraged_camel 8y ago
        >>Further, why shouldn't we allocate visas to the most valuable, ie highest paying, uses? For this question to be valid, you first need to demonstrate that someone's value can accurately be determined by their salary and their salary only, and that any difference in salary between two people is the result of differences in the value they offer (as opposed to, say, being able to interview well, or knowing someone high up in the company).
httpz 8y ago
Though it should be divided by industry. Otherwise, highly paid software engineers will take all the visas and other industries will struggle to match the salary required get a visa. How to divide industry is a very messy business though. Some of our immigration laws divide by industry and those were written 30 years ago. A lot of jobs we hire now didn't exist 30 years ago.
- drankula3 8y ago
  So what? Wouldn't that just make wages rise in those other industries, pushing more Americans into those apparently underserved fields?
- calvinbhai 8y ago
  I don’t know whether to agree or disagree with that. Fields that’s get affected negatively could be offered some kind of respite wrt quota. Eg a medical professional on h1 probably won’t be subject to quota.

enraged_camel 8y ago

>>In fact, I think a better way would be to give two 3-year temporary green cards. if at the end of 6th year if the person still has job, it becomes a permanent job. No, the entire reason companies get away with paying H1Bs below market rate is because the visa is tied to employment. It needs to be decoupled so that visa holders can freely and easily switch jobs without worrying about losing their status.

x0x0 8y ago
Or both? ie grant them to people being paid the highest wages first, and limit the h1b holder to mandatory 1 year employment with the sponsoring company then 5 years of free to switch at will. We'd still be willing to sponsor as we aren't keeping h1bs via the visa; we keep employees because they want to work here. The pain with sponsoring isn't the cost; it's the time and uncertainty. Sponsoring costs compare favorably to the standard 25% a contingency recruiter charges.
- enraged_camel 8y ago
  >> grant them to people being paid the highest wages first I'm against that because it would give FAANG a massive advantage, since they can afford to pay really high salaries compared to, say, a startup.
  - x0x0 8y ago
    average salary of h1b holder in bay area is $91k [1]. If startups can't beat that, they don't deserve employees. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/h-1b-visa-workers-earn-six-figure-salaries-2018-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/h-1b-visa-workers-earn-six-f...
    - enraged_camel 8y ago
      You seem to have not comprehended the parent poster's suggestion. He wants the highest salaries to be given precedence. This has nothing whatsoever to do with whether startups can afford the average salary.
      - x0x0 8y ago
        My point -- communicated poorly -- is the average salaries h1b startup employees are being paid is quite low. There's lots of room for them to grow. Further, why shouldn't we allocate visas to the most valuable, ie highest paying, uses?
        enraged_camel 8y ago
        >>Further, why shouldn't we allocate visas to the most valuable, ie highest paying, uses? For this question to be valid, you first need to demonstrate that someone's value can accurately be determined by their salary and their salary only, and that any difference in salary between two people is the result of differences in the value they offer (as opposed to, say, being able to interview well, or knowing someone high up in the company).

httpz 8y ago

Though it should be divided by industry. Otherwise, highly paid software engineers will take all the visas and other industries will struggle to match the salary required get a visa. How to divide industry is a very messy business though. Some of our immigration laws divide by industry and those were written 30 years ago. A lot of jobs we hire now didn't exist 30 years ago.

drankula3 8y ago
So what? Wouldn't that just make wages rise in those other industries, pushing more Americans into those apparently underserved fields?
calvinbhai 8y ago
I don’t know whether to agree or disagree with that. Fields that’s get affected negatively could be offered some kind of respite wrt quota. Eg a medical professional on h1 probably won’t be subject to quota.