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living in US for the last 8 years In other words, you came in on an H1B in 2010, right as the recession was peaking and there was lots of tech talent unemploye
by masonic 8y ago
living in US for the last 8 years
In other words, you came in on an H1B in 2010, right as the recession was peaking and there was lots of tech talent unemployed and underemployed (scrambling for contract role after contract role)... which exemplifies the problem.
Even in the teeth of the recession, the entire quota of new H1B visas was consumed every year.
- danaur 8y agoCould you clarify what problem you are pointing out. I'm just not reading the conclusion you are trying to make.
- InGodsName 8y agoI think he's saying that H1B visa program is bad because it hires immigrants at the expense of local workers. Even tho supply of local labor was high during recession, it should not have been possible for emmigrant to come to US during that time. There was no need to bring labor from outside, it demonstrates problem with this program.
- jiveturkey 8y agoI agree, that's the point he was trying to make. I don't agree it's a correct conclusion. Have you read any of the almost-weekly tech interview threads here? Or been in a high growth startup where you are interviewing a lot? Just because there are lots of people in the internal labor pool, doesn't mean there are lots of qualified people. When you can reach out to the ROW for your highly skilled talent, why would you limit yourself to less qualified local talent? As an employer, it's [rhetorically] my job to hire the best talent I can find at the best price I can get. (Assuming that is maximally efficient; in some cases less good labor for better prices may be a better calculus. But let's ignore that.) It's the government's job to strike the balance between native employment and immigrant employment. If the H1B pool is consumed each year, I'd say they are doing a reasonably good job at it. If it's consumed, that means there are plenty of folks denied, for lack of quota. Those are jobs that end up filled by less qualified native talent.
- zozbot123 8y ago"The problem" being that lots of tech talent would rather stay unemployed or underemployed than compete for the positions that H1Bs would otherwise fill? I don't think the average business would willingly choose to hire H1Bs if they could employ a US national as a realistic alternative...
- commandlinefan 8y ago> I don't think the average business would willingly choose to hire H1Bs if they could employ a US national I'm absolutely positive you have that exactly backwards.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago>I don't think the average business would willingly choose to hire H1Bs if they could employ a US national as a realistic alternative... The end of that sentence would be "...at the same low price and leash that an immigrant subject to an extremely opaque and unpredictable government agency (USCIS) who you don't have to worry about jumping ship so you can treat them worse.
- jogjayr 8y ago2010 was the only year that the number of new applications provably didn't hit the cap - i.e. the entire quota was definitely not consumed. There were ~76k applications approved. The annual cap is 65k + 20k Masters + 5k (Singapore & Chile) + unlimited for non-profits[1] I know people whose applications from the 2011 quota were made and approved well into 2012 - so 2011 almost certainly did not hit the 85k (65k + 20K Masters) quota either. I assume 2009 was similar. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#H-1B_applications_approved https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#H-1B_applications_ap...