4 ms·

Doesn't even try to solve the root cause of any problems caused by these visas. Freedom. Just let them not be tied to their current employer. Allow them to swi

Doesn't even try to solve the root cause of any problems caused by these visas. Freedom. Just let them not be tied to their current employer. Allow them to switch jobs with minimal bureaucracy and let them compete for better jobs. Simply allowing employees switch employers without hassles will be enough for even outsourcing companies to pay high wages - because those employees won't suck it up. They'll leave for greener pastures asap, pressuring all companies to pay higher and higher for everyone. For all the talk of capitalism and free markets, we never seem to actually practice it.

darawk 6y ago
I agree. The employer lock-in is very silly, and unproductive. It puts these people at a disadvantage in negotiations, which means they are even more likely to accept lower salaries, and drive down the wages of Americans. Even from an "America first" perspective, you should want H1-B holders to have freedom of movement.
ianmcgowan 6y ago
That would definitely improve the lot of the H1B employee, and probably have an indirect effect on the companies involved to discourage H1B's (though I imagine they would recreate the ties with contracts, using things like signing bonuses and relocation reimbursement to keep people stuck in the current job). But it doesn't do anything to address the goal of this bill which is to prevent abuses of the H1B program, and "protect American workers".
- slaymaker1907 6y ago
  It does help protect American workers by raising the H1-B salaries and thus lessening the downward pressure currently caused by the program.
InvaderFizz 6y ago
My general issues with the immigration system aside, I've been a proponent of this positive change for some years now. Another method, that I think would be more acceptable is to just allocate the visas based on pay. Hard to argue that H1Bs are being used to undercut US workers when there are no H1Bs making under $200k.
- davidw 6y ago
  This gets brought up time and time again. The problem is that there are plenty of fields besides 'computer stuff' where immigrants might make valuable contributions - but they're simply not fields that are that highly compensated.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
innagadadavida 6y ago
The green card yearly family based quota is around 200k and the H1B quota is 65k. This seems backwards to me. The green card lottery primarily caters to unskilled labor and without any qualification criteria, while the h1b attracts _more_ skilled labor. Given we have sufficient unskilled labor, we should just scrap the existing family based green card program and h1b program and roll all quotas into employment based green card.
sftwdv 6y ago
What you are described in known as "skilled worker" program in Canada. It is designed to attract valuable workers to come to the country to grow the economy. The goal of H1B visas is to help companies to find workers for specific projects. That is why you have "sponsor".

darawk 6y ago

I agree. The employer lock-in is very silly, and unproductive. It puts these people at a disadvantage in negotiations, which means they are even more likely to accept lower salaries, and drive down the wages of Americans. Even from an "America first" perspective, you should want H1-B holders to have freedom of movement.

ianmcgowan 6y ago

That would definitely improve the lot of the H1B employee, and probably have an indirect effect on the companies involved to discourage H1B's (though I imagine they would recreate the ties with contracts, using things like signing bonuses and relocation reimbursement to keep people stuck in the current job). But it doesn't do anything to address the goal of this bill which is to prevent abuses of the H1B program, and "protect American workers".

slaymaker1907 6y ago
It does help protect American workers by raising the H1-B salaries and thus lessening the downward pressure currently caused by the program.

InvaderFizz 6y ago

My general issues with the immigration system aside, I've been a proponent of this positive change for some years now. Another method, that I think would be more acceptable is to just allocate the visas based on pay. Hard to argue that H1Bs are being used to undercut US workers when there are no H1Bs making under $200k.

davidw 6y ago
This gets brought up time and time again. The problem is that there are plenty of fields besides 'computer stuff' where immigrants might make valuable contributions - but they're simply not fields that are that highly compensated.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

innagadadavida 6y ago

The green card yearly family based quota is around 200k and the H1B quota is 65k. This seems backwards to me. The green card lottery primarily caters to unskilled labor and without any qualification criteria, while the h1b attracts _more_ skilled labor. Given we have sufficient unskilled labor, we should just scrap the existing family based green card program and h1b program and roll all quotas into employment based green card.

sftwdv 6y ago

What you are described in known as "skilled worker" program in Canada. It is designed to attract valuable workers to come to the country to grow the economy. The goal of H1B visas is to help companies to find workers for specific projects. That is why you have "sponsor".